There appears to be a trend of expedited removal proceedings initiated against aliens attempting to enter the USA on tourist visas. The following post is a brief summary of the situation.
In recent years, this author, and other attorneys, have noticed a major spike in expedited removals at ports of entry in the USA. Increasingly, it looks as though non-immigrant aliens are being denied entry to the USA on the ground that they are undisclosed immigrants without documentation. This may not be the result of any general policy change on the part of Immigration officers at the Customs and Border Protection Service or at the Department of Homeland Security. This being said, the situation does provide this writer with an opportunity to discuss expedited removal and its effect upon US family Immigration cases.
In the cases recently scrutinized by this author, the foreign national was detained while attempting to enter the USA on a US Tourist visa. In cases such as this, the foreign national was the significant other of an American Citizen. After being questioned about their travel intentions some were subjected to body searches, baggage searches, as well as lengthy detainment while Immigration officers decided what ought to be done with the prospective entrant. In many cases in the past the prospective entrant was accorded an opportunity to voluntarily withdraw their application for entrance, board a plane, and go back to their home country (the home country was usually Thailand in this author’s experience). Currently, there are increasing numbers of cases where CBP officers find an intending entrant inadmissible and uses expedited removal proceedings to deny them access to the USA. This results in the foreign loved one being barred from reentering the USA for at least 5 years.
How is it possible for a Border Protection agent to ban a loved one when they attempted to enter the USA using a validly issued visa? Pursuant to Section 302 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which became effective April 1st 1997, amending Section 235(b) of the INA, the Customs and Border Protection service was given the authority to impose expedited removal upon aliens attempting to enter the USA. In cases such as this, the most often noted reason for expedited removal of foreign loved ones trying to enter the US on tourist visas occurs in a case where the Customs and Border Protection official determines an alien with a tourist visa to be an “immigrant who is not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing identification card, or other valid entry document required by [The Immigration and Nationality Act], and a valid unexpired passport, or other suitable travel document, or document of identity and nationality if such document is required under the regulations.” [212(a)(7)(i)(1)]
Essentially, CBP seems to be using expedited removal when they believe an alien is secretly an intending immigrant using a tourist visa to quickly enter the United States and adjust status to permanent residence. This situation may be bypassed if an alien fiancee uses a K-1 visa to ask for admission to the USA. In instances regarding an alien spouse, an Immigrant visa or a K3 visa can be utilized to forestall expedited removal on the previously mentioned grounds.
Tags: K1 Visa, K1 Visa Thailand, K3 Visa Thailand, US Immigration Thailand, US Tourist Visa, US tourist visa thailand, US Visa, US Visa Thailand
