Wolfy

Just out of curiosity...hers a scenario that you may not have come across but would like your feedback on please

One of the forms I have seen asks if the alien sposuse/fiance has ever been under immagration previously...

Well my parents moved there when I was a baby and I grew up in the USA, ut they never took up the citizenship process....and asked for voluntary deportation due to problems back in the UK by which time I was 13....Now....I was preparing to visit the USA on vacation and asked the embassy if this would affect me being allowed back in and they said no, anyway....many holidays and visits to my GF later this plays on my mind a tad....and cant for the life of me think which form it was, but its a question that could easly throw the process if given the wrong answer cos they ask for my parents details also and will see from thier records they were living there up until 1977 from1969/70 until 1977......I know its in the early stages, but do you think it will have any baring on our application....?

thanks again

agentpeppermint

Ooh... I would think it wouldn't since you were a minor and since no one has given you any problems with the VWP... I know the answer to this is held by one of the longer members here, my initial instinct would not to include it because you were a child and knew nothing of what was going on, but then again, the nagging side of me says include it because you dont want to appear to be hiding anything.

Wolfy

Thanks this was my thought as well, but didnt want to give them the wrong answer as i see it saying when and how may delay the process further and like you say ommitting it would be hiding it....hmm qill investigate further me thinks

agentpeppermint

It's a catch twenty two i suppose, if you include it, it will offer the IO a chance to question you about it at interview, which i would assume is a positive outcome....if you don't include it and they dig it up, then its a negative... the answer would seem obvious to someone a bit more informed than you or I...whichever way it goes, I am hoping that the IO would be able to assume it was out of your control and your hands at the time and you were unable to rectify the situation.

S Folinsky

Comment: the dates are very important. Lot of the law discussed here did not exist before 1997.

Wolfy

My only concern is on the particular form it does not have an option for voluntary deportation only deportation, which me thinks may delay the process up....hmmmm decisions decisions.......

agentpeppermint

Could it possibly have not been an actual deportation? My understanding is they would have had to go to court and see an immigration judge... If it wasn't an actual deportation, I wouldn't worry about it. It might have been an overstay, if that's the case, I would assume you are past a 10 yr ban.... hmmm is there anyways he could contact immigration and possibly find out if there IS an actual issue with this, or should Wolfy wait and bring it up at interview, if asked?

Wolfy

When I was 12 I recall them being at the embassy asking for voluntary deportation and remember being escorted by immagration officials to the gate to catch flight and having green cards taken off them, there was no court hearing just 12 months of my parents pleading to get back to the UK due to problems here, I have never been refused entry or banned from the USA.

Rete

Thank you. Those were my thoughts as well. DH and his family had emigrated to Maine back in the olden days (1950's) and we answered no on that question. He was not sponsored for a green card back then as the laws were different. They left after the family farm in Maine burned down and returned to Canada.

If the OP wanted to be safe, he could answer yes with an explanation.

Rete

Whose embassy? I'm assuming they were in the US so it could not have been a US embassy.

If your parents are alive ask them out right the reasons and what actually occurred.

Even back then if you wanted to leave the US you got on a boat or a plane and left. You abandoned your green card by never returning or you turned it in to the INS by mailing it back or sending it to the US Consulate abroad when you are out of the US. You did not have to be deported to give up your green card.

In my analysis of the scenario, it would appear that your family didn't have the money to return to the UK and were trying to get the British consulate to provide a means for them to return. Eventually the British Consulate said yes, but only it you renounce your green cards.