This is long but I can't find an answer to my question, which I've been wondering about for years; I'm hoping maybe someone on this forum can answer this. It's impossible to actually get through to talk to a real person at the US embassy.

I am Canadian-born but a dual citizen of Canada and Australia. About 13 years ago, I flew to Sydney from Toronto via the US, using my Canadian driver's license to get through US immigration and my Australian passport to get into Australia. However, coming back through the US I was detained at immigration because I didn't have a US transit visa (it was required at the time for Australians) and I was told my Canadian driver's license wasn't valid to enter the US from another country.

They stamped "TWOV" on my Australian passport and assigned me a guard who escorted me through the airport and onto my next plane; I switched planes again in Chicago and was assigned another guard (I suppose to prevent me from escaping into the US; never mind that I could get into the US from Canada any time I pleased). They told me that they could have deported me back to Australia instead of doing this.

However, now there is the visa waiver program in place for Australian citizens trying to enter the US. But it says you're only eligible if you haven't been denied entry before. So does this count? If I try to enter the US on my Australian passport with the visa waiver card filled out, will they deny me entry?

Thing is, now I live in the Caribbean and use both my Australian and Canadian passports alternately (try living overseas with only one passport - it takes minimum 2 months to renew my Canadian passport during which the old passport has to be physically sent to Canada. There's NEVER a whole 2-month time span that I don't go off the island. Ironically enough, my Australian passport takes maybe a week to renew in Toronto). I don't want to try to go to the US and be turned away at the airport. My Canadian passport is coming up for renewal again soon and I go to the US frequently.

Fly on the Canadian passport and you need no Visa , no questions, no problems

I'm not an expert by any means so please don't hold me to this. TWOV i.e. Transit Without Visa was a program whereby people who would usually need a visa to transit the US would be allowed to transit without a visa. There was another program called International to International (ITI) again which allowed people to transit without a visa (but only through one US airport).

Looking at this and your account I don't think that you were denied entry to the US, just accorded some extra attention by the CBP. If you were denied entry you would have been sent back to Australia without a stamp in your passport. No deportation, no denied entry.

But to be safe just use your Canadian passport, no Visa Waiver form no problem.

Welcome to FT. Maybe you can renew your Canadian passport on the island.

you might have a better chance a getting an evaluation of your situation talking to a lawyer specializing in immigration matters .

Given that you were given TWOV status instead of being turned back and sent to Australia I would think that technically you were never "denied entry" because you never tried to enter .

Yes I get that and that's what I've been doing so far. But my Canadian passport is expiring in January so there will be a 2-3 month period during which if I have to go to the US, I have to use the Australian passport. And I will likely need to do that.

The last time I renewed my Canadian passport I sent it off in November and asked for expedited service (paying the fee, I might add), requesting it in time for a Christmas flight - it came at the end of January.

There is no Canadian consulate on the island, I must send the passport up to Ottawa to get renewed.

Did they give you a BLUE form I-94T to fill out when you were TWOV? If so, you were definitely NOT denied entry.

Which island are you on? Due to the large number of islands in this region, there's more than one way to skin a cat . There's a consul and an embassy in Jamaica, Venezuela (not an island, but geographically, close enough to Aruba, Trinidad/Tobago, etc), and the DR, an embassy in Haiti (yeah, I know), an embassy in Barbados, and even a consulate in Puerto Rico.

MKT took my suggestion.

Renewing passports can often be quicker at an embassy/consulate than through proper channels back home.

Welcome to Flyertalk Rosseau.

You were not denied entry. Denied entry means they put you back on a plane to fly back from where you came or don't let you cross at a land border.

Check the Canadian Foreign Affairs Website to find which Embassy/Consulat is in charge: Canadian Offices

I am on an island that does not have a consulate and it's a looong flight to anywhere that does; it's quicker to fly to Toronto from where I am. I'm reluctant to send the passport to an office I'm not supposed to lest it take 6+ months or, worse, be lost in the system somewhere.

I was thinking of trying to drive across a land border between Canada and the US to see if that would work; if I was denied I could just drive up the highway to the next border crossing. But maybe not now, I don't want to have it in the system somewhere that someone with my name and date of birth was denied entry, I'm already pulled over for enough "special searches" as it is.

I think I will try to hunt up an immigration lawyer to find the answer for sure although it does sound like since I wasn't actually deported that I would be ok. Can't remember if I filled out a blue form; maybe.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

This is an easy case. Fly somewhere in Canada that offers a same day passport renewal. Get it done. Don't worry.

It should not take 2-3 months to renew a Canadian passport no matter where you live. Next time you are in Canada, visit a ppt office and pay for expedited service. Alternatively, contact the High Commission in Barbados. More info here.
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13F

Not a good idea. I have a colleague who waas denied entry on the land border once upon a time. It caused him no end of grief when he ended up in a career which required frequent transborder travel.
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13F

Correct - TWOV was a perfectly valid admission status, and does not constitute denied entry. You should be fine with your Australian passport.