@JOHN ROGERS @K SCOTT

So for all of us denied due to prostitution with a 10 year ban, with no criminal record or any legal record of prostitution, will we need waivers when our 10 years is up?

I think Sara and Kimberly would much appreciate this info too.

Thanks in advance.

PS - The lawyer I went to made no promises, but he didn’t think it would be difficult to get a waiver approved for my case (or certainly did not act like it). He said he has seen many people denied for this reason and has been able to get waivers approved. Of course, these things work on a case by case basis. I’m well aware of the fact that there is no expedited process for the waiver, but I’m thinking of pursuing higher education in the states and it would certainly be helpful to know how long waivers are taking so that I can make some important decisions.

#1119 Ummmm...Are you saying that the lawyer himself filed the original packet and you did not apply in person with the packet at the border at all? If so, then this is a problem. Every person has to file in person at the border. No lawyer can send in an original packet. This was different years ago but you have to file in person.

Btw John is right. Run when you hear about expedited waivers and processing. We have actually listed this on our scam page. It is a 100% scam and technically CBP can take as long as they see fit to process a case. They are not bound by law to process a case quickly although they do tend to be fast with a lot of offences. The case can be delayed for a number of reasons.

https://www.usentrywaiverservices.com/scams-used-by-pardon-waiver-company

:: @K SCOTT added on 11 Jun ’18 · 12:23

#1119 I don't know any Montreal immigration lawyers. I know the ones in BC, Washington State and Toronto. I would be interested in what he claims that he sent in. If he said that he mailed your actual waiver packet to CBP himself then he either does not know what he is doing or he BSed you.

I am thinking that he said that he mailed it and that it came back and now you have to submit it in person. If true, then that by itself is malpractice. Did he also collect the $585us government fee directly from you? I know of a certain lawyer in my area that did this to a client.

Once you are in secondary security its can take some time. As long as the emails are coming back that they are "working on it" there is nothing else you can do.

I suspect if you are getting denied for what the US considers prostitution, but with no criminal record in Canada, and they gave you a 10 year ban, there is a good chance you will get denied this waiver anyways. Especially if you used a lawyer that sounds like he doesn't know a bunch about waivers.

ticket 911 .....great place to fight traffic tickets it looks like, but waivers....not so much. Form their website:

“The delay to obtain and answer can go from 10 to 18 months depending on whether you chose the regular or expedited process.”

As soon as companies claim to have an expedited process, ...run. Expedited how? Thats the most common scam there is. All waivers should be done as fast as possible.

Hi Scott the lawyer is from Montreal it’s ticket 911 .
So he first send it himself it cane back after a month and then I went and have it in . Seems like he didn’t know .
Do you think 1 year and 8 months is normal wait time ?
Yes I signed all the papers like I said I don’t know anything about the law the officer told me to sign so I can catch the last flight so I signed then he just stoped talking to me .

Hi @Vancouverite I fell into the same boat as you , didnt know it was against the law to have a sugar daddy and because i did not know better admitted to having someone that takes care of me. I submitted my waiver back in 2016 & got a letter of denial in 2017, so yes it took them a year and couple months just for them to tell me no and deny my application. Im not sure what u admitted to and what u said to them but i heard that it is not the greatest idea when given a ban to apply right away and is in ur best interest to let some time pass by before applying. Just like you i have no criminal record and have never been considered a prostitute or ran in to any problem with the law in Canada because of having a “sugar daddy” but in the states its against the law allegedly even though its legal in some states. Because i got denied and like u i have a 10 yr ban , @JOHNROGERS gave me good advice and told me not to apply again until at least the 3 year mark , so 2019 will make 3 yrs and that is when i will apply again, making it my second time applying for a waiver.

@ K SCOTT

I don’t have an actual criminal record in Canada (as verified through fingerprints).

And I haven’t heard back. I did my waiver through a lawyer and it’s coming back as the generic “under review” response. When you say I should have heard back, are you saying it is not normal for it to be taking so long? If so, what’s there that I can do at this point?

I have a 10-year ban. Will I need a waiver after the ban is over?

John this is true and we will cross that bridge when we come to it. #1115 If you submitted a waiver for prostitution(or admitting to it in a sworn statement) then there is a criminal record as far as CBP is concerned. You should have heard back on it by now though.

@JOHN ROGERS

How many of your clients that submitted their waivers in Nov. 2016 are starting to hear back?

I submitted mine Jan. 2017. Still waiting to hear back. It’s for prostitution. No criminal record.

