Only if you travel after 6 months. Every 6 months.

@john rogers - I just went through Toronto preclearance (air) for the first time with a waiver and was sent into secondary. I received a normal stamp in my passport like I was entering the U.S.A. (the same stamp was received by my companion who did not go into secondary). So next time I am in preclearance (air) will I be sent to secondary again?

Wouldn't having it printed in your passport raise red flags for foreign countries if they looked at your pp pages?

Land: You get taken into secondary every 6 months and will get an I-94 card. Its $6.00. Leave it in your passport. They will replace it when 6 months expires.

Air: Its electronic and printed in your passport. Again, every waiver applicant gets a secondary every 6 months.

I have written at great length about this in this forum (why and what they do) but if anyone needs a cut and paste let me know.

@Samuel #1033

Yes it was around 2005 for the first time I was refused entry to the US and told I needed a waiver. No not every time are you required to pull into secondary. But every 6 months you will have to get a document attached to your waiver which they provide you at customs and I believe it costs $6 or so.

There were waiver before 9/11, but they were different. They were generally 6 month to 1 year waivers and after 2 or 3 you would get an 1-175 Border Crossing card which contained the applicants photo. Once they had this card they did not have to re-apply.

9/11 brought in Homeland Security and the elimination of these cards. For those that think scrutiny of people crossing increased after 9/11, yes thats true, but people of south asian decent should be the major ones complaining. Men born in Pakistan who were Canadian citizens started to be arbitrarily denied entry with no criminal record.

Criminal records were always 'checked' and I have always done waivers. I think technology more than anything has led to more waivers rather than 9/11 for white males. There will come a day when CPIC will be automatically checked when the passport is swiped. This will eliminate "but I crossed 30 times before!" that every single client tells me when they are doing their application.

YY

@Bee

I'm guessing crossing the border became an issue for you around 2005 or so or around the time Canadians started needing a passport to get into America.

911 sure screwed up A LOT of things for us.

Glad you can get waivers though. Congrats.

Btw - when you travel with a waiver do they pull you into Secondary everytime?

@1031 Samuel

My charges are from 1984 theft under and a breach for which I paid a fine and probation term. I was crossing without issue for years until one day I was refused and told I needed to file a waiver. This will be my 3rd one

@Bee #1030

May I ask what you needed a waiver for and how long after whatever that "transgression/s" was did you file your first waiver?

I'm about to file my 3rd waiver doing the paperwork on my own. My first waiver took 1year to process and was for 1 year my second took 3 months and was for 5years.

This is my 3rd waiver had a 1 year and 5 year approved in past I applied at rainbow bridge I dont have any criminal history I only have 212 a6ci for misrepresentation from back in 2003 or 2004 other then that I dont have any history
Last time I applied and recieved my 5 years waiver in 35 to 40 days from the day I applied on rainbow bridge
This time when ever i ask for status
I get this

Your application was received and is being processed. Due to the

 individual circumstances of each waiver application,

Also sometime i recieved its pending for secondary check and also get this response too

file in office pending further review

I think "Arthur" isn't a client of any of ours, simply a guy who has done his own waiver, and I assume it turned out well for him, and is encouraging others to do that same. The problem is painting everyone with a broad brush. Its like me assuming "Arthur" must be some sort of bad person because he needs a waiver. Not true.

I think its ok to encourage others into looking to see if you can do the application yourself. Sometimes we get people in the office who PLAN on doing it themselves, so are there JUST to do fingerprints. They see we do it, and they are torn.

I always say the same thing. "Know yourself". If your the kids that will DO IT, research what to do and follow through, then no harm in trying it. The ridiculous ones are the ones who are there for their second set of fingerprints, who in 15 months never FINISHED the waiver, and still have no waiver. I tell them.."do you want this done, or not?" And usually they let me help them.

If we were insisting that "if you do the waiver yourself, your going to be rejected", or "there is no way a layperson could figure this out" I think you would have a right to be suspicious. The real test is when people get the first waiver done and plan to do the rest themselves. But they still come back to you, because you made the application easy and convenient and you got them exactly what you said you would.

@Arthur #1021 and @Captianx #1022 - I don't think you are clients of either John Rogers, Ken Scott or myself, so to say that we are "ripping people off" with nothing to back it up is simply rude. Perhaps, you both have been the victims of "a bad service?". As you can see throughout the posts, all three of us have offered very valuable advise and suggestions to everyone. Keep in mind that our time and efforts on this site are taking us away from "paying" clients. As the 3 of us have stated in here, please be careful about "offering advise" that applies to your situation as the "normal" for everyone else. I could "poke" a million holes in your theory "Your own personal effort will be worth it and they will see that in your application." Half my business is from people who have made several trips to the border "trying to do it on their own." While I completely agree that you can tackle the process on your own and many have succeeded...that is not true for everyone. Some people do not have time, or even want to be bothered with the process. Like John Rogers and Ken Scott said, we all hire experts to do something for us. I personally don't fix my own car or do my own taxes. I also didn't build my house myself. Yes, there are many bad services out there, and the 3 of us are banning together to try to weed out these services, as we all have dealt with people who have been scammed and we try to fix it, a disastrous situation, usually for a discount, because the people have already paid out so much ..I have been petitioning to the Parole Board for many years to create some type of Accreditation for Pardon services, to weed out the bad companies, however, they do not want to get involved in private business affairs, so have pretty much ignored me, but I send the letter every couple of months, hoping for change..With that being said, the responsibility also have to fall on the client also. Now days, there are many ways to check out a company before you hire them. DO YOUR RESEARCH..ask questions, ideally use a company that was referred to you by another client. I am constantly amazed by people who have hired a "bad company" then call me and say "I don't know who I hired, I just filled out a form on the internet and gave my credit card"..Seriously, I don't understand it..Anyway, again, if you are a client of ours, please be more specific on your troubles with us.

