US Waiver for Canadians

A B.C. woman who was denied entry into the U.S., and barred for life, for admitting she’d smoked marijuana can now cross the border again thanks to an I-194 waiver. Jess Goldstein was asked at one point by the US border guard if she had ever smoked marijuana and admitted to smoking pot the week before. Despite having no criminal record, Goldstein was questioned for six hours and her car was searched, before she was told she could never enter the U.S. again. Now Goldstein can cross the border but only because she was granted an official waiver, which cost her $585, $75 for finger prints and has to be renewed again next year. There were likely addition fees not mentioned in the article, as Goldstein went through a lawyer. See the rest of the article:  B.C. woman who told U.S. border guards she smoked pot must pay $600 to cross again

Back in early summer while sitting at the pre-clearance facility, waiting to process my waiver application renewal, there sat next to me a gentleman who told me he had retained an attorney to compile his application. He seemed no more prepared (probably a little less) than I was for he discovered that he was missing certain documents. There would seem to be as many attorney / immigration lawyer's offices offering I-192 waiver application assistance as there are online university degree programs. Just do a quick Google search and you'll see what I mean. I suspect many people don't understand just how simple it is to compile your own waiver application. So if you did retain an attorney: What was the cost? Why did you select this particular attorney? Was it worth it? Will you retain an attorney for your next waiver application? As someone who is waiting for a decision on his second self-compiled waiver, I am in no way advocating people 'lawyer up', although...

The popular social network site Twitter is a great resource to follow for those caught up in the inadmissibility waiver net or anyone interested in immigration law, policy, border protection, etc. The US Embassy in Ottawa is also part of this community as are many other notables. Here's a list of some of them: @i194waiver Ryan Smarty (administrator for this blog). Follow me for updates on this blog and other related news. @ usembassyottawa Embassy of the United States of America, Ottawa Canada - US Mission to Canada Website Updates. @ LaurelScott Immigration lawyer ( Houston, TX). I blogged about Laurel recently and her Live Attorney Chat Wednesdays . @ Immi _Issues Jennifer McFadyen -editor for About. com's Guide to Immigration Issues . @ LegalDocs Legal information covering all aspects of Immigration Law, provided by leading attorneys and law firms (and streamed via JD Supra). @ ImmigrationGuys (Florida). Latest Immigration News from real-life (in the trenches) Immigr...