THE LATEST FROM SRW BORDER BLOG

Canadian Citizen Receives Third I-192 Waiver Approval!

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Just this week, the SRW Border team received an approval notice from the Admissibility Review Office (ARO) confirming that our client’s third I-192 waiver application had been approved!  

Our client requires this non-immigrant waiver because he is inadmissible to the United States under INA §212 for a 1994 conviction for Accessory After the Fact and Theft Over $1,000 under the Canadian Criminal Code. Despite the fact that it has been over eighteen years since this foreign conviction, he continues to require a non-immigrant waiver to enter the U.S. (the passage of time does not abolish or forgive his conviction under U.S. immigration law).  

In adjudicating I-192 waiver applications, the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) has articulated three factors to be considered by the ARO: (1) the risk of harm to society if the applicant is admitted; (2) the seriousness of the applicant’s immigration or criminal law violations; and (3) the nature of the applicant’s reasons for wishing to enter the United States.  Click the following link for additional information on I-192 waivers: Form I-192.

When preparing his waiver renewal application, we prepared a thorough legal brief which addressed the factors set forth by the BIA and applied the factors to our clients situation.  Specifically, we explained the clients background and the circumstances that led to his being inadmissible to the U.S., highlighted his successful rehabilitation and remorse for his actions, confirmed his previous waiver approvals and ongoing compliance with U.S. immigration laws, and explained his continued desire to enter the U.S. to see his family.  Our client can now continue entering the U.S. for business visitor and leisure activities.

ARO Reports Current Average Waiver Processing Times of 120 days

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Earlier today, we learned that the ARO is currently reporting an average processing time of 120 days to adjudicate waiver requests pending before them (I-192's, I-212's, INA §212(d)(3) favorable recommendations from Consulates around the world) in response to an inquiry we had placed with their office a few weeks ago (The ARO does not generally post processing times). Unfortunately, while the 120 day represents an 'average' it is not a guarantee that waiver requests will be processed within this timeframe, given security background checks, etc. Most recently, we have seen waiver approvals ranging from a time period of 2 months, 4 months and even longer.

CBP Updates Records to Confirm Canadian Client Was a Victim of Identity Theft and is Not Inadmissible

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You may have heard about identity theft of credit cards, bank information and other financial transactions. Have you ever heard about identity theft causing troubles relating to port of entry matters? Our office was recently approached by a Canadian citizen who recently attempted to enter the United States in order to attend a concert with a group of friends when he was unexpectedly bared for “criminality”. It was not until he returned to the Canadian side where he was informed by Canadian immigration officials that there was an outstanding warrant against him for a significant amount of theft.  

After speaking with Canadian authorities, our client was able to deduce that the thief was using the client’s old driver’s license because the address provided to the Canadian authorities by the thief at the time of the arrest was a previous address used by our client.  The Canadian clients’ first course of action had been to engage a Canadian criminal defense lawyer to help him resolve the outstanding criminal charges. The government prosecutor, referred to as “the crown”, after being shown evidence that our client was indeed in Mexico at the time of theft incident, agreed that this was a case of identity theft and all of the charges against our client were subsequently withdrawn.

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TN’s for Management Consultants Approved after Previous Refusals

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Our office recently successfully reversed denials for two (2) Canadian applicants as Management Consultants (a TN classification).  Both applicants had been faced with similar refusals at pre-inspection locations at Canadian airports – the reason being that CBP officers believed that both applicants were going to be engaged in hands-on managerial duties rather than just acting in an advisory capacity (per the Management Consultant provisions). 

In the first case, the CBP officer suspected that the applicant was attempting to use the Management Consultant classification to circumvent the necessity of an H-1B visa.  Specifically, given that H-1B visas were quickly running out and even if approved, could not begin until October, that the applicant was attempting to use the Management Consultant classification as a bridge until the H-1B would be available.  While the applicant was in possession of a pre-signed management consultant agreement at the time of his denial, he was never provided an opportunity to explain and present his documentation.  At that time, he was allowed to withdraw his application for entry and was refused admission.  

In the second case, the CBP officer suspected that the applicant was truly a manager and did not fit the description of a Management Consultant.  Additionally, CBP denied the applicant admission as a TN because the applicant had set up his own company for tax purposes (however, the company was not his prospective TN employer).  

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