more then one year

[gidra]

If upon arrival to USA a green card holder tries to lie about time spent outside of the country how would they know at the time of entry that it had been more then one year? Do they scan your passport in advance at the time you leave? Or it’s just a matter of being honest? It’s like you have to tell them, right? Let’s say you managed to snick in the States after one year of absence. They say there is a possibility of the USCIS finding out about it later when the green card holder applies for citizenship? But how do they check it? I mean your records of leaving and coming back? If by passport stamps… Well, I didn’t get any stamp when I was leaving the States. Does it mean that upon my return they will not be able to determine the time I spent abroad?

[txh1b]

If you are trying to find or do something illegal, this is not the place.

There is something like a computer and entry/exit stamps on your passport from the country that you enter/leave. The burden of proof for claiming any immigration benefit is upon the alien and not USCIS.

[petr_]

It interests me to!

THe only way how they COULD know it is if they scanned your passport upon departure or wrote down Your name. If they did not, there is probably no way they could know.

ALso, if there is even just one border crossing where they don't scan / write Your name when You leave and come back, You can always say that You used this crossing [if You did - no lying of course ].

It would be good to check the rules when You depart / arrive on an yacht - perhaps there You can do so without any formalities?

Readers, please let us know about Your experiences when crossing the border. There is nothing illegal in sharing legal information, we just want to know how things work!!

[imafan4]

Good question. I have officially been told by a port of entry officer in Chicago that he has no way of knowing how long I've been outside the US, and he relies on my honesty to record the information on my passport.

Having said that, I know for a fact that the citizenship process will involve due diligence from the interviewing officer to check you passport for exit/entry stamps. If for instance, you departed the US in Nov 2008, and entered mainland china....there would be an entry stamp from China on your passport, and then you come back to the US in Nov 2009, then there is an exit stamp from China and an entry stamp from the US for Nov 2009. Officers have been known to check these to validate the amount of time you've spent outside/inside the US - to ensure that it is in line with what you're stating in your application.

If you've blatantly misrepresented the truth, and I will not try to pass my verdict on whether that is right or wrong - let's say you were out 2 years, and you said you were out only 7 months, there is a strong possibility that this will come back to haunt you.

Having said this, USCIS/INS/etc none of these organizations are very good at maintaining and recording information. Ideally they should have sufficient data that they can mine and share across entities (consulates, borders, ports of entry, etc) to know when someone is not being entirely honest...unfortunately for them, they haven't done this very well - even though the capital expenditure involved in this is not that significant - IMO.

Now that may be a good thing from where you're standing - my only advise to you - watch your back - be careful with maintaining your residency, particularly if US citizenship is a near term goal. The laws of this land are not entirely in favor of "permanent" residents, unless they are what they were intended to be "pemanently resident".

Cheers!!
PSX

[petr_]

Thank You, imafan4.

- I don't want a citizenship (just want to be able to come and to know that I will not get refused entry - which is just a dream in this Land of Freedom :-) (Gidra might want a citizenship, of course,,, but this thread might be useful for people like me too). The hardest part is - to my opinion, to BE ADMITTED again when entering the USA. You are then just so called "arriving alien" and you have NO rights - they can take your green card away, remove you, etc - and you are not entitled to be heard by immigration judge etc - you will simply be send back without your greencard if they please. If You come after one year and they will find out about it, that is.

- I am sure they do check the passport carefuly. If there were any compromiting stamps, it would be necessary to get a new passport - which would be MUCH cheaper and easier than to deal with the immigration catches.

- it is relieving to hear that the USCIS does not have consistent records. I am very sceptical though - I think that JUST NOW they might start to have much better order in their records - because they require EVERYBODY crossing the border (even over land) to carry some ID that proofs the citizenship or residency. Most of them are rfid or machine readable, so it will be easy to keep a RECORD of EVERY person entering or leaving the States. Oral declarations are not enough any more. There will be virtually NO way to enter or exit USA legally without them making a record of it.
And that is my big question: whether they LATELY make a RECORD of everybody's entry and exit [especially of permanent residents]. My guess is that they do, but I did not cross many times so I cannot tell.
I would even believe that air companies give them records of every flying passenger, and that they enter it into their database too. But land crossing are those that I am not sure about and that are the most promising from this point of view.