Overstayed on US visa - will this affect future trips?

D

Deelite

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Re: Immigration

Hi

I'm only new to this so I hope I'm in right location. 20 years ago I travelled to the US on a holiday visa - which I overstayed by about a year - I wan't deported or anything I just got homesick.

Now I intend to travel over on holiday to the States, but I am nervous that I will be stopped from entering because I overstayed visa.

I don't really want to contact the US Visa Department here as I don't wish to draw attention to the fact I overstayed. I hope I am explaining this right. If anybody can help - I would be very grateful...

Thanks
 
You may be OK but the only way to know for sure is to check in advance to avoid any nasty surprises.

As it happens my mother's passport still has the green I-94W form in her passport following a visit to the US via the land border with Canada. I presumed that this form was supposed to be collected on exit. Does the fact that she still has it suggest that she may be marked down as having never exited the US!?
 
If you do decide to risk it, make sure you fly out from either Dublin or Shannon. You can preclear US Immigration before you board the plane and if a problem arises at least you can turn around and go home.

If you are refused entry at a US airport you will be handcuffed and taken downtown before being deported the next day.
 
Clubman...same thing happened to me last week leaving los angeles.arrived home to see the little green form still in my passport.! such bother it causes!
 


Yes it is a problem! A big one !

If you check in advance satating you overstayed, you will be refused I would say, if you take the chance you may slip it as maybe as it was so long ago its not going to register???

A friend got a new passport using his name in Gaelic, worked for him ( pre 911 ) right now its major strict and too get caught is as polaris says wrth a night in the slammer at least.
 
Re: Immigration

20 years ago machine readable passports did not exist. I doubt there will be any problems for you now with a nice modern passport. Even so, the penalty for overstaying more than 180 days is exclusion for 10 years which is long up. I reckon your in the clear.


You have to be quite forceful with the Canadian border people to get them to take your green I94 and return it to the US CBP office. Normally if you are returning to the USA within a week they will not remove the I94 so that your re-entry to the USA is easier. But if you are not returning to the USA they are required to remove it and forward it to the CBP office. You sometimes must remind them to do so.
 
Re: Immigration

bond-007 said:
You have to be quite forceful with the Canadian border people
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I presume you mean the US broder people on the Canadian border?

Unfortunately my mother doesn't really have anything to prove that she left (e.g. the sort of documentation mentioned in the link that I posted earlier) so sorting this thing out could be hassle...
 
I know someone who overstayed by two days over ten years ago. They were sick and didn't inform the authorities. They were refued entry last year and now have to go to the embassy for an interview every time they want to go. That green peice of paper is sooooo important. If i were you I would contact the embassy ASAP and get it sorted.
 
Just out of interest how long do the u.s. authorities keep these records for.During my travels to the u.s. in the 80s i overstayed my visa a few times... haven`t been back since and don`t really need the hassle of visiting there but still curious.
In those times one needed a tourist visa at least and of course times were bad in ireland.
 
DON'T DO IT!!Get on to the U.S. embassy in Ballsbridge & sort out a visa-it's the only way!I know-it hapeened to us!
 
I have overstayed 3 times in the last 12 years and have not had any difficulty returning 3 times in the last 3 years!
 
Re: Immigration

ClubMan said:
I presume you mean the US broder people on the Canadian border?
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That's the problem - the US doesn't have exit controls, so there wouldn't be US border people stopping you on your way out.

The US Government knows that a lot of people's I-94s just are never collected, for whatever reasons. Even when you leave by plane, the airline staff don't always bother to collect and forward them, although they're supposed to. Until the past few years there was no sort of centralised database of who had entered so they wouldn't even have had any way of knowing whose I-94s weren't collected.
 
know someone who was in NY in January last. Same thing. got on to the embassy and had to bring proof she exited in Jan. She had a credit card statement showing purchases in Feby at home.
 
cuchulainn said:
know someone who was in NY in January last. Same thing. got on to the embassy and had to bring proof she exited in Jan. She had a credit card statement showing purchases in Feby at home.
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OK - I didn't know that they might take such circumstantial evidence that you were out of the country into account. Thanks for the tip.
 
ClubMan said:
OK - I didn't know that they might take such circumstantial evidence that you were out of the country into account. Thanks for the tip.
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As far as I know they take any kind of circumstancial evidence. Payslips, bank statements with transactions on them, credit card statements, rent receipts, letters from employers etc. Happened a friend of mine last year and she was all set for big battle. She basically sent it off with some docs and never heard anything back but she has been back to the States a few times since without a problem. I think it is a hit and miss system but I wouldn't want to end up wearing an orange jump suit on an Island off Cuba so would probably make some effort to sort it out.
 
I flew to the States in Feb last one of the group had overstayed by 4 days about 10 year ago. He had managed to enter the US once before after a bit of a chat. This time there was no way they would let him through as they said things had got very tight since 9/11 and he had to go home from Dublin. He was told that he would have to apply for a holiday visa to enter the States from now on.
 
If you don't play by their rules you will be barred from ever using the VWP again and have to be interviewed each time in the embassy at a cost of €100 a go.
 
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