The RCMP accreditation process is very stringent. If you have people on staff who had serious criminal records, its unlikely you will get accredited.

I cannot speak for your cases Brotha John. An example is that we have a client and his 4 friends ran a Canada wide and cross-border counterfeiting ring where they were making $100 U.S. & Canadian Bills. The Secret Service worked with the RCMP and the guys were convicted. Their case was very deep and I told them that this can be approved but it would be $2500 per person and is major work. They had no issue with paying and all 4 got their waivers(I told them that we will only take a credit card only though...no cash).

Also, he did pay it and he had his waiver. Again, he had virtually Canadian criminal code in his RCMP report (except Treason) as either a charge or conviction. It was a very tough case and took a lot of hours.

I will give a 3rd example. We have a client that made the news headlines in the 90's and 2000's in BC News. He has 13 pages of criminal charges for a lot of serious offences but he actually has only 3 convictions. The only relevant conviction is one for possession of a joint. He admitted to me that he has paid millions of dollars in legal fees over the years. This has resulted in him spending maybe 2 days in jail for 13 pages of offences.

So It would have been a different story for him and the counterfeiters if they had opted for a public defender.

:: @K SCOTT added on 08 Jun ’18 · 14:53

I think also that perhaps we serve a different kind of clientele so that also accounts for the price difference. We also charge on the severity of the case. Clients in the less complex category#1 are charged less if their cases are less complex and require less effort. Those I pass off to other staff members but I review everything before it leaves the office.

We have a 2nd category called More Complex/Serious Criminality Convictions and they are charged more since their cases are much more work and those waiver packets could get as large as 100 pages. I personally do those case myself and they cost more. This is done to make the case a slam dunk and the previous people mentioned were all category 2.

Some cases we actually do for free for certain people and these people qualify for lifetime free cases. Same goes if these certain people send us a referral and ask us to not charge the guy.

Also, the majority of our staff members have waivers themselves or have had prior charges/convictions, and this makes the clients more comfortable conversing with someone that has a similar history but are also now reformed. An example is that a former drug smuggler that is now reformed is more comfortable conversing with a staff member that was also a former smuggler themselves and reformed. We are eventually going to also do digital prints and I will have to make some adjustments.

Anyway, this is essentially our structure on how we run everything and it works out very well.

The point is there are few companies that are just "waiver" companies.

Most are Pardon companies that happen to do waivers. This is common.

Pardon and Waiver companies - about 70%
Lawyers - 28%
Waiver only companies - 2%

The normal standard is companies do Pardons, Waivers and Fingerprints. It diversifies the revenue stream. Waivers are the best for referrals and have the higher profit margin. Pardons and slow and take a lot of time and effort.

The problem becomes when your focus is strictly getting the next client in the door and do shoddy work. This is the failing of a lot of pardon and waiver places. Lawyers seem to inundate clients with unnecessary papers, and usually are the least knowledgeable.

I have been doing pardons and waiver since 1996. My work is not shoddy or discounted. But these places aren't discount waiver companies, they aren't waiver companies at all. They are primarily pardon companies. A Ford or Toyota is not a 'discount' car.

I fault them for doing bad work, and being deceptive, but we can't claim to be any better if we are using misleading terms in order to create a false sense that the price they are charging proves they are of lower quality. I have never heard of anyone paying $10 000.00 for a waiver.

A client paid me $590 for a waiver with a sexual assault. We had to prove that although he was found guilty, that he maintained his innocence, and we did a lot of extra work to make "a case" as if we were putting him on trial. Officers notes etc. He got the waiver and I was thrilled, especially in the era of Trump. It proved that it can be done, and that you can maintain your innocence sometimes and still get a waiver. Did he get a 'discount" or just, like every client, my best effort?

I say Discount Waiver Company because it is the companies that are charging extremely low fees like $399 or so and just slap cases together. They do not understand how the systems or even databases work and the person gets screwed. I did not mention anyone by name. We keep seeing the same trend from these companies that are doing this as such. The three of us do not fall into this category. Our business charges higher fees because of the type of cases that we get and the complexity of them here in BC. Hence it is why we have the name Immigration Law Analysts because, among other things, we analyse the elements of a case and prepare the best in the best possible way that will benefit the client. The Lower Mainland of BC is always in the news and has a lot of offences that you likely will not see as much in other places other than maybe Montreal. I also stand by what I mean when that people do get what they pay for so I can not fully say that it is an illusion.

