Immigration Corner | How do I overcome a five-year ban?

Dear Mrs. Walker-Huntington

On May 25, 2023 my visa B1/B2 visa was cancelled for visa violation and I was also given a five-year ban. Now my boyfriend lives in Philadelphia and we planned on getting married later this year. So I am seeking your assistance in how to approach this situation with my having been banned from the United Stated of America for five years. I await your response.

Regards

VG

Dear VG:

You didn’t say specifically, but I assume your US visa was cancelled at a US border and you were returned to your home country. You also did not say what was your visa violation. It is possible that the violation was that you were spending too much time in America and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer believed that you were working without authorisation. As it stands with what you have written, you are currently inadmissible to the United States because of this removal and five-year ban.

If you marry and your husband files a petition for you to migrate to the United States, you will make it all the way to an interview at the US Embassy in Kingston. During that interview, the consular officer will examine your proof of marriage and bona fides of your relationship with your husband. If all is found to be in order and the officer is convinced that you have a “real” marriage for immigration purposes, they will move to whether or not you are admissible to the United States.

Several issues can cause a person to be inadmissible to the United States. However, in the brief scenario you outlined, if you were refused entry to the US at the border and given a five-year ban, you need permission to re-enter. Although similar, it is not a waiver, even though people sometimes call the permission a waiver – but it is approval that must be granted for you to re-enter the United States before the expiration of the five-year ban.

Returning to the United States without receiving this permission will make you permanently ineligible to legally return to the US. People sometimes become desperate when they are separated from their loved ones, and try to find any means necessary to return to America. Please do not be tempted to make any unauthorised entry and if it is necessary, wait out the five years before returning. You and your finance should consult with an immigration attorney and discuss the circumstances surrounding your removal and ban, and be sure to share any documents that you were given during the process including a copy of your visa for any references that may have been written by CBP.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq. is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com