2

In October 2020 I arrived in the US on a visitor's visa for a 5 day vacation. I was deported on arrival (at the airport), and barred for 5 years from the US. The US CBP officers asked me a ton load of questions but I am not completely sure which laws I might have violated when I told them I would be renewing my U.S. driver's license again. I was immediately placed in a cell. The deportation papers stated "presumption of employment".

I would now like to visit and engage some of my ex-coworker friends in Canada. Am I barred from Canada too?

enter image description here

Improve this question
3
  • 25
    Your intention to renew your driver's license for a five day vacation was probably construed by CBP as an intention to immigrate. Do you need a visa to visit Canada? Which nationalities do you hold?
    – xngtng
    Commented Jan 23, 2021 at 6:40
  • 21
    Holding and renewing a driver’s license may require you to be resident in the issuing state. it can be used as one of the I9 documents. You were planning to claim to be resident in a state, which contradicts claiming to be a visitor.
    – Patricia Shanahan
    Commented Jan 23, 2021 at 16:28
  • Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on Travel Meta, or in Travel Chat. Comments continuing discussion may be removed.
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented May 10 at 5:30

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
34

There is no automatic ban for Canada if you are banned from the United States.

However, because you have to apply for a visa to visit Canada, you will be asked to provide any information about visa denials, refusal of entries as well as deportation/removal proceedings against you in other countries.

Because your incident happened fairly recently, you will face significant challenges when applying for the Canadian visa. You will have to convince the Canadian authority that you will leave at the end of the stay and will not do any unauthorized work during your stay.

A deportation record from the U.S. for immigration intent or presumption of employment will be a heavy mark against you in this regard.

In your case, I do not think it will be worth it to even try, at least not without advice from a qualified Canadian immigration consultant/lawyer (who might also just tell you the chances are slim to none).

But due to the Covid situation, I would not recommend you to apply for a visitor visa for non-essential reasons anyway.

Improve this answer
9
  • 8
    +1 My advice is for him to forget North America for an extended period.
    – Augustine of Hippo
    Commented Jan 23, 2021 at 16:37
  • 7
    Exceptionally good advice because piling refusal on top of refusal will just make things a lot worse.
    – user4188
    Commented Jan 23, 2021 at 21:07
  • 11
    If OP ends up applying anyway, they better have a much better explanation for what happened with their US refusal. "I just wanted to visit the US, get an US licence renewed, and then travel home without immigration intent" sounds fishy to us well-meaning people on the Internet, it sounded fishy to the US immigration officer, and it will also sound fishy to the Canadian immigration officer. Half-hearted appeals to racism will not make that problem go away.
    – xLeitix
    Commented Jan 24, 2021 at 13:17
  • 2
    I would not call this a deportation. Per own comment above
    – Quora Feans
    Commented Jan 25, 2021 at 0:54
  • 2
    @QuoraFeans If OP was told by CBP that he was barred from the U.S. for five years, he was removed. Given the seriousness of the alleged immigration violation, he was likely sent for expedited removal instead of being offered an option to withdrawal. Voluntary withdrawal usually doesn't involve being put in a holding cell. But a clarification from OP would be helpful.
    – xngtng
    Commented Jan 25, 2021 at 7:35

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .