#18 I have to agree with John on most of these things. What happened with the Assault offence? How could they get a denial on an Assault offence? We also have noticed a trend with waivers but I want to say from a 20 year period. When George Bush was in office in 2002-2008, they were really cracking down on waiver cases.

They were really hard on national security issues and would try to write almost anyone up with a notice to appear in immigration court. They were really hard on Misrepresentation cases and fake documents. I believe that this was because of the recency of 911. They were doing a lot of deportations at the land borders under Bush. This includes the expanded use of Expedited Removals. They also had a program called NSEERS where you had to register if you had an ethnic background from certain Middle East countries. This even applied if you were a Canadian citizen but your background was from a place such as Iran or Iraq.

Obama was really hard on Fraud and Theft offences. These could take a year or so. However, he was easier on trafficking and drug possession cases. This was good for us since half of Vancouver clients have PPT or an association to it. Now it has reversed under Trump :(

It is definitely true to not blame the victim. One this is that in fact, we stress that the client has severe remorse for his actions and the well being of the victim. This is one thing that they are looking for in the Letter of Explanation. Plus, it has to be plausible since CBP won't believe it if it sounds fake. There should be nothing indicating victim shaming or you will make your case hard. An example is that we have a sex assault client that said the victim lied on him(which I believe) and he got arrested. I reminded him that he cannot say that since CBP will not want to see this. He argued for a bit but I explained to him how the USA criminal justice system is set up.

Definitely, have a clean drug test and express your remorse for your prior behaviour and how drugs have destroyed society. There is a balancing act though in terms of minimizing your role in the offence but still accepting full responsibility for your behaviour. This part is a very delicate thing which is why we write the Letters of Explanation for our clients in general and have them sign if they feel that it is an accurate reflection as to what happened.

Rehabilitation is one of the major things that must be properly documented in your waiver application. This is where certain waiver companies(I want to say Discount Waiver Companies) and select lawyers make the biggest mistake. They do not properly show rehabilitation that is specifically tailored to the individual. It won't really help to say that I am 55 and out of trouble for 10 years...unless it is a very minor offence like having a B&E when you are 19 and are 55 years old now, and your last offence was a DUI 10 years ago. Documenting rehabilitation is extremely critical in these waiver cases in general. This especially applies more if the offence tends to be more serious as the ones in the lower mainland of BC.

Our waiver packets tend to be almost an inch thick or more in general, so we already cover the reason(s) why CBP could come back and reject the person. We tend to research every possible area that they could attack from and we already have a built-in defence in place....Hence why the thickness of our packets. Some things though cannot be defended and we just have to see how the approach could be softened. An example is that we have a North Vancouver client that has 5 convictions for fondling and flashing small children..There is very little that we could do to soften this case, and I told him that it will be an uphill battle.

I agree that you should put extreme care in your waiver packet in general since CBP has been harder on waiver packets in general now under trump. Also, do not think that because you already had 5 prior waivers, that this one will be easy. Each application is always considered a new application under CBP adjudication policy.

Lastly...find out if you even need a waiver in general since it does not make sense filing for an unneeded waiver and it costing you thousands of dollars over a lifetime.

Ken Scott
604 332-9213
1 888 908-3841
usentrywaiverservices.com

I see a lot of people who apply for waivers on their own, either at the airport or through referrals. So I get a very broad overview of waivers done by other companies, and I meet a lot of people who do the waiver themselves on top of my own clients. Most stay in touch.

I am noticing a couple of things very recently (as of the last 2 weeks) None of them are my clients, 2 of them used companies, the others did it themselves. All the personal letters were written by the people, since most companies make you write it on your own. (Which is lazy.)

I have seen 4 denials for trafficking of narcotics, all from 5 years or more. Usually that's a "safe" period to wait.

the two others rejected were for assault, and sexual assault. Again over 5 years. The denial letters are very specific. Take note:

1.) do not blame the victim or minimize the offence in your personal letter. With drugs, do not simply mention you do not do drugs.

2.) If you have drug convictions, you better have a test/letter from a doctor, and you better mention in detail, how you feel drugs are bad and sound sincere about it.

3.) Show rehabilitation over and above just "I have been out of trouble for 10 years and am now 55 years old".

The rejection letters are an indication that they are starting to want Waiver applications to "show them more" for approval. I have never seen so many people told "no " in such a short span before.

