ESTA question
Jun 2, 2011 | 4:22 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
ESTA question
Recently flew to Seattle from LHR on the ESTA scheme, got stamped for 90 days at Seattle airport, stayed there for a few days, then caught train to Vancouver and spent about 10 days in Canada and flew home from Montreal.
Question. You used to get the green form stapled to your passport, but that seems not to happen now. How does the US immigration system know I have left and am not going to be flagged up as overstaying?
Do I have to do anything?
Or will my departure from Montreal be flagged up as leaving the US?
Question. You used to get the green form stapled to your passport, but that seems not to happen now. How does the US immigration system know I have left and am not going to be flagged up as overstaying?
Do I have to do anything?
Or will my departure from Montreal be flagged up as leaving the US?
Jun 2, 2011 | 11:36 pm
#2
Moderator: Hyatt Gold Passport & Star Alliance
Join Date: May 1998
Location: London, UK
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Recently flew to Seattle from LHR on the ESTA scheme, got stamped for 90 days at Seattle airport, stayed there for a few days, then caught train to Vancouver and spent about 10 days in Canada and flew home from Montreal.
Question. You used to get the green form stapled to your passport, but that seems not to happen now. How does the US immigration system know I have left and am not going to be flagged up as overstaying?
Do I have to do anything?
Or will my departure from Montreal be flagged up as leaving the US?
Question. You used to get the green form stapled to your passport, but that seems not to happen now. How does the US immigration system know I have left and am not going to be flagged up as overstaying?
Do I have to do anything?
Or will my departure from Montreal be flagged up as leaving the US?
Jun 2, 2011 | 11:59 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2002
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Does Amtrak/Via Rail keep track of this information?
Jun 3, 2011 | 12:00 am
#4
Moderator: Hyatt Gold Passport & Star Alliance
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Jun 3, 2011 | 12:50 am
#5
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Join Date: Jun 2011
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Jun 3, 2011 | 1:07 am
#6
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You could have trouble with the Americans the next time you try to visit, as they may not have a record of your departure. However, you situation is not at all uncommon and they are ways to deal with it?
Did you get a stamp on your passport, with a legible entry date, by the Canadians in Vancouver? Will you have other stamps from other countries dated within 90 days of your US entry? That will be pretty convincing evidence that you did not overstay your US visit, should it ever be questioned. Just in case, keep boarding pass of your YUL-LHR flight, as further evidence.
Did you get a stamp on your passport, with a legible entry date, by the Canadians in Vancouver? Will you have other stamps from other countries dated within 90 days of your US entry? That will be pretty convincing evidence that you did not overstay your US visit, should it ever be questioned. Just in case, keep boarding pass of your YUL-LHR flight, as further evidence.
Jun 3, 2011 | 3:32 am
#7
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 11,670
Question. You used to get the green form stapled to your passport, but that seems not to happen now. How does the US immigration system know I have left and am not going to be flagged up as overstaying?
Do I have to do anything?
Or will my departure from Montreal be flagged up as leaving the US?
Do I have to do anything?
Or will my departure from Montreal be flagged up as leaving the US?
If you do not validate your timely departure from the United States, or, if you cannot reasonably prove you departed within the time frame given to you when you entered, the next time you apply for admission to the U.S., Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may conclude you remained in the U.S. beyond your authorized stay. If this happens, your visa may be subject to cancellation or you may be returned immediately to your foreign point of origin.
Under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), visitors who remain beyond their permitted stay in the United States cannot reenter the U.S. in the future without obtaining a visa from a U.S. Consulate. So if you are a Visa Waiver Program visitor who traveled by land to either Canada or Mexico for an onward flight, it is particularly important for you to register your timely departure if your green I-94W was not taken when you exited the U.S. If you fail to do so and you arrive at a U.S. port of entry seeking admission under the Visa Waiver Program without a visa, CBP Officers may order your immediate return to a foreign point of origin.
Under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), visitors who remain beyond their permitted stay in the United States cannot reenter the U.S. in the future without obtaining a visa from a U.S. Consulate. So if you are a Visa Waiver Program visitor who traveled by land to either Canada or Mexico for an onward flight, it is particularly important for you to register your timely departure if your green I-94W was not taken when you exited the U.S. If you fail to do so and you arrive at a U.S. port of entry seeking admission under the Visa Waiver Program without a visa, CBP Officers may order your immediate return to a foreign point of origin.
Leaving the US through Canada/Mexico under the new system is essentially the same as retaining your paper I-94(-W) under the old system. You should send a photocopy of your YULLHR boarding pass stub and passport photo page to the following address and include a short note explaining your departure:
DHS - CBP SBU
1084 South Laurel Road
London, KY 40744
If you are missing your boarding pass stub for that flight, the stamps Canada or the UK stamped your passport upon your respective entries to those countries can be used as evidence you left the States. Otherwise, the linked page lists other evidence that can be used. In any event, you should still have this evidence handy during your next entry to the States just to be safe.
The US and Canada may now have some sort of data-sharing scheme and that makes this no longer necessary, but I'd follow the steps above just to be safe-- it should take no more than 10 minutes to make copies and put a letter in the mail, and that could expedite your furure entries to the States.
Last edited by Ari; Jun 3, 2011 at 3:39 am
Jun 3, 2011 | 5:35 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
You should always keep your airline stub in these cases.
This is not an uncommon situation:
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...id/752/kw/i-94
Leaving the US through Canada/Mexico under the new system is essentially the same as retaining your paper I-94(-W) under the old system. You should send a photocopy of your YULLHR boarding pass stub and passport photo page to the following address and include a short note explaining your departure:
DHS - CBP SBU
1084 South Laurel Road
London, KY 40744
If you are missing your boarding pass stub for that flight, the stamps Canada or the UK stamped your passport upon your respective entries to those countries can be used as evidence you left the States. Otherwise, the linked page lists other evidence that can be used. In any event, you should still have this evidence handy during your next entry to the States just to be safe.
The US and Canada may now have some sort of data-sharing scheme and that makes this no longer necessary, but I'd follow the steps above just to be safe-- it should take no more than 10 minutes to make copies and put a letter in the mail, and that could expedite your furure entries to the States.
This is not an uncommon situation:
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...id/752/kw/i-94
Leaving the US through Canada/Mexico under the new system is essentially the same as retaining your paper I-94(-W) under the old system. You should send a photocopy of your YULLHR boarding pass stub and passport photo page to the following address and include a short note explaining your departure:
DHS - CBP SBU
1084 South Laurel Road
London, KY 40744
If you are missing your boarding pass stub for that flight, the stamps Canada or the UK stamped your passport upon your respective entries to those countries can be used as evidence you left the States. Otherwise, the linked page lists other evidence that can be used. In any event, you should still have this evidence handy during your next entry to the States just to be safe.
The US and Canada may now have some sort of data-sharing scheme and that makes this no longer necessary, but I'd follow the steps above just to be safe-- it should take no more than 10 minutes to make copies and put a letter in the mail, and that could expedite your furure entries to the States.