Living in the USA without authorization

Hi all,

I need to understand my situation better...

Got a TN visa to work for one year in the USA. When it expired, I still continued living in the US off savings from my year of work for a year and half, although I regularly went back to Canada every few months.

My question is: although I know living illegally in the USA was my crime, what is the technical description for what I did? Did I accrue unlawful presence or is there another term?

Now, what recourse do I have if I would like to return to the USA to visit?

Thanks for your help.

If you "regularly went back to Canada every few months", then you really have no problem at all.

Your subsequent entries were as a B2 visitor, and your entries have been noted, thus you are in no trouble at all. If the officer forgot to ask you where you actually live, that is his fault (unless you lied -- but even then you were not caught).

The most you did was accrue unlawful presence for the days between TN expiry and the first time you went back to canada -- that is it; all other time spent in US was as a legally authorized visitor. Since you have returned to US several times since then, nothing is flagging on your dossier: you have no problem.

Just make sure that from now on when you enter US as a visitor, you have a residence in canada -- and don't lie. And don't work in US illegally.
Its simply a case of lax CBP scrutiny.

Thanks Agnelson but even though I went back to Canada regularly, I always came back a few days/weeks later.

If I was questioned, it would be very hard to make the case that my primary residence is in Canada because as soon as they look at their system, they could see I’d spent most of my time in the US.

What do I do?

Re-read what I wrote. There is no problem, and nothing for you to do.

Establish residency in canada, and go back to US whenever you want. Each entry you make or made is based on its own merits, if the officer feels (or had felt in the past) that you have already been in US too long in the past year or so, he will simply tell you (which he could/should have done on any of your previous visits). If she feels (or had felt) that your ties in canada are too shallow, then she would deny you entry (or simply turn you way) until you can provide such proof.

But what you have doen in the past (which as Isaid was at most stay a few weeks after your I-94 expired) is mlong past -- and apparently undetected or forgiven. Otherwise you would have been stopped.

SO, I repeat:

Just make sure that from now on when you enter US as a visitor, you have a residence in canada -- and don't lie. And don't work in US illegally.