INS is cracking down on people who ‘back-date’ their departure from the US

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 US Government has been getting even tougher in enforcing immigration laws and monitoring the arrival and departure of aliens into the US.  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 US) 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 US, includes:

"Complete name; date of birth; citizenship; sex; passport number and country of issuance; country of residence; US 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 US, 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 US.  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 US, on your visitor’s visa, claiming that you departed the US 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 US on your brief vacation, you will be banned from returning to the US for at least three to ten years.  Moreover, your fraud (in back-dating your departure from the US, or entry into the Philippines) could result in a lifetime ban from entering the US.

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.

Three offices to serve you:

Los Angeles: 219 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California, 91203
Telephone: (818) 543-5800

San Francisco: 601 Gateway Boulevard, Suite 460, South San Francisco, CA 94080
Telephone (650) 827-7888

Philippines: Heart Tower, Unit 701, 108 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, Makati, Philippines 1227
Telephone: 894-0258 or 894-0239