I see huge value in the advice that is being posted here. And for reference, John answered a ton of questions to me by text, and even suggested I not apply right now along with a ton of extra value add.

Sure he could have said "yes, go for it" and asked for my money, but he didn't. That says alot when someone is willing to let relationship and possible future business be more important than making a sale NOW.

For reference --- I am an accountant --- I do tax for a living (personal and corporate) ---- sure I could do the waiver myself but I would rather pay someone to do it right the first time than risk screwing it up myself. Already screwed up once and paying the price.

"empty barrels are quite noisy".

That HAS to have been imported from England. LOL

I agree with everything in John #1023. No one is being ripped off here but I will say one thing that may hurt feelings...A us entry waiver is a document that allows you enter the USA if you are inadmissible. It is something to not be taken lightly. Each person is responsible for their own behaviour. Yes, we have all made mistakes in the past. We offer free info here so that hopefully will prevent future headaches in your border crossing case. We do not get paid for this at all.

So if you cheap out with your future and hire a $399 Discount Waiver Company that screws you...then it is your own fault only. If you try to cheap out and navigate the complex waiver process and get denied because you do not have knowledge in regards to this process...then it is your own fault only. So if you trust your future with a Discount Waiver Company and get taken then you are the only one to blame. You can tell by talking with someone on the phone whether they know what they are talking about or not. You people do not realise that a us entry waiver is something to not be taken lightly. An example is that if obtain an unneeded us entry waiver...it could hamper your chances of getting a future USA green card through family sponsorship...Then we are talking about I-601 waivers...although this is a story for another day

I do not know everything but I have enough sense to surround myself with people that can help me with what I simply do not know.

Do I do my own digital marketing? N0... Do I repair my own vehicle? No.. So essentially the trolls in #1021 & #1022 need to get a life, stfu and maybe learn something since empty barrels are quite noisy.

Arthur: No one is being ripped off here. Certainly all the advice given here was free.

There are going to be people who feel like they can handle the process themselves. Others may want to let someone help them. How many times have I said "its not rocket science" and freely listed all the requirements? Have i ever asked for money when someone has called me asking for advice?

I don't do my own taxes. Are you in a forum describing how H and R Block is scamming people and you can "do it yourself?"

"They are mostly all scammers" is NOT true. There are some bad ones. like Dominion Pardons who I talked about, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have nothing to add value wise to someone who wants help.

“The adjudicating officer will likely be more apt to believe a person who took the time to do their own application.
They see that you have taken personal responsibility rather than hire a service like you hired a lawyer to be your mouthpiece when you were breaking the law.”

This is not true. Using someone to prepare forms does not make Homeland Security less inclined to give you a waiver. When I went to the airport on Saturdays, Homeland Security would SEND people to me to "clean up their application" because people inadvertently left parts blank, or answered completely wrong. Imagine working for Homeland Security and you see three "clean" applications in a row and then you get a hand written, half completed application. Page 8 of the I-192 application is not filled in at all. The personal letter gives NO description of what you did and blames most of the offences on "friends". Its irritating. DO you think there is some "committee" of people giving you praises for being "sincere?" No, in most cases its a clerk,m having to go through application after application, all day. Half assed efforts piss them off, they are not held up as a beacon of all thats good in the world. For Homeland Security, this is a JOB, and the harder you make it, the less results you get. At the airport, 15% of people doing themselves actually checked off that they were NOT inadmissible to the united states, and almost 25% did not fill out page 8 at all. Almost half who had done a couple of waivers successfully didn't even bother to bring a personal letter. Many people want to save the money, but half ass the application. That doesn't happen when I do it for you.

“Just remember, these services use almost the same letters in your application, only the name is changed to your name.”

Please provide some proof that this is happening or that i do that if I write a Reference letter for someone. I have never done this.

I think you have seen where Michelle and I have disagreed on things, and obviously Ken and I have disagreed. Thats healthy, and lets people make up their own minds about what to do with their applications. Just as an FYI, I tell any of my existing clients who are interested to sign up for this forum. I have nothing to hide, and I know I bring value to the process for people. My clients are happy with the service I provide and they show this by re-applying through me and referring others.

Its easy to post an anonymous name and criticize, but we know nothing about you, or what you do for a living. You have no accountability.

Agree with *Arthur

Do it yourself it is not rocket science. Just FYI I am on US waiver for long time and never had any issue applying with CBP. If you will make mistake they will tell you right away. When you will receive 5 years approval remember that after 5 years those waiver agent above might won't be in business. So do it yourself and stay out of trouble.

They are "working together" to keep ripping people off who made mistakes years ago.

You cab get a US Waiver yourself!

Don'y pay anyone, they are mostly all scammers!

The CBP website has the info you need, just get your entire criminal record and do it yourself.

Just remember, these services use almost the same letters in your application, only the name is changed to your name.

The Admissibility Review Office of the CBP is a small office. They know what a sincere personalized letter from you looks like and what a boilerplate letter from a service looks like.

The adjudicating officer will likely be more apt to believe a person who took the time to do their own application.

They see that you have taken personal responsibility rather than hire a service like you hired a lawyer to be your mouthpiece when you were breaking the law.

Don't be afraid. Your own personal effort will be worth it and they will see that in your application.