Problems At Customs (Detroit)

Hi everyone. I have a bf in the USA. I had crossed the border since Apr. 2007-Sept 2007 without incident. Until Sept 2007. They pulled my car and questioned me for about 20 min. They thought I was going to sneak over there illegally. I had sold a house and had bought another one here and had quit the job I had for 7 yrs. do yo relocation in Ontario. They did let me into the USA but instructed me to bring proof I own my house and also that I needed a full time job to enter again. That one incident scared me to death. They were so intimidating. I want to go back but I am not employed but yes I do own my own home. How much of a problem would this be? would they let me in the USA? If not, what do they do to you if you are denied. I'm clean. I've never broken the law in my life. I have a 19 yr. old son here attending college and am not going to just pick up and run away. Thanks in advance for any help. C.

Just take a copy of the title, copy of a utility bill with your name on it in case you get pulled over again. I have never been through the border by land into the US and not got sent to secondary inspection. They just want evidence you're not intending to move to the US.

Thanks Steven. But what about the employment issue. I have worked here off and on but nothing perm. The funny thing is I once went through customs holding my ID out the window and they never even looked at it. It's all frustrating. Didn't help either when they made me put my 12 yr old dog in one of their cages in the hot sun. But again .thanks for your advice.

There's no legal requirement you have employment (or anything else for that matter), they're just looking for significant ties, obviously proof of employment is a big one. If you don't have any employment obviously the USCIS guy will get a little suspicious so back it up with other evidence and an explanation as to why you don't have a job.

It's at their discretion really, the more you've got to show them the better it looks.

Last time I went through at Sweetgrass the USCIS officer was absolutely convinced I was going into the US to meet up with a gf, she grilled me for about ten minutes: "who do you know in the US" "who will you be staying with" "it's okay to tell me you've got a girlfriend here you know", etc. on and on.

I guess she couldn't believe anyone would visit Montana on their own.

If you've been grilled once, chances are it'll happen again, if they bother to look up your ID. If they deny your entry, they'll just tell you to turn around and go back home. If you piss them off and try to argue it, they could ban you, but that rarely happens. Much.

Just show that you have plenty of ties to Canada that you have to return to. Yes, having a job would be better, but as Steven said, its not required by law.

The main thing is that when we have significant others in a foreign country, they automatically consider that a very strong tie to that country. So we have to prove even stronger ties to our home country.

I don't argue. But I love my dog.

I ran into issues at the Buffalo border a couple years ago also. Basically these customs officers have more authority then a police officer. They can turn you away for no reason what so ever. You can't complain to anyone either. It's their call. I was turned away because of documents they wanted that I didn't have. I obtained the documents a few days later and then crossed near Detroit as there was a bad snow storm on the east coast and I didn't want to be driving in it. The agents the asked if I knew what "Border Shopping" was. I had no idea, first thing came to my mind was shopping at the duty free. They told me that their records showed I had tried to cross at Buffalo several days before and was denied. They said maybe I thought I would have better luck at this location to cross. I showed them everything I had and they finally asked to see my wallet. I handed it over to them and they searched through it completely. They found enough proof in it to believe I was not trying to move to the states as an illegal alien. Was a very stressful ordeal.

Bob

I always get grilled. Well, nearly always, I do okay crossing into Idaho. Sometimes I feel like spitting out: "Why the hell would I want to illegally immigrate into Montana? So I can work on a ranch and sit in a coma at a casino gambling all my money away at the weekend? Woop-te-do."