Cruise Vacation vs. 10-Year Unlawful Presence Bar
Oct 20, 2015OUTCOME: GRANTED
Client was authorized to remain in the United States in L-1 status from 1989 until February 1992, but remained in the United States on a nearly continuous basis from 1989 until March 2011. In addition ... to his L-1 visa, which expired on or about 1990, the Client held an indefinite B-1/B-2 visitor visa that was issued in 1981. I first met with the Client and his U.S. citizen spouse by Skype in mid-2014 (they were living abroad), at which time the Client believed that he had triggered the 10-year unlawful presence bar when he departed in 2011. After a bit of research, we successfully argued that the couples' 1992 cruise vacation constituted a departure from and subsequent re-entry to the United States pursuant to then-existing immigration laws governing the inspection of passengers returning to U.S. maritime ports-of-entry from cruise ships. Given the specifics of the case, this legal argument and conclusion meant that the Client was admitted in 1992 (ie, "procedurally regular entry") pursuant to his then-valid and indefinite B-1/B-2 visitor visa because the L-1 visa and his authorized stay in L-1 status had already expired. Moreover, since the Client was not provided with an arrival-departure record at the time of his admission to the United States, the admission was akin to a Canadian visitor or "wave through" entrant (ie, "non-controlled nonimmigrant visitor") and, therefore, he did not accrue unlawful presence in the United States and did not trigger the so-called 10-year bar or 10-year unlawful presence bar when he departed in 2011. As a result of these fairly creative and successful arguments, the Client was granted an immigrant visa based upon his marriage to the U.S. citizen without needing to prepare what would have been a very difficult waiver application, and he is now living in the United States as a permanent resident with his U.S. citizen spouse.
