mobsaleh said:
Hello,
I have recently landed into Canada by land where I drove my car from the USA across the border.
I'm currently on a F-1 non-immigrant student visa in the US.
Due to study obligations, I only spent 3 days in Canada & then returned to the US.
However, when I entered the US border, the immigration officer inspected my I-20 & I-94 documents and he looked at my passport but never stamped it. Is this normal?
According to my passport, the last stamp is Canada entry stamp and there's no exit stamp after that.
And when I pull a Travel History in the US, the last thing shown is when I exited to Canada, and it never shows the date when I returned to US.
How would CIC know when I exited Canada for residency obligation requirements?
Did anybody experience a similar situation?
The absence of a stamp in the passport is not unusual for cross-border trips, especially trips between the U.S. and Canada.
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship will be informed of all your travel dates by
YOU if and when there is a
Residency Determination (be that for renewal of a PR card, application for citizenship, or residency examination for compliance with the PR Residency Obligation). The PR has the obligation, and
burden of proof, to show compliance with the PR RO, and similarly, when applying for citizenship, to show the physical presence requirements have been met.
The PR's obligation is to accurately report
all dates of travel.
Whether a PR's failure to accurately report all travel is determined to be an oversight or mistake, versus a willfull misrepresentation, is for
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship (formerly known as "CIC") and/or CBSA to determine, which they will do based on what they determine the facts to be. A minor oversight or mistake may have little impact, but is at the least likely to compromise the PR's credibility in the eyes of
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. More significant discrepancies or omissions are likely to trigger an investigation for misrepresentation, and the consequences for misrepresentation can range from serious to very severe, up to and including imprisonment. Nothing to flirt with.
Thus, obviously, the prudent PR will keep meticulous records as to all travel. While I was a PR I kept a running log in which I recorded every trip, including date, POE involved, and nature of trip. The PR also should keep relevant records, such as documentation which shows where the PR was
actually living (not just the "residential address" the PR may have been using, such as for drivers license or such), among other documentation related to activities (work or school or such).
But how does CBSA or Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship know otherwise?
Again, the PR is obligated to accurately report all cross-border travel.
Neither CBSA nor
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship will make an effort to specifically compile a complete accounting of every trip the PR made during a relevant period of time. At least not pursuant to current practices (this is, of course, subject to change). Rather, they look for indications that what the PR is reporting is inaccurate or has omissions. They use a variety of resources to do this and if they suspect omissions or inaccuracies they can, and oft times will, make inquiries or conduct an investigation.
Yes, there is typically a comparison between what the PR reports and the stamps in that individual's passport or passports. Depending on the type of passport the individual carries, yes, sometimes the absence of a stamp where otherwise one would be expected is something which draws the attention of the officer reviewing the travel declarations. Since, again, it is common for passports to not be stamped on this or that particular occasion, this in itself is ordinarily no big deal, just something which, again, might draw some attention and lead the examining officer to look a bit more closely. There is an issue only if, in taking a closer look, the officer then suspects an omission or inaccuracy in the PR's reported travel dates. The extent to which this in turn leads to elevated scrutiny, a full-blown
Residency Determination (which would typically require the PR to submit documents showing where the PR was actually living, working, attending school, dates of doctor visits, among other things) depends on all the attendant circumstances, the PR's history, the scope of the suspected discrepancy, among other factors and impressions the officer perceives.
Obviously, the PR who does indeed keep exact records of all dates of travel, and who reports all dates of travel accurately, has the lowest risk of an officer becoming concerned let alone suspicious. The importance of doing this cannot be overstated. (And indeed, this is something which should be included in the information Canada gives to all new PRs.)
Overall, since your passport has an exit stamp, and CBSA should have a record of your next entry, it is easy to compare that information and confirm that indeed you were absent from Canada from the date of that exit to the next date of entry.
While both the U.S. and Canadian border control record keeping will sometimes have omissions, these records are otherwise rarely inaccurate. CBSA and
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship have access to border crossing records from both countries. They can also obtain access to records of travel by air to and from Canada, which now is ordinarily nearly complete. These records alone are generally sufficient for CBSA and
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship to
verify the PR's declarations at least sufficiently to give them confidence that the PR has accurately reported all travel or to identify some likelihood of omissions or inaccuracies. In this regard, remember the burden of proof is on the PR, so all CBSA or
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship need is reason to be suspicious for there to be a problem. Once they identify a problem, it is up to the PR to prove travel dates and compliance.
