Denied Entry to the US

Individuals who are inadmissible to the US pursuant to section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the “INA”) are legally ineligible to enter the United States.  You can learn about the most common grounds of inadmissibility by reading the US waiver section of our website.

It is important to note, however, that entering the US as a non-American citizen is a privilege not a right. Therefore, even if you are not inadmissible pursuant to one of the grounds listed in the waiver section of our website, a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer may deny your request for entry for other reasons.  A particularly common basis for denial involves being suspected of living, or intending to live, in the US without the required documentation, the details of which are explained below.

Under US immigration law, if one wishes to enter the US as a visitor he or she must have nonimmigrant intent (i.e. the intent to return to their home country). If a CBP office suspects that a visitor has immigrant intent (i.e. the intent to live in the US), they will not let the traveler enter the United States.

Furthermore, one cannot live in the US, or intend to live in the US, without proper documentation.  Thus, individuals who enter the US as visitors, but in fact intend to live in the US, are often labeled as “intending immigrants without documentation” and are denied entry into the US by a CBP officer.

The question of whether or not a visitor is an intending immigrant without documentation is a discretionary decision made by the inspecting officer at the clearance point. In making such a decision, the inspecting officer will assess whether the prospective visitor’s ties to the US suggest that he or she intends on living in the US, or is in fact already living in the United States. For example, some common situations where a visitor is labeled an intending immigrant without documentation, and thus denied entry, are as follows:

• Visitor frequently enters the US and spends months in the US upon each visit;
• The visitor never stays in the US for more than 6 consecutive months, but does stay in the US for more than 6 months within a year in the aggregate;
• The visitor is stays with his/her American citizen spouse for frequent and extended visit; and
• The visitor is not employed in his/her home country, and/or does not have any significant ties to his/her own country and falls within one of the above categories.