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Entry Record from USA

markham001

Newbie
Apr 8, 2014
7
0
YYC_CICGUY said:
Markham001,

You mentioned 12 months period, is that routine wait time to get the report in every case or just for those people with missing entries??....I dont find any such timeline to get FOIA, they mentioned in days........where these 12 months coming from.


Thx
As per the website, it is 20 days (by default). Since there was not update even after 20 days, I contacted them and they updated that it will take more than 12 months due to backlog.
 

markham001

Newbie
Apr 8, 2014
7
0
daktrader said:
Is there any way of getting this report in person from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection at one of the border crossing?
Like Niagra - Buffalo crossing? Im sure there is a faster way of getting this report as 1 year of processing is just too long...
Thanks
I tried the same and no luck. They will not issue this from border
 

markham001

Newbie
Apr 8, 2014
7
0
chikloo said:
I have received my US-CBP report and submitted it with my initial application. Please find my following steps
1. I made an foia online request with simple regular processing. The automated timeline said 20 business days.
2. after 20 business days there was no response it was still in submitted status.
3. I tried contacting US CBP by googling one address after another. Then after sometime I got hold of some CBP laison officer (dhs.gov/foia-contact-information)
4. She asked me to change the request to expedited processing.
5. The system would not let me change the request to expedited processing. I created a new request and referenced the old request no in it.
6. It was denied and the officer who denied asked me to make an appeal (which sends the process to another department). In my appeal
7. I pointed out that I have a need for it to be a supporting document on my Canadian Citizenship Application and also the CBP officer who rejected the expedited processing pointed out that it has taken more than 20 business days for any change in the request.
8. Then I got back response with a pdf of all my entry and exits. The report is a little confusing but I suggest to send everything back to CIC and they may be dealing with it on a daily basis and they can make sense head and tail of it.

I do not say the above steps will work for everyone but no harm in trying.
Let me try this and update you.
 

eileenf

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Apr 25, 2013
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markham001 said:
I tried the same. I went to Buffalo US border and requested the same. They said they cannot issue entry record and they will not keep a history, they will keep only last few trips. More over they are not authorized to provide this information.
Thanks for the report!
 

eileenf

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Apr 25, 2013
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chikloo said:
I have received my US-CBP report and submitted it with my initial application. Please find my following steps
1. I made an foia online request with simple regular processing. The automated timeline said 20 business days.
2. after 20 business days there was no response it was still in submitted status.
3. I tried contacting US CBP by googling one address after another. Then after sometime I got hold of some CBP laison officer (dhs.gov/foia-contact-information)
4. She asked me to change the request to expedited processing.
5. The system would not let me change the request to expedited processing. I created a new request and referenced the old request no in it.
6. It was denied and the officer who denied asked me to make an appeal (which sends the process to another department). In my appeal
7. I pointed out that I have a need for it to be a supporting document on my Canadian Citizenship Application and also the CBP officer who rejected the expedited processing pointed out that it has taken more than 20 business days for any change in the request.
8. Then I got back response with a pdf of all my entry and exits. The report is a little confusing but I suggest to send everything back to CIC and they may be dealing with it on a daily basis and they can make sense head and tail of it.
Thank you for this report Chikloo. I too enquired about getting expedited processing, but the overworked FOIA call agents told me that the only way to get that was to show that I would die, or at least be grievously physically injured, without it. It's interesting that there may be a work-around for this.
 

links18

Champion Member
Feb 1, 2006
2,009
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The waiting time for US CBP records is almost as ridiculous as that for Canadian citizenship. 8)

The 12 month time period is just a rumour. There are people reporting waiting 18 months or more and some people claim that US CBP just ignores them. Ironically, at least one US official has said that the delay is due in large part to people flooding the system with requests for their Canadian citizenship applications.

You can try to submit an expedited request. You might get lucky, as at least one poster in this thread did, but even then they did not get it overnight. But according to the rules, you need to prove that there is a threat of imminent bodily harm to qualify for expedited processing. Good luck proving that. Moreover, if US CBP starts getting a rush of expedited requests from Canadian citizenship applicants, expect them to shut that route pretty quickly.

