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When crossing into the USA by land, foreign visitors who can enter visa free must pay a processing fee. Suppose that, for whatever reason, I am unable to pay this fee, then I will not be allowed to enter. Does that mean I will have been formally denied entry to the USA?

This comment by user DJClayworth notes that to cross the border, one must pay USD 6 in cash (no cards accepted), so travellers which did not get cash USD prior to crossing the border may be unable to pay. I don't know if it applies to all travellers, but it certainly applies to some (I had to pay when entering Buffalo, USA from Fort Erie, Canada; by chance, I had cash USD).

gerrit
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    I think would be they'd let you withdraw your application to enter, but someone may know a solid answer. They do this to most people that can't enter due to small reasons. – BritishSam Jan 13 '20 at 11:12
  • @Gerrit - Would you please explain your first sentence above, or provide a reference? I am pretty sure that it is not true in the broad sense that it is worded. – Michael Hall Jan 13 '20 at 20:34
  • @MichaelHall Foreigners entering the US by land without a visa need to fill out an I-94 form, and pay a processing fee (though its really small, I think less than $10). Canadian citizens have special status and are exempt from this requirement, though if you have a NEXUS card, that is essentially a pre-paid I-94 application. See: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home. (Note: if you enter by air or sea you will "need" an I-94 but US Immigration auto-generates it for you based on information from your travel carrier.) – KutuluMike Jan 13 '20 at 21:07
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    It might be useful to mention that the processing fee is 6 USD, which is less than it costs to enter New York from New Jersey. – De Novo Jan 14 '20 at 03:23
  • @DeNovo Edited, and entering New York from New Jersey, really? There must be hundreds of crossing points between the two states (example on Openstreetmap), how can they possibly enforce charging that? I'm surprised that is even legal under US law? – gerrit Jan 14 '20 at 10:07
  • @gerrit I assume that's a joke referring to the Holland Tunnel toll. – pboss3010 Jan 14 '20 at 13:00
  • @pboss3010 Yep. And the Lincoln tunnel and the GW bridge. Tolls are only for getting to New York. You can leave for free. – De Novo Jan 14 '20 at 15:40
  • @DeNovo more specifically, tolls are for leaving New Jersey, even if you're not going to NY. – WBT Jan 14 '20 at 19:34
  • @WBT I suppose, but how is a snarky new yorker going to make a joke about that? – De Novo Jan 14 '20 at 19:38
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    @DeNovo How does a snarky New Yorker pass up an opportunity to make fun of New Jersey? There are more people paying to leave NJ than just about any other continental state. – WBT Jan 14 '20 at 19:40
  • I crossed once on a bus at rainbow bridge (niagara falls), and they took card. – user138737 Jan 15 '20 at 01:36

1 Answers1

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Absolutely not. For land entry, the US has a process by which you are allowed to withdraw your application to enter the country. That is exactly and precisely intended for situations like this.

The mission of Immigration is to block anyone who isn't a genuine "Visitor" -- people who come to the US to

  • commit acts of terror or other crime
  • seek employ (without a proper visa for that)
  • go "on the dole": seek benefit of public services like food stamps, Medicaid, public housing, etc. much of which is provided by the States, but States aren't allowed to run their own immigration services, so it's all on Federal immigration.
  • Overstay their visa, or effectively live in the US through repeated visits

A refusal is a big deal. It says there were serious issues with your application that made border authorities worry you would do one of the bullet-point things above. A refusal means future applications will be viewed with distrust.

Further, Canada is a special case for the US: It's a GDP equal, so they're not crashing the gates, and easily half the population is within an hour's drive of the US border. Which means Canadians and foreign visitors to Canada make frivolous, unplanned, on-a-lark visits to the US all the time. Like, for lunch.

This creates a perfect storm for people showing up without proper documents. When this happens, it does not reflect in any way whatsoever on their trustworthiness to not do that above bullet-list of things America is worried about.

So burning a refusal into their immigration record would be completely inappropriate.

That's what "Withdraw your application" is all about. The immigration officer will instruct you "In the future, immigration officers will ask you if you were refused entry into a country. What is happening here is not a refusal. Don't tell immigration officers you were refused entry because of this. We just caught your paperwork problem early, before you applied for entry, so not a refusal. Got it?"

