Saturday 29th January 2011 3:30 PM Boston Time
I and my colleague reached Boston after 24 hours of tiresome journey (11 hrs India to Paris + 5 hrs transit + 8 hrs Paris to Boston). There was a first level immigration check where the officer asked following questions
1. What is the purpose of visit?
Ans: Business discussions and training.
2. What exactly are you going to do in US?
Ans: There will be new features to the product. Need to attend meetings with developers.
Some more questions were asked after which the first level officer used his radio to call another officer to escort me to a second level immigration check. The time was approximately 4:30 PM. The office that I walked into is called CBP i.e Customs and Border Protection. A lady officer started asking following questions
1. What is the purpose of visit?
Ans: Business discussions and training
2. What is the work in India?
Ans: Testing and developing utility scripts
3. What is the work here?
Ans: Meetings with developers about quarterly new features etc
4. Every quarter there will be new features. So will u come every quarter?
Ans: no
5. How many weeks you need?
Ans: 8
6. Will it extend?
Ans: may be not.
After asking lot more questions, I was asked to get my luggage. She checked every item and document in my luggage and hand bag. She referred to a checklist that I was carrying, which was an informal communication between my US manager and me about various activities that may be taken up and started asking more questions. I even informed her that the points in the checklist are not concrete and they are subject to change. During the interview, she had discussions with her supervisor for a couple of times. A lot more questions were asked. Some questions were even repeated. It was more like a stress interview.
My colleague was also brought for second level immigration check. The officer asked if we were together and from the same team. I was with the officer when my bags were being checked. After the check was completed I did not find my colleague in the room. From there on I had two things to worry about. First is to call my home and inform my status. Second is to inform my colleague to not wait for me. I expressed my concerns and requested for help. I was neither allowed to call nor inform my colleague. I was not even allowed to step out of the office. Every now and then I requested to make a phone call to my mom and sister. But I was not allowed to do so.
Finally she started a questionnaire. She asked if I want to use the rest room. She also asked me if I was hungry. She asked me if I had any medical problems that need doctor’s attention. She started reading out some lines from her computer and she told that it was all about taking a statement from me. She did not completely read out the whole information that she was supposed to. There was information about the purpose of the questionnaire and consequences thereafter.
It is only after the questionnaire that I was informed that I am not admissible into US since the purpose of my visit requires either a L1 or H1 visa and not B1. I was clueless and helpless. She also told that it was not my mistake and it was purely administrative issue. I was given two options then,
1. I will be forcefully sent me back to India, consequence of which will be a five year bar from entering US and current visa cancellation.
2. I voluntarily agree to return back so that I can re-apply for an appropriate visa and can come back to US. I was never informed that my visa will get cancelled even in that case.
Since the final result of both options is to return back to India, I have agreed for option 2. The officer told that there would be some documentation work that might take around 3 hours. She took some printouts and asked for signatures on those.
She asked for my return journey details. Based on those details, she started making arrangements for my return flight. She informed me that the next flight back to Paris is on the next day i.e. Sunday 30th January 2011 at 5:20 PM Boston Time. Arrangements were made to make my luggage available for the return flight. I was asked for any local contact numbers that I wish to send a message. I pointed out to group Director's number in the invite letter.
From there on I was not allowed to make any calls, not allowed to step out of the office and not even walk around inside the office. I was simply sitting idle and wondering if this was really happening or if it was a bad dream. There were a lot of other people coming for the second level check in the mean time. I had nothing else to do other than to keep hearing to the questions that were being asked and the answers that people were giving. There were a couple of Indians with same purpose as mine i.e. B1 visa for 8 weeks business discussions. The officers were bargaining and blackmailing them that they would offer only 2 weeks permission since they were not convinced that 8 weeks is really necessary for business discussions. If they tried to talk more they said it would be 1 week only or they will be sent back. They were even telling them that they have got a good deal. They finally settled for 2 weeks and left the room. I felt bad that why wasn’t I offered such a deal. It was simply not my day.
I requested the lady officer to send an email to my sister. But she refused to do so and told that she can’t do it from the Government computer. But she advised me to use my laptop and try sending a message. My laptop could not detect any wireless network.
The lady officer informed me that I will be sent to a special agency that night since they cannot allow anyone to stay overnight in the office. I enquired if it is some kind of prison. She told that it is not.
