Short version: The law is unclear and inconsistently applied. You may be stopped, or you may be let though with a smile.
So yesterday started off the same as Wednesday:
February 11 15, 2009. At Dorval airport. Going to Washington DC to see my son, meet with a client, and then on to Seattle for a week-long consulting gig for another client. Fill out immigration card. Primary purpose of travel? Business. Get boarding pass, head to immigration.
But ended up totally totally different:
The line is unbelievably long, running out of the main room and into the hallway outside. Even thought I’m two hours early I’m worried about missing my flight — especially since I have to go through the whole TN-1 rigamaroll. I’m annoyed with myself for not getting here earlier. Now nothing to do but wait. When it’s my turn I’m planning to immediately tell the immigration officer that I have to apply for a TN-1. I’m not really pleased about having to get a visa because I think I should be able to have US clients without all this bullshit and also think (not sure) that it means I may have to file taxes with the IRS. Ugh.
Other than the timing I’m calm because I’m not alone — you’re there with me. Beyond the public comments on my last post I received many supportive emails. I even on purpose did not follow the online advice to “dress professionally” for my TN-1 interview — although I don’t look like a bag lady or anything (more “Mile-End hipster-chic” — can’t help it.) I’ve warned Liam ahead of time that the TN-1 application may be rejected so he knows we may need to re-schedule. I also know that if I’m treated badly my story will spread further. (Disturbing but true; the mainstream media knows this already. People like dramatic stories.) So my attitude is detached, like I’m watching it happen to me. Bring it on.
While waiting in line I get an idea: Let’s conduct an experiment. What if I go through and say exactly the same thing that I said last time? What if I don’t tell the officer I need to apply for a visa and see if he sends me to The Side Room, like last time. If he doesn’t I don’t need to figure out the whole IRS thing. Oooooooh. Good idea, Christine. Let’s see what happens.
My turn. The immigration officer is a 30- or 40-something guy with short brown hair. (Sorry, so focused on my experiment that I don’t look at his name badge.) The conversation goes something like this:
— Where are you going?
— To Washington DC to see my son and then to Seattle for a week of meetings with a client. [Not sure if I used the word "work". Flaw in experimental design.]
— [Officer is flipping through my very-full passport...] Have you ever lived in the United States?
— Yes. For thirteen years.
— You had a green card?
— Yes. I gave it back.
— Why?
— Because I wanted to come home.
— Did you fill out the form?
— Yes. I forget the name of it.
— [Officer finds page that indicates I've revoked my resident alien status.] It’s here.
— That’s it. Form 407.
— Okay. Next time you come though tell the officer to look on page ten.
— Okay, thanks.
— Have a good trip.
— Thanks, bye.
WHAT THE FUCK?! No Side Room. No song and dance about displacing American Workers. No interrogation on what I do. I’m pleased, of course. I go though to security. Then I get super angry. Dammit: Time with Liam lost. Taxi fare to and from airport lost. Billable hours lost. Awesome Client time and money lost preparing and delivering documents. Jerks. Just tell me what the fucking law is so that I can comply. Get your story straight. This is ludicrous.
So now I’m in DC, with Liam at Modern Times, my favorite coffeehouse below Politics and Prose. He’s happily reading a book next to me, reaching over to touch my arm from time to time. I ask him what he thinks of all this: “It’s crazy.”
Yep.
February 15th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Congrats on winning at the Russian Roulette game this time. Have a great trip. :)
February 15th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Wow Christine!!! let’s talk about this the next time I see you at StationC. This is totally the same exact deja-vu experience I had about 3 months ago.
Incredible… Same questions, same answers, totally different results…
L8er – Martin
February 15th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
@Martin. Yeah would love to hear what happened to you. Sorry did not call you on Thurs or Friday. Was in hide-at-home mode after Wednesday’s events.
February 18th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
That’s no surprise. Security is haphazard (I often forget about a bottle of hand sanitizer in my carry-on–nine times out of ten screeners don’t notice it); why should immigration be any different?
May 13th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
those american customs guys on canadian soil are EVIL. they have them in pearson too. i had one guy who threatened to have me arrested because i didn’t have the exact address of where i was going in the states and i wanted clarification on what i needed to do. he said “if you don’t leave this line immediately, i’ll have you arrested” which, he can’t, there’s a big sign saying youre on canadian soil and you can leave at any time.
i got this jolly fellow again a few months later, and he harassed me for something else even more minor and suggested that i’d probably want to illegally go live in the states. right (i’m canadian!)
assholes.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:58 am
I am coming in late on this, but cannot help wondering if we tend to view these experiences through our own filters and situations. In Chapter 1 of this saga, you inadvertently stepped into a situation that US immigration cannot address in a straightforward manner, namely the exporting of service jobs to “foreign-based” companies (I guess we have to admit Canada is a foreign country, despite everything we see…) You don’t have to be in the US to work for Awesome company in this day and age. Yes you need to “meet” with them, but even that can be done via telecomm and email and whatever this medium is I am typing into. There are probably laws they want to enforce given our collapsed economy, and there are also virtual foreign workers like you, that they cannot stop.
We employ a Canadian citizen to work in Rwanda. In effect he stole a job that could have gone to US citizen X, or UK citizen Y (the work in funded by DFID, but they have “open” procurement, meaning they don’t have a “buy-America” stamp on their foreign aid.) He still has to travel to Kigali and stay there. Does Rwanda say: you cannot work here and displace Rwanda workers? No, they accept the fact that other wealthy countries can export “smart” people to help them “run” their country better, In fact, when US companies send their consultants overseas on development projects, we are doing the same thing as you did. Yes, we pay a “business visa” ($100!!) to come in, stay at a nice hotel, do our stuff and leave after 5 days, etc. Its’ all the same, but I haven’t seen Rwandans or anyone else kick out US foreign aid “workers” or “Consultants”. T’as compris?