If you did tell US border guards in the future that you were refused, they would probably look in the computer, see the "withdraw", ask you the date and location of the "refusal" and give you a lecture about it not being a refusal and stop saying that. If you tell the UK border guards that you had a US refusal, they'd have no way to check that, and that would prejudice your UK entry.

So, not a refusal.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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  • Some visa application forms now ask about "withdrawing a visa application" too, so that's no longer universally helpful. Although for now I've only seen it on the Canadian visa application. – JonathanReez Jan 13 '20 at 18:17
  • @JonathanReez I'd say it's very helpful to be able to tick "withdrawed" instead of "refused", because it allows them to capture the less-judgmental version of the data. It says "you are prone to paperwork mistakes". – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 13 '20 at 18:19
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    The one time I have driven a car into the USA was at the Ogdensburg port of entry. The people ahead of me turned around after talking to the border officer, from overhearing their conversation, they were simply following their sat.-nav. from one Canadian destination to another, apparently not even aware they were entering the USA. Since then I thought they had been denied entry, but from what you say, it is much more likely they withdrew their application to enter. – gerrit Jan 13 '20 at 18:32
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    If a visa form asks about "withdrawing a visa application", that would be entirely different than withdrawing a request to enter at the border. First, the question is about those eligible to enter visa-free, so there was never any visa application. Second, visas are usually applied for in advance; the visa allows one to travel to the border and request entrance. A hypothetical example: a visitor to Canada has a US visa, but doesn't want to go to the US today. Due to heavy traffic the visitor can't get out of the lane leading to the border, and tells the border agent so. – Gerard Ashton Jan 13 '20 at 18:58
  • @GerardAshton Good point, that's a different thing than withdrawing an application to enter live at the border. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 13 '20 at 19:01
  • Is either Gerrit or Harper insinuating that Canadians have to apply for entry to the US, and to pay an application fee? – Michael Hall Jan 13 '20 at 19:34
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    @MichaelHall Gerrit is asserting that someone entering the US must pay. I am reading between the lines to infer that the "someone" is neither a US nor Canadian citizen, but a foreign visitor to Canada. I am not actively challenging that claim, but I am definitely not asserting it. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 13 '20 at 19:53
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    Ok, because I am American, but we live close to the border and have Canadian friends who come across regularly. In fact my daughter is engaged to a Canadian who visits often, and I'm very confident that he neither applies, nor pays a fee to cross each time. A passport or NEXUS card is all that is needed. – Michael Hall Jan 13 '20 at 20:30
  • @MichaelHall Yeah, I'm confident of that too. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 13 '20 at 20:36
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    The I-94 fee applies to all nonimmigrants entering by land (even if they have a valid nonimmigrant visa) except for Canadian B-1/B-2 visitors. (Edit: There may also be some other more exemptions, but they are much more obscure.) – Brian Jan 13 '20 at 21:33
  • Is this "process" something that would be facilitated for you (i.e. you are given or told about the necessary form to fill then and there) if you came up to the station and discover you don't have the money on you? Or do you have to know about it in advance, so that if you did not, something could still happen? – The_Sympathizer Jan 14 '20 at 12:03
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    "like, for lunch". I don't live on the US/Canadian border, but I do live near the Swiss/German border; we don't just cross into Switzerland for something as important as lunch - we wander across just because we want to show visitors the pretty wooden bridge (and perhaps pick up a yogurt while we're there). Note that this was true before CH joined Schengen. – Martin Bonner supports Monica Jan 14 '20 at 14:18
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    @MartinBonnersupportsMonica The situation at borders between other countries may not apply to the OP situation. The one time I entered US by land felt comparable only to one other of my border-crossing experiences worldwide - but that other border has ceased to exist in November 1989 – Hagen von Eitzen Jan 14 '20 at 16:40
  • @HagenvonEitzen: Do you mean crossing from Germany to Germany? – Piskvor left the building Jan 15 '20 at 08:58
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    @MartinBonnersupportsMonica Some people along the land border between Ireland and the UK (also Belgium/Netherlands, I believe) even cross the border just to go from their bedroom to their living room. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 15 '20 at 17:06