In the mean time two more were detained, one was a male from Bangladesh and the other was a female from Mexico (I guess). When the officer who interviewed Bangladeshi mentioned that the Bangladeshi was being denied entry, his visa was being cancelled and there was going to be a bar on him from entering US, there was dead silence for a minute in the office which had around 15 people at that point.
During the questionnaire there are a couple of questions as follows
1. Do you have any fear or concern about being returned to your home country or being removed from the United States?
2. Would you be harmed if you are returned to your home country or country of last residence?
The Bangladeshi has responded to them as “YES”. After the questionnaire the officer gave him a list of free attorney’s details to choose from. The reason being that the attorney would interview him again and will determine if it is genuine fear. If found true then he would be sent to an asylum else he would be sent back. That absolutely scared me since even I could have told yes. Fear can be very generic, it could be fear of harm or fear of shame. I thought I was lucky there but the Bangladeshi was completely stunned.
I was already tired and felt sleepy. I requested the officer about when I will be taken to the “agency” so that I could rest. She replied that they have already informed and concerned people are on their way.
Then the officer took me to some room for another set of procedures. It was about collecting my finger prints and photographs. I did not understand what that was for. Later on I understood that it was for FBI. The finger prints were first taken electronically. To add to my already disappointing day, there was a problem printing the finger prints. So the officer took the finger prints again manually not once but twice since she needed two copies. Manually here I mean by pressing the fingers against inkpad and making impressions on the paper.
It was already 10:00 PM and I was half asleep in the chair. By the way they did offer me food in the evening which is military food. They call it MRE. I refused to take it. They told that they could buy something if I could give them money. I got a pizza slice bought and they even returned the change. I was also offered water.
The Bangladeshi was so nervous that he kept walking around inside the room. The officers objected to that. But that fellow kept on forgetting and continued to walk around. Then they warned him that he would be cuffed if he did not stop it. That scared me. I made sure I did not move anywhere.
Finally at around 10:30 PM the people from agency have arrived. My doubt was true and they were cops. All my belongings except the clothes that I wore are secured inside the office. They included my gold rings and a sentimental bracelet. The cops searched me to ensure that I have nothing else with me except the clothes on my body. Then the unthinkable happened. They took out the handcuffs and wanted to cuff me with my hands at the back. Later on they decided to cuff me with my hands on the front. Even more embarrassing is they cuffed along with the other person. Since I was returning the next day, my luggage was already handed over to flight crew. But the Bangladeshi’s luggage was taken along with us since he was expected to be there for a couple of days and may be more based on the interview with the attorney. And that interview is expected to happen only on Monday i.e. 2 more days to go.
The agency that the officer mentioned is ICE i.e. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is a part of Boston prison I guess.
The night was very cold (-2 degrees celsius). The vehicle that we were taken was a van with compartments in the back. Me and the Bangladeshi was asked to sit in one compartment and the Mexican was asked to sit in another.
After reaching ICE at around 11:00 PM, an officer escorted the Bangladeshi to a room with a uniform. After 15 minutes the officer came back with the Bangladeshi’s dress. Then I was escorted to the same room with another uniform. The officer asked me to put on the uniform on top of my clothes itself since I was returning the next day. I felt bad that first it was the handcuffs and now the uniform. But there was no choice. Me and Bangladeshi were put in the same cell.
Sunday 30th January 2011 12:05 AM Boston Time
At around 12:05 AM I got a chance to take some rest. I was lying on the bed. The cell was not that bad as I imagined. But after 10 mins they called again and told that I was leaving. For a moment I thought finally the company has done something to rescue me. I was excited and came out of the cell and there were 2 cops. I thought of removing the uniform initially but I didn’t since I wasn’t told to do so. Then I came to know that there would be a medical checkup in the next building. I was about to put on my jacket but they gave another jacket which is part of uniform.
I was getting weird ideas like will there be any man handling and stuff like that. By the way I have requested to make a phone call even at the detention center. But the officer gave some reason which I did not understand and I did not get the chance to make a call.
We went to a security control room where there were some more officers. They started taking some details. They have taken photographs. They have generated a photo ID for the Bangladeshi since he is expected to stay for 2-3 days. They did not generate any photo ID for me since I was leaving the next day. But they did take the photograph. They questioned about being suicidal, any sexual offences.
