I should of course contact the Canadian authorities on this, but I am wondering if this is even possible.
I happen to know a guy who is an Afghani who has legal permanent residence in the US. He’s 18, and has this status as he and his family are officially political refugees in the US. (For those unaware, political stability in Afghanistan is problematic.) I know for a fact he has all the official documentation of this status; I’ve actually looked at his papers.
This says Afghanis “require a Visa to VISIT or TRANSIT Canada”. However, down the page:
"VISITOR VISA EXEMPTIONS
"Many people do not require a visa to visit Canada. These include:
“persons lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence who are in possession of their alien registration card (Green card) or can provide other evidence of permanent residence.”
This would apply in his case. In fact, he is a fellow co-worker. Would he likely need to get a prior Visa if accompanying me and other obvious legal US citizens, or would he need a visa in advance?
I remember the good old days when I travelled to Canada with a Nigerian woman in the 1990s. She was a legal US resident as a student, and even had a work permit. She just told the Customs guy this, and he waved us to pass. This was pre-9/11, and as this was at the Detroit/Windsor crossing, there was nothing particularly remarkable about someone in Michigan travelling over the bridge to Canada. Tossing people from the US back eager to spend money in Canada would have been bad for business. However, I wonder today if the Canadians wouldn’t see an Afghani as “bad news”.
I’d hate to tell him “you seem too much like a terrorist to even consider this.” He absolutely hates those in power in Afghanistan. There is a reason his family fled the country.
Absolutely he should contact the Canadian authorities, though I’m pretty sure that he’s exempt from needing a visa as a permanent US resident, as the quoted regulation suggests. But he should also contact the INS. I have heard (and I don’t know this for a fact) that leaving the US can mess up Green Card status and such. Maybe the person I heard this from was talking out of his ass (a distinct possibility, actually), but it’s something a person would want to be sure about.
If Canada Customs is picking on people from Afghanistan for no reason other than that they’re from Afghanistan, tell me. I’ll write my MP, the minister responsible for Customs, the relevant opposition critics, and the PM a batch scathing letters. I’m pretty sure they’re not, though. I bet he has more trouble getting back into the US than he does getting into Canada.
The onnly way he is likely to “mess up his green card status” by leaving the U.S. is if he is gone for an extended period, say 6 months or more. That’s the point at which Homeland Security may start to question whether his intent is really to live permanently in the U.S., and possibly try to yank his green card. After a year outside the U.S., technically he would need special advance permission to reenter, as his green card in itself would no longer be valid on its own for reentering the U.S. Alternately, if the U.S. government discovered while he was outside the U.S. that he had been convicted of a crime, they might try to prevent him from reentering and have his green card revoked.
There are ways around this if you know in advance you’re going to be outside the U.S. for extended periods for certain reasons; then you can apply for a Reentry Permit. But you have to apply before you leave the U.S., and the processing time is more than a year these days, and there are only a few criteria sufficient for obtaining a Reentry Permit (working abroad for a U.S. company or an international organization of which the U.S. is a member, or being the spouse of someone in the above categories, for example). I believe Canada has a similar system - years ago I had a client who was a Canadian landed immigrant who tried, in vain, to maintain his landed immigrant status and get a U.S. green card at the same time.
My guess is that it is all a matter of Canadian customs. If he left the US with me, in theory with all the right papers he should be able to re-enter the US. What could they do? Kick him back to Canada? Last I tried, Canadian customs was all kind of hospitable. I (or my passengers, other than the Nigerian woman I mentioned) never had a passport. I could have been from France for all they knew. LOTS of US nationals routinely entered Canada at this border. Probably nobody on the Canadian side would notice a black person. Black folks in Detroit are common.
I just wonder if Afghanis with US papers would stand out? Wouldn’t this be rare? I would worry on the Canadian side. He’s all kinds of legit on the US side. You may be right about the US side. If I ever have to go to Canada soon, I may need a US passport to get back. I used to worry about Canadiac customs. They could always have tossed me back as I was entering as an alien. Soon the US could refuse me entry. I’d better stay in the US. I remember years ago when I often looked at the US side of the border from Windsor.
One thing to confirm is whether he is in fact a “Permanent Resident” with a green card or has permanent status as a refugee. Someone with permanent status as a refugee may be different than a green card holder.