Eileen is correct. If you get a request for these records after your application has already been in process for an unreasonable period of time, you could show CIC proof you applied for it, tell them you don't have it and don't know when you will get it, or if you will ever get it and that they cannot hold the abscence of a document that is not available to you against you. Of course, this would then throw the probity of your Canadian border records into question as well. What good are they without the corresponding US records, except in comparison to your claimed abscences?
 

YorkFactory

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Oct 18, 2009
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links18 said:
The 12 month time period is just a rumour. There are people reporting waiting 18 months or more and some people claim that US CBP just ignores them.
The weird thing is that when I submitted a Privacy Act request in 2012 (for records through 2011), I got a response within six weeks. I requested my 2012 entry data once every three months in 2013, but received absolutely no response. My request in 2014 was sent via certified mail, so at least I've got proof they received it. (I've been sending a lot of things certified or registered mail lately. It adds up.)

links18 said:
Eileen is correct. If you get a request for these records after your application has already been in process for an unreasonable period of time, you could show CIC proof you applied for it, tell them you don't have it and don't know when you will get it, or if you will ever get it and that they cannot hold the abscence of a document that is not available to you against you. Of course, this would then throw the probity of your Canadian border records into question as well. What good are they without the corresponding US records, except in comparison to your claimed abscences?
Well, all of the U.S. entry records I have match up with what I've told CIC, so there's that...
 

links18

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Feb 1, 2006
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YorkFactory said:
Well, all of the U.S. entry records I have match up with what I've told CIC, so there's that...
What do you mean? You got your US CBP records and they match up with your reported abscences? That's good.

But for people who get a request for these records years after applying and who are not inclined to wait for an indeterminate period of time to get them, you can motion CIC to move your application anyway, as it would be improper to further delay your application waiting on a document that does not exit and may never exist. CIC cannot hold the inability to produce such a non-existent document against you. My point is that without the corresponding US entry records, your Canadian entry records don't mean as much as many people think they do. Moreover, due to the inherent inaccuracy and incompleteness of these records (especially for people with travel before 2009), it is possible for even a complete set of US/Canadian border records to paint a false picture of your residence in Canada, if these records are given undue weight. The over reliance on these records is dangerous.
 

YorkFactory

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Oct 18, 2009
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links18 said:
What do you mean? You got your US CBP records and they match up with your reported abscences? That's good.
Yes, they all match up, but the CBP records I currently have cover only about half of the time that I've been a permanent resident of Canada. (Well, one doesn't quite match up, but it's because I physically crossed the border into the U.S. before midnight, but it took about two hours for me to actually get to passport control, so it might look like I spent one more day in Canada than I actually did.) Of course, if CIC does request these records, I'm going to send them the entire package (most of which covers time when I still lived in the U.S.) so it doesn't look like I'm hiding anything.

But I've known since before I became a PR that I would need to keep careful track of all my entries and exits, so I've been doing exactly that.
 

saywisdom

Star Member
Dec 26, 2013
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chikloo said:
I have received my US-CBP report and submitted it with my initial application. Please find my following steps
1. I made an foia online request with simple regular processing. The automated timeline said 20 business days.
2. after 20 business days there was no response it was still in submitted status.
3. I tried contacting US CBP by googling one address after another. Then after sometime I got hold of some CBP laison officer (dhs.gov/foia-contact-information)
4. She asked me to change the request to expedited processing.
5. The system would not let me change the request to expedited processing. I created a new request and referenced the old request no in it.
6. It was denied and the officer who denied asked me to make an appeal (which sends the process to another department). In my appeal
7. I pointed out that I have a need for it to be a supporting document on my Canadian Citizenship Application and also the CBP officer who rejected the expedited processing pointed out that it has taken more than 20 business days for any change in the request.
8. Then I got back response with a pdf of all my entry and exits. The report is a little confusing but I suggest to send everything back to CIC and they may be dealing with it on a daily basis and they can make sense head and tail of it.

I do not say the above steps will work for everyone but no harm in trying.
Thanks chikloo, I finally got the record...
I sent an expedited request two months ago, it got declined. I appealed that decision and a week later I got my CBP record :)