Broadening the Scope of Border Inspection: Can it Help Your Case?

In a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision inspection compliance was broadened.  Border crossing that is procedurally regular can suffice. If there is no official record of entry into the United States, the task of having a successful application for adjustment of status can be difficult, but it is not impossible.   Proof of admission has generally been satisfied by either having an entry stamp in a valid passport or a Visa holder’s copy of their I-94 entry document. According to the Board's decision, proof is no longer limited to the stamps in a passport.
 

According to the facts of the case, a foreign national had been driven across the U.S. border by a U.S. citizen friend who was not her husband.  At the border, the customs officer asked the driver if he was a U.S. citizen. The friend responded that he was and the officer waived the car through without asking anything of the passenger.  Later the passenger married a U.S. citizen who filed for her.  Wife and her husband testified before the Immigration Judge about the wife’s border crossing. The Immigration Judge found that their testimony was credible but insufficient to prove inspection or to establish the time, place and manner of the wife’s entry.  Thus, he found wife ineligible to become a U.S. permanent resident and ordered her removed from the United States.

The wife appealed the Immigration Judge’s order to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which reviews decisions by an Immigration Judge.  The Board issued a decision that the wife did not need to be personally spoken to at the border.  The law requires only that she prove her entry was procedurally regular and does not require the foreign national to be questioned by immigration authorities or be admitted in a particular status. 
 

Border inspection is frequently difficult under unusual sets of events. Does this broader means of proof help you satisfy the requirement that you were inspected?  Discuss the strengths of your case with an experienced Immigration Law attorney at IBLF: (202) 296-1111 or http://www.iblf.com/.