I Was Denied Entry to USA, Now What?
Form I-212
Form I-212 is necessary for those individuals who have been removed or deported. It is the application to apply for permission in order to reapply for admission into the United States. The purpose of this form is for an alien who is inadmissible under section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act will fill out the form to gain consent to reapply for admission. This is required before the person can legally return to the United States.
This form is necessary because returning to the country unlawfully, including a return without admission and returning without obtaining consent to reapply can have consequences. If you are required to obtain consent in order to reapply, but you do not, your removal order can be reinstated and you may be prosecuted in a criminal court and end up permanently barred from being admitted into the United States.
This form is necessary for several people including:
· If you are inadmissible under section 212a or C of the INA
· Applicants who are applying for an immigrant visa
· Applicant who is applying for an adjustment under section 245 of INA
Applicants who are seeking admission as a nonimmigrant at a port of entry for the United States, but is not required to acquire a non-immigrant visa. For those who are applying for a non-immigrant visa at an U.S. consulate and you need consent in order to reapply because you are inadmissible, the consulate that has jurisdiction over the visa application will tell you how you need to request consent in order to reapply. In this situation you may not be able to required to file this form to receive consent.
For those who are inadmissible according to section 212a9C, you can file this form if you are applying for an immigrant visa or if you are wishing to seek admission as a non-immigrant at a port of entry for the U.S., but do not need to acquire a non-immigrant visa.
This form cannot be filed while you are still in the United States if you are inadmissible under section 212a9C of the INA.
This form only has to be filed by person who was actually removed from the U.S. This also applies to those individuals who departed from the United States on their own after there was an order for their removal in place. This form has to be filed if you want to return to the United States during a period that is specified in section 212 in INA.
If you were removed as an inadmissible alien through an expedited removal proceeding that was initiated when you arrived at the port of entry you will need to fill out this form and all of the necessary paperwork.
The time frame that you must contain consent in order to reapply is 5 years if you were removed a single time and 20 years if you have been removed two or more times. If you were removed as an arriving alien and you are an alien that has been convicted of an aggravated felony you are inadmissible forever. You have to obtain consent to reapply for admission, even if you have not been removed because of the felony conviction and even if you were not convicted of the aggravated felony after you left the United States.
The paperwork that is provided to you when you are removed from the United States will tell you the provisions and INA sections that you were removed on as an alien arriving in the country. If the required time has passed since you were removed, you will no longer need to fill out this application. If you are criminally inadmissible to USA, you will not be able to enter the country without a US Entry Waiver!
A person is not required to file for consent if they have been denied admission and removed from the country and they were inadmissible under section 212 of INA, but you have stayed outside of the United States for the entire period that is specified.
Applicants for a non-immigrant visa or an applicant for non-resident border crossing cards. In these situations the consulate with jurisdiction over the visa application will tell you how to request consent to reapply for entry.
You do not have to submit this application if you were allowed to take back your application for admission at the border and you left the United States within the specified time or if you were refused entry at the border, but you were not formally removed or if you were refused admission when applying under the Visa waiver program.
Filing Instructions
If you have read the above and find that you need to apply for permission to reapply for admission there are several steps that you need to take.
First, the application should be filled out either in type or in black ink, if extra space is necessary for any of the items you will need to attach it to a continuation sheet, write down the item number, and make sure the sheets are dated and signed. Make sure that all of the questions are answered completely. You must sign the form yourself. If you have someone help you prepare the document, such as an immigration lawyer, they must sign the document as well.
There are several items of evidence that you will need to submit with the application. This includes:
· Any documentation or correspondence that you possess that relate to your removal or deportation. Keep the originals for your records.
· If a relative who is under the age of 18 is listed on the form, you have to submit documentary evidence of the relationship with that individual. If the person is not a citizen of the United States you need to provide their full name, date of birth, place of birth, and place of admission to the U.S. and their A-number if it is known.
· You must submit evidence of your unlawful presence in the United States and your removal. This must include the date that you departed from the U.S. or the date that you tried to enter the United States and were not admitted as well as your last departure from the United States. Circumstantial evidence relating to your departure may also be submitted as well as evidence of being absent from the U.S. over the past 10 years.
· Evidence may include, but is not limited to, entry and exit stamps, residence registration, airplane tickets, residence information or registration. All evidence will be considered and there is not a specific type of evidence required to prove that you were absent from the U.S.
In addition to this evidence, you will also need to submit: proof of citizenship, which could be in the form of a birth certificate, naturalization certificate, passport, or a citizenship card that has a photograph. You may not use your driver’s license as proof for citizenship, but it can be used with another document. You also need to include the form G-325A, biography information, that is signed and dated. If you have used a name other than your full legal name, you must list them. This includes names from previous marriages. Copies of divorce decrees, marriage certificates, etc. should be included.
The application should also include your official police record or evidence that there is no police record in existence. Canadians will be able to obtain this information form the Royal Canadian Mounted Policy by offering your fingerprints on a form C-216C. The product will be returned and all the records need to be dated and endorsed by the RCMP within 15 months of being submitted.