Also, generally speaking in general(is this even a sentence?), higher fee places tend to produce higher quality goods and services. An example is that we buy expensive kitchenware that was made in Germany. It is expensive but is of higher quality as opposed to if we bought a similar set from the dollar store or even Walmart where it was made in China. My actual work desk was made in Russia of some wood that I cannot even identify. It is as heavy as lead and will take 3-4 people to lift it for when we open our newest branch office in Europe. It was very expensive to buy but will last at least 100 years with the proper care.

An example is that we have a client that has a criminal history of about 50 or more charges/convictions of virtually everything in the Criminal Code of Canada. His case took a lot of major work to show rehabilitation. It took us 2 months to show all of his rehabilitation and I had to get another person on the outside to help with this case.

We charged him $10,000 for this case and he got approved for his waiver. So I have to agree with #1108 for when he uses the term Discount Waiver Company because they(and some lawyers) tend to be the ones that cause the problems in this industry. Their names are so similar that it is kinda hard to name them because they all tend to be in Toronto/Ontario area and all have names with something with the word pardon in it. It does make it harder for the legitimate companies in Ontario with the name Pardon in the title.

This is why we do not use the name pardon in our name anywhere whatsoever. Anyway, this is my opinion and I think the title DWC is well deserving of those bad companies. They can get away with it in Ontario but it would never happen BC. Lower Mainland BC clients will not stand for being ripped off and may handle it by pulling up next to you at the stoplight and filling your car with holes. Anyone here on the forum that lives in the Lower Mainland of BC knows exactly what I am talking about....Esp in Surrey and East van.

usentrywaiverservices.com

:: @K SCOTT added on 07 Jun ’18 · 16:23

Btw the term Discount Waiver Company does not apply to the three of us and I hope that it spreads over the internet. We have to do something to shut down these rip off places since it is the people in the end that are being hurt. As it is today, a client signed up with us because of the fee that we charged in his case $1800. He said that he was going to use a Toronto Pardon company but was skeptical because their fee was only $450 and that the person on the phone didn't seem to know what they were talking about. He has a fairly complex case but I think that he could get a September Letter.

prefer2be you are in the same "line" as the clients I told you about who have sexually based offences. They just got answers now and handed in their waivers in November 2016 This is common for secondary security screening once you go past 90 days.

Please drop this "discount waiver company" term.

Most of the places you see are pardon and waiver companies. Many do a shitty job but the industry standard for these places is about $500 - $1500. This is the INDUSTRY STANDARD. I charge $590.00 Michelle charges similar. My fees are NOT discounted. I am accredited by the RCMP. It takes me less than 2 hours to put together a waiver package and I think if I charged $3000, I would be gouging.

Mcdonalds is not "discounted" fast food.

There are scammy places that do shitty waivers. Absolutely. NAME them. There should be no fear of naming them and they deserve to be named if they did a bad job.

When you use a term like "discount waiver company", your spreading the illusion that high fees mean a better job. There is not a single place I know of that puts more care and attention than I do to a waiver. Lawyers charge ridiculous fees and I see about 50 packages every Tuesday that I did NOT put together at the airport. NONE are better than what I do, but ALL are more expensive.

My 2 cents.

Yes its a 10 yr ban. Im not allowed to get in until Dec 2021. I guess when you say a sworn statement, like promising not to enter the US til the 10yr ban is over?? and yes I did that. They took pictures and fingerprints and took me back to Canadian border.

No,my crime was for fraud under 5k in 2012. Convinced in 2014.
My first waiver was with a discount waiver company. Got denied. Waited 6
Months and then went with a lawyer who is very reputable. Now I’ve been waiting and it seems to be veryyyyyy long. I email
The ARO once a month and keep getting the same response “your file in line at the review office”. My lawyer sends an email
A month as well and he gets the same response. My probation officer even added a letter in my file stating it was my first and ONLY offense. And I am not a danger to society. I’m
Losing hope... what’s taking so long? Any similar stories?

#1104 Did you have a conviction for PPT(Possession for Purpose of Trafficking) or a Sex crime? We have discovered that those offences take a really long time for CBP to adjudicate them under Trump. Another factor that may impact the case is how it was prepared and who you used. We have a client that had been previously involved in a dial a dope ring and his waiver took 15 months to get approved under Obama.

If your offence is not one of the aforementioned, then it really should not be this long...

