I have a friend here who is afraid to travel back
to the USA on vacation for fear the authorities will not let him
leave the USA again (he thinks he has some child
support issues witch I will save for another thread).
I told him, just call the consulate and ask, he
is paranoid that this will cause an investigation and
if there are no restrictions there will be. I let him know that
the government agencies involved are not organized
enough to throw a pot luck dinner, let alone
communicate this sort of thing to each other.
He said since 9/11 the authorities are fusser
about this stuff so don’t be so sure. So I will
put it to you all, how do you check for passport
restrictions AND if you were confirming that you
had no problems, would this raise some eyebrows?
And–I am not a lawyer, but I think your friend is right to be nervous. Things have been a little weird around here lately. If he really does have possible “child support issues”, he would be well advised to get a lawyer who is familiar both with immigration regulations and with how they affect non-U.S.-citizen child support issues, or at least have one standing by (maybe on retainer, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice). Dealing with governmental agencies is never easy under the best of circumstances, and I see all kinds of horrible possibilities here for an “alien” to whom English may be a second language.
“Immigration” and “passport” and “visa” are very hot-button issues right now in the States, with everybody a little bit tense, so if I were your friend, I wouldn’t count on being to clear this up all by himself, just by calling an 800 number.
Eh, I’m not reading the OP as, “How does my friend sneak back into the States without having to pay his child support?” I’m reading it as, “How does my friend find out whether the authorities are waiting to grab him for non-payment of child support the minute he sets foot over the border?”
Duck Duck Goose has it. Also this guy is a U.S. Citizen.
I really want to AVOID the child
support issue please. (if that is indeed what it is - the divorce
was 16 years ago BTW), he has been moaning about wanting to go
home and visit his family (mom dad etc) but is afraid because
he has a wife, 2 kids and a business here in Brazil, he thinks
that if he visits they may not let him leave again and his life
will be ruined. While he swears all is in order (legally) with his
ex-wife, she had been known in the past to start frivolous cases
against him - the concern is that if one of these BS cases was
started unbeknownst to him he could be in trouble for not
responding.
Bummer for him, but again, this got me to thinking
about his general catch 22 situation - so again: would making an
inquiry like this cause problems and further, who would you ask?
my advice was to call a lawyer in the States but he insists this
puts us back into the “Why do you want to know” situation.
It’s an interesting question, so I thought teeming bazillions
would have some interesting thoughts on it.
IANA lawyer, but I believe that a lawyer who is under retainer by a client, and who has been hired by that client to “find out stuff from the INS”, isn’t obligated to tell the INS why he wants to know the “stuff”.
Unless, of course, the client is a fugitive from justice, and then I don’t know how the “ethics” thing runs, but I’m sure a real lawyer will be along in a minute to clarify that.
Actually, it’s my understanding that since the INS is a government agency, any U.S. citizen can presumably call them up and ask them about “stuff” without having to say exactly why they want to know it. My advice to your friend to get a lawyer is mainly because working your way through the “finding out stuff from the INS” process can be so complex and confusing, even for somebody who isn’t worried about possible legal action by an ex-wife, and because there is considerably more at stake than just the merely annoying possibility of “finding out stuff and then discovering that the INS person on the phone told you the wrong stuff”. If I call up the INS to find out, say, whether a German exchange student can work at McDonalds while she’s here, and the INS person on the phone tells me the wrong thing, it’s not likely to have earth-shattering consequences either way.
But if your friend gets told the wrong thing, he might end up getting arrested as he walks through the Miami airport.
Ask the INS. I gave you their 800 toll-free consumer number. If he wants to do it that way, that’s where he would start. Look through the list of things and see what applies (I didn’t look very closely myself, but it’s probably in there somewhere.)
But IMO, he should just pay the money and hire a lawyer and have the lawyer deal with the whole thing, seems a LOT easier.
Thanks again Duck Duck Goose, I liked the Italicized friend
in there, but for the record, it’s not me. If it was me I would
just make sure all my ducks were in the water here and plan on being
in the states for an extended period, and what if there is no
problem, all that stress for nothing! I think the Dept. of Justice
route is the way to inquire. or at best have an American lawyer
call them, it will be interesting to see what happens.