After that they took to a nurse where she asked me if I had any health problems. I told her that I have none. Then the Bangladeshi was taken into a room. She told him that she was going to do Tuberculosis test. That poor fellow got scared because he did not understand what it is. The police and nurse tried convincing him that it is a very common test in US and takes only 2 minutes and will not be too painful. They finally succeeded in getting the sample from his body.
After that we were finally taken back to the cell and it was around 2:30 AM. I finally got some rest but the sleep was very disturbed. I had all sorts of thoughts about my family.
I woke up at 7:00 AM. There was a plastic bag with brush, paste, deodorant and soap. The rest room had a series of toilet seats and bath rooms but without doors. I did not even think of using them. I brushed my teeth and went back to the cell. They provided some breakfast.
The nervous Bangladeshi kept on walking in the corridor. The police asked him not to walk around and asked to go back to cell. He started walking inside the cell in front of me.
He started chatting with me explaining how bad his time has been. He pointed out to his hand and told that the nurse had taken blood out of his hand. I explained him that it was all about TB test. He was very relieved. Till that time he had different ideas about that test.
I went and asked an officer about how the weather is that day. My worry was that if the weather was not good then there might be flight delays which I desperately did not want to happen. The officer replied that it was fine.
The Bangladeshi kept on informing me the time every 5 minutes and half an hour and kept on reminding me that I will be leaving in so and so time. The CBP informed ICE to bring me back to airport by 1:00 PM. At 12:00 PM an officer came and asked me to take my uniform off and get ready. I felt a bit better but I was also worried that I may be handcuffed again and there might be more public at the airport. Fortunately the officer who was escorting me to the airport said if I can assure him that there would not be any problem from my side then he would not handcuff me. I felt very relieved and thought that it was a good gesture from him.
I was taken back to airport and I was back to the same office where it all started. I requested for my belongings and they returned them back.
It was around 1:00 PM and some more second level interviews were going on. In the mean time there was a lady from one MNC to work for my company on L1. She was also asked some questions. I got an idea to send a message to my family. I wrote at the back of my business card the contact information of my mom and sister. The lady was asked to wait for some time. I approached her and started to explain my situation. I was about to finish the explanation and give her the business card but an officer asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was requesting her to contact my family and let them know that I was safe. But the officer objected and asked me to sit in my place that I have been sitting. It was already 24 hours after landing in Boston that I haven’t called my family and I was extremely worried about my mother since she was alone at my home town after my father has expired a couple of years ago. I could not understand the reasoning behind not letting me make a phone call to my family or at least passing the information through other people.
I sat idle for some more time observing the people coming in, going out and the questions that were being asked. There was a person in the room who was called for questioning. Based on the discussion between the officer and him, I came to know that he is COO of one of top MNCs in India. He has been a frequent traveler to US since 1991 on B1. The officer even questioned why he didn’t apply for green card since he seemed to be staying in US more than an average green card holder would stay. He explained many other things but the officers were not convinced and even warned that he would be deported. But finally after some more discussions, they let him through. At that point I felt why I had such rough time. I last travelled to US in 2007 for 3 weeks. After 4 years I was travelling for 8 weeks. What is it that I did not have which made the officers to deport me. I was not even given a third option of “2 weeks only or 1 week only” at least. There I could clearly see the double standards maintained by CBP.
In the mean time there was another software engineer from Chennai coming on B1 for 8 weeks. He was asked same set of questions and was found wanting. Some of the questions were like
1. What are you here to do?
Ans: Gather requirements
2. After gathering requirements what do u do?
Ans: Implement
Immediately an officer came out and started making arrangements for his return flight. Irony is that the guy doesn’t even know that this is happening behind him. He was being asked more questions.
I could see 2 different results, 1 letting through and 1 returned back, for the same B1 visa, between 1 PM and 4 PM. I simply could not understand the logic of the officers.
I even felt that the guy was lucky since his return flight was on the same day and he may not have to bear the shame of handcuffs, wearing uniform and staying overnight at the Boston prison.