:: @K SCOTT added on 06 Jun ’18 · 13:15

One thing that I will say and I know the Discount Waiver Companies will hate me for this....Depending on the offence and specific circumstances....it is a good idea to wait for at least a minimum 5 years after the conviction before you even apply for a waiver...That is if you even need one. An example is If you got convicted in 2016 for Alien Smuggling and you are applying today, then there is a good chance that they will deny it because of the lack of passage of time....and that is assuming that you even showed enough rehabilitation. If it is within the 5-year window then we often have to show major case specific rehabilitation. In general, a waiver packet should contain some rehabilitation.

Obviously, some crimes will require showing less rehabilitation. It is one thing if your list of 3 offences includes stealing a pack of T Bones steaks from Sav-On Foods in Abbotsford BC in 1994(which there is a way to possibly get a September Letter in this case). It is another thing if you have 3 convictions between 2008-2012 for Home Invasions, Sex Assault, Assault with Weapons and Extortion in Surrey BC.

They do not put this in the checklist for the waiver packets. It shows up after a person has filed and CBP send back an RFE asking for more info. DWCs and some lawyers do not understand this concept and tend to have a habit of adding things to a packet that will work against the client.

usentrywaiverservices.com

#1105 This will determine what boxes they checked off on either the ban paperwork, what they have written in the narrative or whatever other information that they may have in the system. An example is that if a person is charged with Misrepresentation along with the ban, then they will still need to get a waiver for the rest of their life...Even when the ban is over.

If they were only charged with overstay, then technically they would not need a waiver after the ban is over...as long as the other criteria resulting in the ban is sorted out. Also, the reason that resulted in them getting the ban has to be accounted for. An example is that we had a client that overstayed by 2 years to care for his son in California. The mother was a female dog and refused to let him spend time with his son since he was only paying $10,000 a month in child support and she wanted $15,000 instead so she could go on more trips. We facilitated him getting a court order for joint custody so that issue was no longer present and CBP was satisfied that he would not overstay for this issue again. It is a bit tricky to answer without examining the specifics of each case.

Another example is that we had an individual that had a 5-year ban for overstay and thought that he was in the clear. I wanted to dig further in the system files but he did not want to spend the extra money. So he crossed over and they discovered that he had an offence for admitting to smoking weed before he got the ban. They then said that he needed to get a waiver for the criminality of admitting to the weed smoking. He came back anyway and did the waiver with us.

@K SCOTT

As always you offer great information and analysis.

One question I have Re:#1102 - How does one discern whether one needs a waiver if one waits out the ban (for an overstay)? In addition, as per your words "you still have to account for the reasoning of what they used in the ban for when you make your first post-ban across the border."

What exactly is this "accounting"? Do they take you into Secondary and grill you or do you have to have some sort of paperwork?

applied in march 2017 and still haven't heard from them.
this is my second time applying, the first time I applied I got denied because I hadn't waited long enough between my probation and the date I applied.
after I got refused, I Waited 6 months and then re-applied..ive been waiting for 15 months without a reply. any similar stories?

#1099 Gamma's ban should theoretically end sometime in Dec 2021. An example is that let us say that she left Dec 14, 2011, and arrived in Surrey BC on Dec 15, 2011. Just to be on the safe side, her ban would/should be over definitely by Dec 16, 2021. So depending on the circumstances of her case, she may not need a waiver after Dec 16, 2021, for this particular incident. Again depending on the specifics of her case since we do not have the files in front of us.

#1100 Samuel is correct. A lot of it will depend on her sworn statement and her information in the system. He has a good question regarding if that was what they specifically said in her paperwork. Another thing to factor in Gamma's case is how she entered the USA...Whether she used a name that was different than her real name or more.

There are so many factors with these waiver cases that can sometimes be tricky. It is one thing if you need a waiver because you stole a $400 leather jacket in 1998 in Langley BC at Willowbrook Mall.

It is another thing if it involves immigration issues and serious criminality. An example is that we had a person where he and his group were accused of making and selling credit cards that actually worked. Another client had a conviction for smuggling people between the woods of Surrey BC and Washington State. The credit card one was approved in 5 months but the smuggler's case took nearly 8 months to get approved.

We find that with simple offences, they do tend to come back in the 3-4 month time frame for our clients. Cases involving complex immigration issues or serious criminality, do tend to take a lot longer to come back with a decision.

Our cases take a long time to come back because they often involve serious criminality or the complex immigration issues. So I tell people 3-9 months if it is minor criminality and that it could be longer if it involves serious criminality or immigration issues. In this way, people don't constantly call us and say, Ken, you said it would take 3 months and it has been 5 1/2 months pending now.