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INS IS CRACKING DOWN ON PEOPLE WHO “BACK-DATE” THEIR
DEPARTURE FROM THE U.S.
by Michael J. Gurfinkel, Esq.
Dear Atty. Gurfinkel:
Several years ago, I arrived in the U.S. on my
Visitor’s visa and overstayed. I would like to take a brief
vacation in the Philippines, since I have not seen my family in
many years. I have a 10 year multiple visitor’s visa. Do
you think I will encounter any problems if I leave the U.S. now,
and when I get to the Philippines, I simply have my passport stamped
with a “back-dated” arrival date, so as to make it seem
that I left the U.S. years ago, before the expiration date on
my I-94? This way, INS won’t think I overstayed my last visit.
Very truly yours,
N.R.
Dear N.R.:
Since the terrorists’ attacks on September
11, 2001, the U.S. Government has been getting even tougher in
enforcing immigration laws and monitoring the arrival and departure
of aliens into the U.S. As part of that effort, the INS announced
that, effective January 1, 2003, the INS will “require all
commercial carriers to submit detailed passenger manifests to
the agency [INS] electronically, before any aircraft or vessel
arrives in or departs from the United States”.
This program (of monitoring entries and departures
from the U.S.) is part of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa
Entry Reform Act of 2002. Section 402 of that law requires that
carrier submit, in advance of passenger arrivals or departures,
information on all temporary foreign visitors. Among the information
that the carriers must submit, whenever an alien arrives in, or
departs from, the U.S., includes:
“Complete name; date of birth; citizenship;
sex; passport number and country of issuance; country of residence;
U.S. visa number; date and place of issuance (where applicable);
alien registration number (where applicable); address while in
the United States; and such other information as the Attorney
General, in consultation with the Secretary of State and Secretary
of Treasury, determines as being necessary.”
Under this law, when you check in at the airport
in the U.S., you will be required to give your name, passport,
etc., to the airline. The airline will turnover that information
(as part of its passenger manifest) to the INS, thereby pinpointing
the exact date that you departed the U.S. So, even when you attempt
to back-date your arrival in the Philippines, the INS would still
have the accurate information
of your actual date of departure. When you try to return to the
U.S., on your visitor’s visa, claiming that you departed
the U.S. years earlier (and try to show the back-dated stamp as
proof,) the back-dated stamp will not tally with your airline
information, the INS will detect your fraud and put you on the
next plane back to the Philippines.
In addition, if you were “tago ng tago”
(TNT) for more than six months when you departed the U.S. on your
brief vacation, you will be banned from returning to the U.S.
for at least three to ten years. Moreover, your fraud (in back-dating
your departure from the U.S., or entry into the Philippines) could
result in a lifetime ban from
entering the U.S.
Rather than taking chances, or risk getting caught
with all of these various games or schemes, I suggest that anyone
who has an immigration problem of any kind seek the advice of
a reputable attorney, who can analyze their situation and advise
them on the safest (and legal and legitimate) ways to legalize
their status. Don’t take chances with something as important
as your future in America.
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