Please remember that sometimes these "trends" are short. (like last April I saw a bunch of 1 year waivers for a month for first time applicants, then it went back to mainly 5 a couple of months later) And sometimes they last longer.

Just trying to keep everyone updated on what I see. If you are filing a waiver on your own, put some care and real effort into the Personal Letter. If you need assistance, feel free to contact me.

416-843-1371
John Rogers

Bottom line is that you have to look at the reason it was denied and then overcome it in a new application. I don't believe an appeal would be of much help.

Green, all my posts are helpful. And accurate.

"Get your facts straight" was a comment said to ME.

"Good thing you didn't listen to those on the forums that said appeals rarely work!" was a comment directed at me.

Green, please feel free to itemize the contributions YOU have made, and the information I have provided. If mine has been less accurate or informative, I will happily leave.

This forum is to provide information, and I provide information every time I post. I also use my real name, unlike you. "Green".

@194waiver

@i192waiver ...can you please delete businesses on these posts that are not being helpful and are bashing members?

Kal, its clear he didn't get it on Appeal. They realized he should not have been denied. So this does not prove appeals work. They even refunded the money, which means it did not actually get appealed.

Appeals rarely work, but there are exceptions. Would you prefer a bunch of "I am so super good at this my appeals always work"? or reality?

For a forum that wants to help people do waivers themselves. you certainly play hard and fast with the truth at times. The fact your critical at someone for being honest is a bit appalling, and thats how people get ripped off.

Congratulations Orchid168. Glad they reversed their obviously incorrect decision.

@kal

thanks for your encouragement . and good luck to you. Don't give up.

It looks like ARO reversed their early denial decision, without forwarding the appeal application to the board.

We only had 3 days to work on the appeal package, but good thing is we got new Police reference letter and new RCMP report in July, we also provided reference letters and employment letter in additional to personal statements. I guess that helped.

Good thing you didn't listen to those on the forums that said appeals rarely work!

@orchid168...congrats on the appeal!

just an update. so after we received the denial letter, we responded with an appeal application and mail back within the 30 calendar days deadline.

we followed up with an email to let them know we have DHLed them the appeal package with courier's delivery record information, and asked if they didn't received pls let us know we will resend.

we send on August 23, and they granted a one year waiver on Sept 11 and we received in the mail yesterday Sept 18.

strange thing is they said the original waiver application was denied in error and they re-open the case. the $110 USD cheque was also sent back saying it is for refund.

has anyone got similar letter before?

Not necessarily John Rogers...It depends on the specific case. While we get very few waiver denials, I have seen it happen both ways. However, it is true that appeals rarely work. It is best to just not get a denial. However, denials can be beaten and we specialized in those kinds of cases too. The trick is to ensure that the packet is appropriately prepared and this will be less likely a denial. You really have to know how to approach each case differently as opposed to just filling out a blanket packet. There are indeed some techniques that can be used to ensure that you have success. Nothing to do with Trump or Kelly. Trump and Kelly still have to follow the laws themselves.

appeals rarely work unless they misunderstood something on your application. Some new news is that when they now reject your application (September 2017) they no longer give you a detailed account of why. Before, you could tell EXACTLY why they said "no". Now they keep it short and give few details. Another "Trump/Kelly" thing.

I would call your closest border and ask a guard. They are usually very nice and helpful.

Hello every one ,

I need urgent help on how to appeal. If you have done it before, could you let me know the following:

1) to which address did you send it?
2) how did you sent it?
3) how did you make the payment? TO WHICH DEPARTMENT?
4) did you request Oral Argument? we live in Toronto
5) did you send separate written brief?

any information will be helpful.

If it is your first waiver application there are reasons to be declined.

1. It hasn't been long enough since you finished your sentence/parole/probation (5 years)
2. You lied on your application and they caught it
3. Your paperwork was incomplete (though you would not technically be declined)
4. Your written explanation of the circumstances of your crime is not remorseful or tries to deflect the blame to someone else.
5. You are currently under a 5 year, ten year,or lifetime ban

@mike
I have never been denied in 20 years of renewing. I am beginning to wonder though because I'm still waiting on my latest renewal which I submitted on March 31, 2015.

As long as you have no new charges why would they suddenly start refusing you? Only reason I can think of would be if they have been given a new policy by the government and are changing their rules after all these years.

good question