CBP Guidance on Port of Entry Issues
Posted Apr 15, 2005
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The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) issued guidance to its directors of field operations and pre-clearance operations in March 2005, covering a number of port-of-entry issues. This is a summary of portions of the CBP Guidance that we believe may be of interest to MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers.
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Processing Advance Parole at the Port
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If the CBP officer is satisfied that an individual is admissible on advance parole, the CBP officer must endorse the I-94 card with a parole stamp, indicate the basis of parole, the date the person is paroled, the date of action, the port of entry, and the CBP officer's stamp number. This information should also be placed in the action block on the advance parole and in the person's passport.
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If an individual has advance parole that is valid for multiple entries, one copy is generally kept by the CBP officer and the other copy/ies are kept by the person who has the advance parole. If the individual has only one copy of a multiple-entry advance parole document remaining, the CBP officer should make a copy of the document and return the original to that individual. As a practical tip, one who is in this situation should make a copy in advance so that s/he can offer this to the officer to try to save time and effort after a long and often tiring international journey.
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Processing Initial Entry of a Child of LPR
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If a child is making his/her first entry into the United States as a lawful permanent resident (LPR), the CBP officer must complete a Form I-181, Memorandum of Creation of Record of Lawful Permanent Residence, for the child. A child is permitted into the U.S. without an immigrant visa as a new immigrant in certain, limited situations. This visa exemption arises if the child is born to an accompanying parent after issuance of an immigrant visa to the parent but before the parent's initial admission to the U.S. (Essentially, the child is born abroad after the parent/s obtain their immigrant visas in their passports, but before they come into the U.S. as immigrants.) The visa exemption also exists for children born abroad if they are under 2 years old and were born during a lawful permanent resident mother's temporary absence from the U.S. In order to qualify for this benefit, the child must be accompanied by the parent upon the first return of the parent to the U.S. following the birth of the child. The parent must be able to establish evidence of the parentage of the child and the parent's own evidence of being an LPR. The child will get a temporary I-551 stamp in the passport upon entry to the U.S. The CBP officer should also take a copy of the birth certificate to submit with the Form I-89 and Form I-181 to request the creation of the physical "green card" for the child.
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Procedure for Correcting Errors on the I-94 Card
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As regular readers of MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin know, the I-94 card is the little white card (green color card for visa waiver applicants), given at the port of entry, which indicates the status and the validity of a person's ability to remain in the U.S. The new admission stamps that the CBP now uses on the I-94 cards do not have a date prior to 2005. There have therefore been some problems updating records that have errors where a date prior to 2005 should be indicated on the I-94 card. To fix these errors, the CBP officers have been directed to set the admission stamp Date Admitted section to the blank portion of the stamp wheel. The CBP Officer may then write in the correct year and initial it. This procedure is for errors that occurred prior to 2005 only. All errors from 2005 hence may be corrected by backdating the stamp to the correct date. Persons needing corrections may go to their local port of entry or deferred inspection office and need not return to the port or deferred inspection office that originally issued the erroneous I-94 card. In addition to updating the I-94 card, the CBP officer should also update any relevant Interagency Border Inspection System record.
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Admissibility Review Office Issues Waivers and Authorizes Boarding Letters
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The CBP has opened an Admissibility Review Office (ARO) that will work with the U.S. Department of State (DOS) to determine whether persons who are legally inadmissible will be permitted to travel to the U.S. as nonimmigrants with waivers. The ARO will receive nonimmigrant waiver recommendations from the consulates. Additionally, as a separate function, the ARO will provide authorizations to the DOS when the DOS needs to issue boarding letters. Boarding letters permit airlines / ships to return U.S. lawful permanent residents to the U.S. from overseas in those situations where the green cards have been lost or stolen.
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H2B Petitions
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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) normally processes H2B petitions. The CBP in the land border ports of New York, Vermont, and Maine may process H2B petitions for musicians who will be performing in the United States for 30 days or less and reside within 50 miles of the Canadian border. The CBP issued a notice that, since the H2B cap has been reached for FY2005, these ports should only process extensions or petitions to change the terms of employment at this time, and should not process any petitions that are subject to the FY2005 cap.
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DS-2019s Endorsements for Dependents of J-1s
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The CBP has updated their Inspector's Field Manual to include that a J-2's DS-2019 should be endorsed with an admission stamp, the class of admission, and the authorized period of stay in the space provided. J-2s are usually marked as Duration of Status (D/S) unless the J-1's stay is limited for any reason.
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Admissions for Persons with HIV Attending the HIV / AIDs International Conference
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Normally, persons who have been diagnosed with HIV are not admissible to the U.S. There are certain waivers available to overcome this inadmissibility requirement. In addition, the USCIS may provide a blanket waiver for certain instances and has done so for those persons planning to attend an international conference on HIV / AIDS sponsored by the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada from July 21-26, 2005. The travel period for which the waiver is applicable is July 19-29, 2005. These individuals will be granted a waiver if they are transiting through the U.S. on C-1 visas and have proof of registration or invitations for the UFMCC conference.
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Conclusion
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The CBP has been active recently in issuing various announcements and memos of considerable importance. We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy will continue to update MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers on such important CBP guidance.