Any other evidence that supports your application should be submitted as well. Remember, the approval of the application is up to the discretion of the agency that has jurisdiction over it. The more evidence that is supplied to them the better.
The fee for the application for permission to reapply for admission into the United States after removal or deportation is $585. This fee must be submitted along with the application in order for it to be considered.
Form I-601
A person who is ineligible for admittance to the United States as an immigrant or who wants to adjust their status in the United States as well as some nonimmigrant applicants who are inadmissible, will need to file the form I-601. This is an application for a waiver of grounds of inadmissibility and must be used to seek a waiver for certain grounds that make a person inadmissible to the United States.
This form can be filed by the following individuals:
· Immigrant visa applicants located outside of the United states who have had a visa interview with an officer and were found to be inadmissible
· Any applicant seeking an adjustment of status
· K-1 and K-2 nonimmigrants applicants who are located outside of the United States and have had an interview with the consular officer and were found to be inadmissible
· K-3 and K-4 or V nonimmigrant visa applicants who are located outside of the United States and have had an interview with a consular officer and found to be inadmissible.
· Temporary protected status applicants
· NACARA applicants
· Haitian Refugee Immigrant Fairness Act applicants
· Violence against Women Act self-petitioners who are applying for an adjustment of their status or for an immigrant Visa.
· T nonimmigrants who are applying for an adjustment of their status and are inadmissible on the ground that they have not already been waived in connection with their T nonimmigrant status.
In addition, those who are seeking a waiver based on the following grounds of inadmissibility:
- Health related grounds
- Membership in the Totalitarian Party
- Some criminal grounds
- Immigration misrepresentation or immigration fraud. However, if you have falsely claimed to be a citizen of the United States, and this claim was made after September of 1996, you are not eligible for a waiver.
- Smugglers
- The three or ten year bard because of a previous unlawful presence in the U.S.
- Certain other grounds of inadmissibility, if they are filed by an applicant for TPS.
- INA section 212 for aliens that are previously removed or those who are unlawfully present after having previous immigration violations if filed by a HRIFA or NACARA adjustment applicant.
- INA section 212 for VAWA self-petitioners
- T nonimmigrant visa status holders who are applying for adjustment of their status may be given a waiver of section 212 public health and section 212 regarding public charges, and other grounds of inadmissibility with the following exclusions: grounds that are no eligible for waivers under security related grounds, for international child abductors, and for former citizens of the United States that renounced their citizenship in order to avoid paying taxes.
How Long are Waivers Valid?
In most cases, if you apply for a waiver of grounds of inadmissibility in connection with an application for an immigrant adjustment of status or an immigrant visa, and the waiver is granted, it will be valid indefinitely even if you do not obtain adjustment of status, immigrant admission, or your immigrant visa, or if you lose your legal permanent resident status. There are several exceptions to certain waivers that have limited certain benefits or are conditional.
Convention Adoptee: if the waiver is obtained in connection with form I-800, which is a petition to classify convention adoptee, as an immediate relative, your waiver approval will be conditioned upon the final issuance of nonimmigrant or immigrant visa based on your final approval of form I-800. Majority of the people traveling from Canada to USA are not immigrants (they don't plan on "becoming American"), but even just to travel across the border can require a USA waiver. Canadians who have a crime involving moral turpitude on their rap sheet require a Waiver that enables US Criminal Entry in order to be accepted by the United States border officials as safe for entering.
K Nonimmigrant Visa Applicants: if the waiver is obtained in connection with a K-1 or K-2 nonimmigrant visa, the approval of the waiver will depend on the marriage of the k-1 visa applicant and the K-1 petitioner after the nonimmigrant K-1 visa applicant is admitted into the United States.
Conditional Residents: If you receive a waiver that is connected with an application for lawful permanent residence on a conditional basis, the validity of the waiver will end when the termination of the residence ends. There is no separate notification of termination of the waiver is needed and the end of the waiver cannot be appealed. However, if the immigration judge finds that you are not removable based on the end of your conditional resident status, the waiver will once again be effective.
TPS Applicants: if you receive a waiver in connection with the form I-821, which is the application for temporary protected status, the waiver will only be valid during the TPS application. If the waiver is granted it will apply to all subsequent TPS re-registration applications, but will not apply to any of the other immigration benefit applications.
Application Instructions
Each application will need to be signed properly and accompanied with the appropriate fees or a fee waiver request if a request can be filed for this particular benefit. The current filing fee for the I-601 application is $585. A photocopy of the signed application or a typewritten name instead of a signature will not be accepted.
You will need to submit all of the required evidence along with the application. This must include any supporting documentation. Copies can be used in place of originals unless it has been specified otherwise. An original document that is submitted when it is not required may be kept as part of the record and is not automatically returned.
If any of the documents contain a foreign language, you will need to have a full English translation provided as well. The translator must be certified and mark the translated document as accurate and complete.