My Canadian Fiancee cannot cross the border.

[Ferrariman]

Hello to all!
After much searching I came across this site and hope I can find the answers I'm looking for.
I have known my Fiancee for about 5 years now. She is Canadian born and has lived in the same home in Toronto all her life. She has visited me in the U.S. about 6 or 7 times during 2006-2007. Suddenly in March of '07 she was denied access at the border, taken aside, fingerprinted and basically treated like a criminal. They told her that she could not produce sufficient proof of her ties to Canada and that for her to enter the U.S. she would have to produce all types of documentation, deed to her home, proof of employment etc.(she is not currently working) and even then it does not guarantee her access. She showed them a Canadian driver's licence and medical card which didn't help. She is 39 years old and has absolutely no criminal record.
Needless to say she is terrified to even try crossing again. We do plan to get married (hopefully this Fall) in Canada and we're just looking for a little help, what should we know?
Thanks in advance for any help!

[Reba]

What's the plan after you get married? Is she moving to the US or are you moving to Canada?

If she's been denied entry for lack of ties to Canada, and if she doesn't have a job, any subsequent attempts to cross will also be denied probably. Having a driver's license and a health card are not ties to Canada, they are not obligations to return to that they're looking for.

If she was a full time student and had to get to classes, or had a full time job to return to, a mortgage or lease to pay on a home etc etc etc.these are the sorts of ties to Canada they're looking for. If she has none of those, and a partner in the US, her ties to the US are greater, and she is a risk to stay illegally in their opinion. Unfortunately, when crossing borders, we're all suspicious and its up to each traveler to prove otherwise.

[Ferrariman]

Thanks for the reply. We plan to live in N.J. since I still have a few years til retirement. Idealy in the future (since we will both inherit the homes we live in) we would love to obtain dual citizenship and split our time between the U.S. and Canada.
She has just finished college and will be looking for work so hopefully this will help. Will being married to me make it easier?

[Reba]

No actually, being married will actually make it more difficult, because then she will have an incredibly difficult time to go to visit, or apply for non-immigrant visas.

If the plan is for her to move to NJ after a Canadian wedding, your best bet is to probably petition for a CR1 marriage based visa for her. This'll take about a year to process.

Check out http://www.visajourney.com for info on marriage based immigration to the US.

[samof69]

I might get into the same situation like you. Did she always tell them her relationship with you and for how long she would be staying?
Sent you a message. If you please contact me I may learn something from your experience.

Appreciate your help.

Thanks

[flames9]

I traveled numerous times to DC before starting the Visa (CR-1) paperwork and after. The thing with POE officers,its a carp shoot,lol They all differ, and they all seem to want different things! Do check out VisaJourney (VJ) it is an excellent site. The big 3 visa's they discuss on VJ are the:
K1 --fiance visa,--so your not married yet (and can't till you get the visa, around 6-7 months from start to finish)
K3 and cr-1 are for married people. Since she is In ontario, would just go with the CR-1! Takes about the same time to process (8 month to a year!) but it is a much better visa than the k3. If u check out VJ, you can see the differences
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index ... ge=compare

My advice when traveling to the USA:

1) Always tell the TRUTH. never lie to the POE officer
2) Be confident in ur replies
3)keep ur response short and to the point, dont tell ur life story!
4) look the POE officer in the eye when speaking to them. They are looking for people lying and have been trained to find them!
5)pack light! No job resumes with you
6) Bring ties to Canada (letter from employer when ur expected back at work, lease, etc etc)
7) Always be polite, being rude isnt going to get ya anywhere, and could make things worse!
have a plan in case u do get denied (be polite) It wont harm ur visa application if ur denied,that is if ur polite and didnt lie! Refer to #1

Best of luck

[samof69]

very helpful post flames. My problem is that we are not married and so all marriage based visas don't apply to us.

So even if the CBP denies someone they can still apply for other visas (J1 etc.) and that won't cause any problem? That is good to know.

But I guess (from what I read) if you get denied once, every time you try to cross the border they will get a bit suspicious.

[Steven]

I always get the third degree, I think they're just grouchy from low blood sugar because I usually cross at lunchtime. Either that or they're just bored and need someone to talk to.

One time I had this USCIS officer who was absolutely convinced (in her own head) that I was going to visit a girlfriend in the US and she even said to me: "it's okay to tell me, I won't deny you entry" - so why even ask me the question then?

The most idiotic thing to me is this assumption they always have that you might be entering to work illegally. Yeah, I'm going to travel FROM Alberta TO Montana to work illegally. Like that's going to happen. I'll go and work at the railroad yard in Shelby or go and work on a ranch for minimum wage. Or I know, I'll go and mine copper in Butte.

They move the USCIS officers around on postings I think, so often they seem to be unaware just how ridiculous some of the comments they're making seem to be.

"Ah, I see from your card that you work in IT, are you planning on doing any IT work in Montana during your stay?"

Oh yes of course I am, Montana is well-known as a hub of the IT industry. Jesus, my cellphone doesn't even work there because Verizon is the only local carrier and I can't roam on their network!

The funniest thing is when they're asleep, try crossing at a border crossing early in the morning. I went through Pearson Airport once and the CBSA officer who handled customs was out cold. She was behind plexiglass and couldn't hear me yelling, so eventually another CBSA officer saw me jumping up and down and went over and knocked on the glass.

And I went through a border crossing in Idaho where the CBP guy was dozing off and dribbling over himself.

Yes, we're in safe hands. Don't worry.