本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛I am a TN holder and have been working in Houston for 3 months. During this period, I have traveled to job sites many times without trouble by air. My co-worker told me that I just need driver license to verify my status. Finally, I got big trouble when I flied back to Houston from McAllen, a small American-Mexican border airport.
Last Friday afternoon 4pm, after I had checked in, I held my boarding card waiting for safety check. There were so many people in the line. Finally it’s my turn. When I passed my boarding card and driver license to the safety lady, this lady passed my stuff to the immigration safety officers behind her. I’m surprised, because nobody else in front of me had a safety check like this. Then two safety officers asked me to stand out and show them visa document (Why only me, no others?). I said I didn’t bring it with me and told them I came here this morning and worked here for half day and would fly back to Houston. They asked for my SSN, I told them. They made a call to somewhere, then they told me they couldn’t find my information. Then they forced me to refund my air ticket and put me into police car, taking all my stuff away. I was told that I would be sent back to China or Canada, whatever I wanted to go, never return. I thought of another bad thing happened to me one week ago: The bank wells fargo in Houston closed my bank accounts and told me my information was wrong. I was terrified that my information was unavailable in their system. I thought maybe my information was deleted by purpose for some reason.
After half hour driving, I was sent to immigration office. There were so many secure doors with password entering that even a bird couldn’t escape. I’m asked to take off my watch, shoe laces, belt and put in my bag which was taken away and put in another room. I was brought into inside room, where I saw so many Mexican there. At the side of the office tables, there were prison cells with door locked, full of Mexicans. They asked me to sit down on a bench and wait. I begged them to let me make a call. Fortunately, I called my roommate and told them my briefcase password and got my passport and visa. I wrote down all my information and showed to the officers. The officers looked at my visa number and said it’s incorrect because there was no A number. They needed a number starting with A and 8 digit numbers. I explained to them that I was a TN visa holder, not immigrant in the states. They wouldn’t listen to me and I was threatened to shut up.
After I had waited for 5 hours there, they put me into prison cell. It’s a stinky room with toilet inside. The wall was scratched with many kinds words in different languages. Some Chinese words were found there too. Finally they opened the door and let me out. They made a call to somewhere to verify my information, and my information matched. Till now, they didn’t understand why my visa has no A number. They asked each other and nobody knew why. You see how stupid they are, how limited knowledge they have. They only know the Green Card which has A number. Anyway, I was told I could stay in states. Finally they drove me back to a hotel close to airport and dropped me off. It’s already midnight. I had to pay my hotel fee to stay a night and next morning I bought another air ticket to fly back.
Above is my terribe experience, which made me very tired and upset. Hopefully our Chinese TN holders in the states can be very careful when traveling to the border airports. Bring all your documents and be prepared to be held in the immigrant prison for their limited knowledge.
Many friends discussed in this forum where is the best place to work and live in the states. Actually I don't like houston TX too much. First it's too hot here. Second the government officers are not very nice, you will know that when you apply for driver license, they are not as polite as canadian government officers. Last but no least, there are so many black people and mexians living here. During my first car purchasing peroid, a black guy cheated me. You can't trust them. Recently, the bank closed my account by mistake which was a big trouble to me, and this terrible experience happened to me in the airport. Anyway there are lots of job opportunities in Houston. I have to work here. It's too hard to move home frequently.
BTW, any friends know which way is the best to deliver the packages from Canada to Houston, please give me some info. I'll pay myself to move home from Ontario to Houston in Dec (my wife is still in Canad). Seems greyhound wouldn't want to ship. Truck moving is expensive, because I don't have too much stuff. Renting U-Haul truck and driving myself to houston sounds crazy. Any suggestions are highly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
Last Friday afternoon 4pm, after I had checked in, I held my boarding card waiting for safety check. There were so many people in the line. Finally it’s my turn. When I passed my boarding card and driver license to the safety lady, this lady passed my stuff to the immigration safety officers behind her. I’m surprised, because nobody else in front of me had a safety check like this. Then two safety officers asked me to stand out and show them visa document (Why only me, no others?). I said I didn’t bring it with me and told them I came here this morning and worked here for half day and would fly back to Houston. They asked for my SSN, I told them. They made a call to somewhere, then they told me they couldn’t find my information. Then they forced me to refund my air ticket and put me into police car, taking all my stuff away. I was told that I would be sent back to China or Canada, whatever I wanted to go, never return. I thought of another bad thing happened to me one week ago: The bank wells fargo in Houston closed my bank accounts and told me my information was wrong. I was terrified that my information was unavailable in their system. I thought maybe my information was deleted by purpose for some reason.
After half hour driving, I was sent to immigration office. There were so many secure doors with password entering that even a bird couldn’t escape. I’m asked to take off my watch, shoe laces, belt and put in my bag which was taken away and put in another room. I was brought into inside room, where I saw so many Mexican there. At the side of the office tables, there were prison cells with door locked, full of Mexicans. They asked me to sit down on a bench and wait. I begged them to let me make a call. Fortunately, I called my roommate and told them my briefcase password and got my passport and visa. I wrote down all my information and showed to the officers. The officers looked at my visa number and said it’s incorrect because there was no A number. They needed a number starting with A and 8 digit numbers. I explained to them that I was a TN visa holder, not immigrant in the states. They wouldn’t listen to me and I was threatened to shut up.
After I had waited for 5 hours there, they put me into prison cell. It’s a stinky room with toilet inside. The wall was scratched with many kinds words in different languages. Some Chinese words were found there too. Finally they opened the door and let me out. They made a call to somewhere to verify my information, and my information matched. Till now, they didn’t understand why my visa has no A number. They asked each other and nobody knew why. You see how stupid they are, how limited knowledge they have. They only know the Green Card which has A number. Anyway, I was told I could stay in states. Finally they drove me back to a hotel close to airport and dropped me off. It’s already midnight. I had to pay my hotel fee to stay a night and next morning I bought another air ticket to fly back.
Above is my terribe experience, which made me very tired and upset. Hopefully our Chinese TN holders in the states can be very careful when traveling to the border airports. Bring all your documents and be prepared to be held in the immigrant prison for their limited knowledge.
Many friends discussed in this forum where is the best place to work and live in the states. Actually I don't like houston TX too much. First it's too hot here. Second the government officers are not very nice, you will know that when you apply for driver license, they are not as polite as canadian government officers. Last but no least, there are so many black people and mexians living here. During my first car purchasing peroid, a black guy cheated me. You can't trust them. Recently, the bank closed my account by mistake which was a big trouble to me, and this terrible experience happened to me in the airport. Anyway there are lots of job opportunities in Houston. I have to work here. It's too hard to move home frequently.
BTW, any friends know which way is the best to deliver the packages from Canada to Houston, please give me some info. I'll pay myself to move home from Ontario to Houston in Dec (my wife is still in Canad). Seems greyhound wouldn't want to ship. Truck moving is expensive, because I don't have too much stuff. Renting U-Haul truck and driving myself to houston sounds crazy. Any suggestions are highly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net