In this video, we'll talk about what happens when you get denied entry into the United
States at an airport. So, imagine your bags are packed, you go into the airport, you want
to board a plane and they say, “No, you can't go, you can't board a plane,” because
you're banned for whatever reason. So, what do we do in those cases? Let's talk about
this in this video. And I'll see you on the other side. Hello, everybody. In this video,
we'll talk about what happens when somebody gets denied entry into the United States at
an airport. They're about to board a plane or about to come to the United States, and
also talk about a few things that can happen when somebody actually lands in the US and
they're denied entry by the CBP. So, before we talk about that, if you're here for the
first time, make sure you subscribe to our channel because we release videos every single
week and you don't want to miss that. Click that bell to be notified. Also, click that
like to be notified so you will be able to share this video with other people that are
interested in the same content. Once again, I am Jacob Sapochnick, I'm an immigration
attorney located in the beautiful San Diego, California. And we represent clients in all
50 states. And we're happy to share this information with you because that's based on comments
from viewers like you. So, I'm going to read a question that was posted in our private
Facebook group, which you can join as well by clicking the link in the description of
this video. And this is a situation where somebody was trying to come to the United
States, they were at the airport and they were barred entry because of their own assumption
that the person is barred. Let me read you that and then we'll talk about that. My fiancé,
a Chilean citizen, is with a tourist visa, is at the airport in San Diego and they're
not allowing him to fly. LA TM says that the US has barred entry to all known citizens,
but when I called the State Department today, they said no such ban exists for Chile and
I should call the embassy in Santiago but the embassy is closed, their registry number
sent back to the State Department number in DC, where I'm told that they cannot do anything.
So, essentially, this is just one example. And we see a lot of these complaints that
we get in our comments and emails that people that are essentially trying to come to the
United States [inaudible, whether they're… remember that we have all these different
bans. We have country bans, we've got the Proclamation. We've got people that are coming
from a country where they have to be quarantined. So, there's all these different things. It's
really important before you are planning to come to the United States to understand first
of all, if you're even able to do so. So, first of all, there is no ban to all non-citizens
if you have a tourist visa, if you have any of the visas that are not currently on the
ban. So, if you currently hold an H1B visa, if you currently hold an L visa, you're able
to come, right? The ban is specifically talking about people that don't have those visas yet
in their passports, they're not able to apply for that kind of visa at the US Embassy at
the moment. But if you have a visa, if you have a current travel document, you are able
to come to the United States, right? So there's a lot of misconception at different port of
entries at different airports. So, this is just one example from Chile. We have another
example from an airport in Frankfurt, Germany where a person that actually had an L visa
in his passport, and he wasn't allowed to board a plane because they said that L visas
are banned. And once again, as I said, L visas for new applicants who don't have those visas
in their passports are not able to get them but people that currently have visas they
should be able to board a plane and come to the United States. So, what are you going
to be doing in those instances where either you're not allowed to board a plane or when
you come to the United States and CBP determines that they have to send you back? If you're
denied boarding a plane, and it’s your country, so if you're already in your country and you
go to the airport, and they just won't let you board, the first thing you need to do
is email the US embassy and present the problem. In this case, the person in the example from
Chile, they try to call, and right now they’re not answering the phone, I suggest to email
the embassy and present the issue and say, “I am eligible for a visa. I am a tourist,”
or whatever the category is that shows that you're not subject to any bars. And aside
from the fact that you don't have any issues or with a criminal background, or anything
like that, they wouldn't see anyway because you just show up at the airport with your
passport, you would need to email the embassy, the US embassy to let them know of the issue
so they can educate the USCIS representatives at the airport or whoever is doing it at the
airport to make sure that you are eligible to fly. So, that's kind of like an isolated
thing if it happens at the airport in your country. What happens when you arrive to the
United States, what happens if they determine that you're not eligible to enter? So, if
they determine that you're not eligible to enter, they can either force you to use the
same ticket to change it to return on the same day on the next flight, they'll add a
fee for your plane tickets, you can get another plane ticket to leave the next day, or they'll
make you buy a completely new ticket so they can send you back right away if they determine
that you're not eligible to enter. Typically, when you enter, when you face a CBP officer,
they’ll do a general background check. They'll see on the computer if you have a previous
overstay of visa, previous denials, anything that's suspicious about what you told them
or something that they saw in your paperwork, and finally, conflict with your travel documents,
right? These are the common, typical reasons that people usually are sent back after they're
sent to secondary inspection. Right now, with the COVID-19 restrictions, quite a few CBP
officers also make mistakes, right? So, we have cases where CBP officers who mistakenly
believe that somebody should be barred if they're not barred. For example, if they're
coming on… like I said, right now, recently on an H1B visa and they didn't find the person
to… they didn't think that there was an employer. So, it's nothing to do with the
ban but there are some misconceptions about when a job should start, when the starting
date of a job. A lot of CBP officers are making assumptions and decisions outside of their
scope. And sometimes it can happen at the airport. So, we've seen cases that happen
where H1B visa applicants or recipients were denied entry and send back wrong proclamation
applications to people, send back at the port of entry. So, these things are happening in
addition to the regular denials that people already had at the airport based on the things
that I mentioned before. So, what do you do? So, typically, if a CBP officer has an intention
to deny your entry to the United States, they'll send you to a secondary inspection. And a
secondary inspection, they typically will conduct an interview and start asking questions,
your name, your address. They're going to go through your documents, they’ll ask to
see your phone or your computer. And based on what they find, based on the answers you
tell them, they'll make a decision whether to let you in or send you back. If they want
to send you back, what you can do is the following. Make sure, first of all, to stay calm and
relax and understand, again, the reasons why they're sending you back. Never let the CBP
officer convince you to say or sign something that you don't believe you've done. For example,
we have a lot of cases of people that were coerced to admit that they were working just
because it was a long investigation that they finally admitted that they did work. That
could be a reason for a more extensive bar but that's another reason why a lot of people
were denied entry because essentially they worked illegally at some point, or they're
coming to work. Make sure to review the form that they typed in before you sign. Sometimes,
they'll put information that you didn't say, or you said in a different way. If you'd sign
this form, that's the only record that will be there. And when you go back to the embassy
to apply for a new visa, they're going to use that record against you. So, make sure
you review the form. If you disagree with what is said there, ask the officer to correct
it before you sign it. Never be rude to the officer. Always be polite and understanding
and try to get all the information and get the notes as to exactly what happened on that
day. The fact is that nobody can guarantee your entry to the United States and especially
now, under this COVID-19 crisis, with all these bans that we have, the executive orders,
the different visa types that keep adding to the list, even the government is confused
about who is able to enter and who is not. So, it's really important to understand that
if you’re on a plane and you come to the United States, there is no guarantee that
you will enter but it's really important to be prepared. Understand all the implications
of you not being able to enter. Make sure you're prepared before you go. And if you
are not sure whether you're able to come to the United States, make sure you speak to
an attorney before you take the plane to cover all the bases and help you guarantee that,
or increase your chances to be able to come to the United States. Once you’re sent back,
there's some things that still can be done. We can apply for a new visa, which we’ll
file with the US Embassy. There are still things that can be done. It's not the end
of the world. But that's why it's important to keep those notes, stay relaxed, and be
informed that this is a situation. We live in a different, new era right now. And things
happen. So once again, if this happened to you, let me know in the comments below. And
we'll be happy to address those comments and make more videos specifically on the topics
that you want to learn. So, if this information was helpful, click that like, leave us a comment,
and don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you in
our next video.