CPB Compliance email received - help

[Pottery]

Originally Posted by ERICSMUM

Pottery,

The OP did not overstay. Her departure wasn’t marked against her ESTA - some error at the airport maybe, or wherever the ESTA is updated to show departure date.

See more...

Yes you are correct. But if not sorted it will seem they have overstayed. As this information is from the CBP site it will have useful. Have you any other suggestions what that do?

[Lodgey82]

Originally Posted by Pottery

If you entered the United States on the Visa Waiver Program and stayed longer than the admission period granted by CBP at your time of arrival, you are no longer eligible for the Visa Waiver Program. You will require a non-immigrant visa for entry in the future. You can find visa information at state.gov.

See more...

I didn’t stay longer though. I only stayed for 8 days!

[baboons]

I'm sure there's threads on here somewhere about successful cases. From memory they involved supplying bank/credit card statements with activities in the UK. Will likely be easier as you and your family will have been on the same booking and they clearly left.

Contact CPB and they'll advise what to do.

[Pottery]

Originally Posted by Lodgey82

I didn’t stay longer though. I only stayed for 8 days!

See more...

Yes I not doubting that but you will still have to prove you have left. As in the information above. Hopefully it won’t take to long and is just an administrative error and can easily be cleared up. As this is understandable worrying time. All the best. Let’s us know us know how u you get on. Stay safe.

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by Lodgey82

I didn’t stay longer though. I only stayed for 8 days!

See more...

We all understand that.

but what matters, is not what you have done. What matters is what they have on record.

if their record says you overstayed, it doesn't matter how long you actually stayed, a new ESTA would be rejected immediatly, and you would need to go the visa route, and prove you didn't overstay

so, since you have to prove you didn't overstay (you didn't overstay), you need to do it ASAP, because once it's on record, it's more difficult to have it corrected than it is when it's not on record yet.

again, it's not about you telling the truth, it's about what is in their system.

Unfortunately, there was an error in processing your "exit" record, but it's you who will need to prove it's an error.
The sooner you do it, the better.

[soraia]

Hi OP - this actually happened to me at the end of last year!

I had been in the US on business and left on the 10th October. I then received the e-mail you got saying I have 10 days left of admission on the 13th December. I tried ringing all the numbers I could find multiple times and got nowhere - essentially they always told me I needed to submit the information on their Website and there is no way to speak to someone on the phone about this. I was going around in circles and had called and spoken to about 20 different people.

So, what you have to do is on the CBP website in the contact us section you will find some drop down options and you need to select the one that is something like "Compliance" and then "I received a 10 days e-mail". In the text field you need to submit all the information of when you departed (date, airline, flight number etc) and also scan some supporting documents that show you weren't in the US - essentially you have to prove you left when you say you did. This also includes a scan of your passport picture page.

I also sent a picture of my boarding pass (luckily I still had it) as well as multiple other boarding passes and hotel receipts for other work trips I had subsequently made in the meantime. I also contacted BA and asked them for proof that I travelled on that flight (took abouit a week to get this from them) and also attached my BA Executive Club trips page. Finally, I also attached some work pay slips and a bank statement showing I had made purchases in the UK during that time.

Here is where it gets very annoying. When you submit everything on the Website you get an automated email saying thank you, giving you a reference number and saying someone will get back to you within 7 days.

The reality is that I only actually got an email confirming they had corrected everything a few weeks ago in mid-April so it actually ended up taking 4 months to get this resolved..!

At the beginning I kept trying to call them to get an update but again, they kept telling me I couldn't speak to anyone on the phone and just had to wait for an email response.
My "10 days" came and went, my i94 status on the website became "hidden" and I really started to panic that I was now marked as overstaying and it would be really difficult to go back to the US. I tried calling the Embassy but they said they couldn't help and I had to wait for CBP (as they could only advise if I actually needed to go down the visa route). Even more frustratingly I occasionally got email responses from CBP which were clearly standard templates as they just copy/pasted that if I overstayed I was no longer eligible to travel on visa waiver, and if I thought I received this in error I needed to send them the proof (which I had already done and they were responding to emails that already had all the proof attached! ) - in fact I think I had to send everything over about 3 times. Absolutely bonkers.

The strangest thing was that I was due to go back to the US on business mid-March so in February (when I still hadn't heard back from CBP) I tried to apply for a new ESTA as mine had run out and I figured if it came back denied maybe I could at least get some help from the embassy now going down the visa route and taking all my backup documents showing my correspondence etc. But, surprisingly my ESTA came back approved. I was more confused than ever but figured if it was approved I was OK to travel and was just going to take all my supporting info of all the emails back and forth to CBP and all my proof etc in case I got asked about it by an officer on entry.

Since then my work trip got cancelled of course due to the lock down etc but I've since received the response from CBP that they have sorted it on their end in mid-April, but I for sure will always take everything with me as back up and proof next time I do go to the USA just in case.

Sorry I know this was a long post but hopefully it helps. At least this was my experience, and it was certainly a really frustrating few months.

Good luck OP - if I can answer any more questions or help in any way please do let me know!

[Grace2007]

Hi, we had exactly the same email after our October 2018 trip and I tried and tried to sort it out. I was in meltdown as we were going in October 2019, I kept copies of my boarding cards and everything in relation to our flights and all my email correspondence. I was in turmoil in the flight and expected to be questioned at mco immigration but nothing ... just said have a good trip ... I questioned about the email to the immigration officer and he said it was routine and not an issue and not to worry. That’s just my experience 😁

[Grace2007]

... I also took my payslips and bank statements showing I was back home. I didn’t need to show any paperwork at all. Hope this helps 😁

[Lodgey82]

Thanks for all your responses. I will update when I hear back from CBP. X

[Elodie]

Originally Posted by Pottery

Yes you are correct. But if not sorted it will seem they have overstayed. As this information is from the CBP site it will have useful. Have you any other suggestions what that do?

See more...

I think the issue was that you wrote: “If you stayed longer than the admission period, you are no longer eligible for the Visa Waiver Program,” rather than explaining that you were just quoting what would happen if they believed the OP had overstayed. Just a few extra words would have made it less ambiguous and it would have sounded less judgmental. The OP clearly already understood that the onus is on them to prove they have left; they were just asking how to prove it.

Your second post was much clearer, so perhaps you didn’t realise you had left the first post in place?

OP, I’m glad you had some really clear advice from soraia and I hope it all gets sorted out ASAP for you.