Quote:
Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident
Its clear what I asked, which goes to the point of whether the man "scammed" the system or had simply been living up to the terms of his visa prior to the Canadian incident. Even if his earlier behavior violated the spirit of the law, that doesn't mean that his actions actually ran afoul of the law.
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There is no law as you would routinely think of laws applied.
Border agents have full discretion to deny entry on a mere suspicion or "gut instinct". That is their job description.
American border agents routinely deny Canadians entry if they suspect you might be going down to overstay, have no preliminary destination address, and the biggy "I'm just hiking around seeing the sights" ooopsy ....no can do! Canadians enjoy the reciprocal arrangement with Americans of not having to formally apply for a visitor visa but you are assumed to be operating within the confines of one nevertheless.
This guy showed up at the Canadian border entry and we have no way of knowing if he had an address already arranged for his first destination. Regardless, if he showed up without proof of ability to support himself (funds in hand or on deposit) WITHOUT resorting to temp employment in Canada or without proof of intent to leave within specified period of time; it has no impact whether or not Canadian officials thought he might be denied re-entry to the U.S. or not. That in essence had nothing whatsoever to do with their decision, as he could always be sent home direct to Australia.
He simply failed to subscribe to those norms of entry that Canadians and Americans have to subscribe to when required to satisfy border agents on either side going either way. This guy is not privileged beyond those considerations due to him being Australian.
I've been a wintering snowbird in Florida since the winter of 1999 and can assure you my wife and I have been subjected to every conceivable question and requirement of proof you can imagine that we have no intention of working illegally, overstaying our "assumed" visitor visa, or otherwise becoming a burden upon the American taxpayer.
We have learned, along with passports, to carry with us:
Most recent Canadian income tax filing.
Bank statements of all Canadian accounts.
Copy of Property Tax assessment and current utility bills for properties owned in Canada.
Along with:
Copy of title of house owned in Florida.
Current utility bills for said property.
Copy of title for Car with current insurance.
Bank statements for accounts held in the U.S.
Current cards for "out of province healthcare" (travel insurance)
The Canadian stuff is required to prove we have a "substantial presence" established in Canada and therefore could be assumed to want to return to it. The American stuff is to prove we have no need of attaining employment to sustain our presence and lifestyle in the U.S. along with proof we will never likely become a burden upon the American taxpayer on any way shape or form.
All of the above have at one time or another been requested.
The one stumbling block we routinely get sent to secondary for is our choice of direct flight out from a local airport precludes us the ability to book a return flight until early spring as they only set up a gate with all of the customs/TSA/inspection for arrivals during the high density periods of snowbird travel of early fall leavings and early spring returns.
I can assure all of you that if the agent, even viewing all of that information, is having a bad day or still doubts our motives, he can in a Minnesota minute stamp "entry denied" on our passports and that would bring an end to our snowbirding for at least a five year period of getting it all straightened out.
This young fellow has now been denied entry to Canada and that will be entered into BOTH Canada and the U.S. shared information database which will in all likelihood put the boots to his maintaining his U.S. visa.
Young people can be rather stupid at times.