In scenario 2, you found out there is a “safe door” for your situation..they even have a form for it..because you once had a green card (it’s blue now), and maybe because Liam lives here. So the lesson is, next time don’t give a bureaucracy an even chance..you say you are going to DC to see Liam and then to Seattle to enjoy their awesome expresso-gas stations and beautiful vistas..leave out working for the Awesome Company story… it’s honest, but does not serve you, Liam or Awesome Company… it’s the same tale we tell the foreign immigration guys when we arrive in Kigali or Bamako, to avoid paying the business visa, and to come in as “tourists”.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
This is an incredible story — I’m happy I didn’t read this right before going to the US to visit our clients!
Do you have to answer absolutely everything regarding your client’s operations, or is there a limit to the amount of specific detail you have to give? This is especially important if you are required through an NDA to keep a client’s operational/financial information confidential and would be in potential breach of breaking it in order to answer questions which seem irrelevant.
Anyway, glad you got it sorted out in the end!
August 13th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
To any other non-resident alien thinking about blogging up their hairy experiences with US immigration non-anonymously: Think twice. The agents nowadays make extensive use of google to validate stories, and gauge intent, and if your internet self-publication or Twitter status trail or whatever gives a whiff of a minor misrepresentation, even on an earlier visit, they have grounds to bar you entry to the US for 25 years. At best, you risk coming off as a troublemaker, which will predispose agents to bend any permissible discretion they have against you. Play it safe; in this one sphere, restrain your Web 2.0 reflex to tell the world about everything that happens to you. It is just too easy to have it blow up in your face, with irreversible consequences.
- DaBear (Canadian with 15 years of US work permit experience)
August 19th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Maybe I’m an idealist — and I understand there are risks to blogging — but I think my intent here is very clear: To comply with the law. I’ve never mis-represented my reasons for crossing the border. What was so hairy about this situation was the lack of clarity. The confusion. I am fully qualified for a TN-1 visa — what remains unclear is whether or not I need one.
I lived in the US for 13 years. My son is American. And I trust that the folks working at the border believe in free speech, and of the importance of critiquing outdated or inconsistently applied laws.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:02 am
Update: Last Saturday I traded $53 for a TN-1 visa. Lovely guys at the border gave it to me in 15 minutes flat. I was preparing to wait for hours. Aaaaah, life is full of mystery ;)
September 30th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Hi Christine:
Greetings from India. I’ve been here for several months and am loving it. I thought of you the other day and decided to poke around the internet to look for you. Your visa story sounds nuts. Hope all is well.
Cheers,
~Sue
October 16th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
My situation is even weirder… My husband lives in the US and is a US citizen, I’m Canadian and live in Canada (going through immigration process right now, bringing HIM to Canada) I go throught every single week-end and have done so for over a year. Well, today they stopped me and said “Whe have Issues”. My husband runs a company called VersaCore, in Massena, New York. I operate VersaCore Tech Designs, in Cornwall Ontario. He does his work (although there IS no work in Massena) with US clients and I take care of Canadian clients. Now to save costs, we have 1 website. We are both programmers, web designer, graphic people, so we do both the same thing. Our business cards also give our 800 number, which redirects to either canada or the states depending on where the client is from, and says “Montreal, Ottawa, Corwnall, Massena, San Antonio” Well that’s the reason why they told me “We Have Issues”. Supposedely, the business card is proof that I do business in the US. No, I said, I do business in Canada. My husband does business in the States. I don’t work in the States. It doesn’t matter, they said, your website makes it look like it’s one company, you need two separate website and different business cards. You also need to bring your and your husband’s DBA, list of clients, proof of doing business in Canada, etc. next week with you at crossing or we will refuse you entry. NOW I DON’T EVEN DO BUSINESS THERE! I cross every Friday night at 5PM… Is that the time to do business you think? The Week-End? I just want my kids to see their father for crying out loud…
Now you are telling me that according to this first border agent, you can have clients if an American is doing the work? So theoretically, me having clients in the State is irrelevant as long as my husband does the work???
Sorry to be venting, but…
I was just curious to know if you have found the actual statutes or a reference to the law somewhere that says that?
jmlucio@versacore.info (not for long because I might have to now change my company name!)
November 21st, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Interesting. Here’s my story:
- I am retired, living exclusively off my investment portfolio
- I have traveled extensively throughout the States my entire adult life as I am married to a US citizen.
- For the last 8 years I have vacationed in central AZ for periods of the winter, living in my motorhome. (Snowbirds do that sort of thing).
- I spend a load of money having a wonderful time there every year.
- I cross the border every year at the same Point-of-Entry.
- Every year, it’s all about “working”. What do I do? How do I live? Why do I have so much fancy (read expensive) photography and sporting equipment.
- Oh, you have a website? With a few of your photo’s posted? And people “can” buy them if they want? No sir, it doesn’t matter you offer the original data-file for free, if you’re selling any pictures on-line taken “anywhere in the US, you’re working illegally!”
- Oh, and you admit that sometimes before you can step up to the window with money, a friend beats you to it and pays for your sporting day? Well then, you are being “compensated” for your time, effort, skill, and you’ve been “working illegally” in the US.
- Oh, you’ve been doing this for… 8 years you say?
- Well then sir, you just won the prize behind Door Number 3: Expedited Removal, complete with a 5-year ban from re-entry. Let us escort you back to Canadian Customs (20 yards away), and by the way, do you mind if I keep one of those beautiful 8×10 prints in your motorhome?
A lovely way to spend 11.5 hours of my day on Thanksgiving 2009.
And there does not seem to be a mechanism in place to appeal this nonsense.