Finally at 4:30 PM, I was escorted to board the flight. There was a special security check which involved x-ray body scan. The escorting officer carried my documents and made sure that I boarded the flight. Just before boarding the flight I have seen a group of 8-10 police men standing in a pattern. I was sure that it was part of my boarding procedure. After I boarded the flight, my documents were handed over to the flight crew.
I thought that the hard time is over and the rest of the journey is going to be normal but it was not to be. It was already 26 hours that I made any phone call to my mother. I was waiting to make a call from the flight. I requested the crew if I could make a call. The crew answered yes and pointed me to the phone. But to my surprise the phone was locked. I asked the crew if it was locked only today or it has been locked before. The crew told that it might have been locked that day. I was wondering when and how was this going to end.
Monday 31st January 2011 5:45 AM Paris Time
The flight took off and landed in Paris at terminal 2E after 7 hours of journey. It was 5:45 AM Paris Time. I was informed that I will be the last person to get off the plane. There was a flight attendant waiting for me outside the plane. She escorted me to hand me over to a French police officer. In the time gap that the officer came over to us, I explained my situation and requested the flight attendant if I could make a phone call. She was positive about it and checked if she had got a calling card. But when the time is against you nothing will work. As expected she does not have one. My fate was so sealed. The officer came and she talked to him something in french. She handed over my documents and me to the police officer. She told me sorry that she could not help me. She also told that her colleagues might help in the other terminal.
The officer escorted me to the security office in terminal 2E. On our way to the security office, the officer was looking at my documents. From his hand I was able to see that the visa on my old passport has been cancelled. This I never expected since I was not told about this in the two options provided to me.
I reached the security office and another officer there asked me to wait for 45 minutes. In the mean time I again requested the officer if I could make a phone call. That officer was sarcastically speaking in French to me and drawing some lines on the paper. He did that for about a minute and finally asked me to go and sit. At that point I felt Paris is not going to be any different to Boston and I am never going to get a chance to make a call. I could do nothing except counting down the time.
After 45 minutes i.e. at 6:45 AM Paris time I was escorted to another security office in terminal 2C which is where the return flight to India is going to depart from. There I was asked to sit on a bench and wait. I could see two phones in front of me. I could not resist my temptation. After hesitating for one hour I requested the officer if I could make a call. As usual I was expecting a “NO”. But to my surprise the officer told “YES”. First time after waiting for 36 hours, I got a chance to make my first phone call.
I called my mother. As expected she was extremely worried. I could feel the happiness in her voice after she heard me. We both were relieved of a big burden. I explained that there was a small problem due to which I am on my way back. Then I called my sister and she too was relieved. In fact she was scolding me that she had head ache for 2 days as there was no information about me and that she is lot more better after hearing me. Lastly I called my manager and updated him the situation.
After that at 10:00 AM Paris time, I was escorted to board the flight. Again there was a special security check after which I boarded the flight and the police escorting me handed over the documents to the crew again. After the plane took off, I asked the crew that I would like to make a phone call. They agreed and this time there was no lock on the phone. I called my mother again and updated her that I am on the plane to India.
Tuesday 1st February 2011 1:30 AM India Time
Finally I have reached India at 1:30 AM. There was an announcement in the plane asking me to meet the Air France ground staff. There was another lady waiting for me outside the plane and escorted me to the immigration officer. There the officer asked me about what happened and asked me to write a statement. He gave one paper for the statement but I have asked him two more papers and wrote everything that happened. The officers there took a look at what happened and sympathized with me and cleared me. During this time one officer checked my passports and found that there was something written on the last page of my new passport. He also expressed concern that it was not good. I have no idea what the consequence of that is.
Finally I got the customs clearance and collected my luggage. At 4:00 AM I got my documents back and I was let go without any officer escorting me.
I wish this could have been a nightmarish dream. But this is a true fact which I lived every second of it. I have no appropriate words to explain but this was simply unexpected and unacceptable.
I am still not sure how I went through all this. I did not have the courage to look at the other people in the eye during this ordeal since I always had an escort. It was a complete damage to my self respect and dignity. I wonder what would have happened in the following scenarios
1. If there was a female in my situation.
2. If there were flight delays for a couple of days since there were predictions of snow storms.
3. If I had a heart attack or emotional attack since software professionals are prone to it at an younger age.
Finally, no matter whose mistake, it is innocent engineers like me who will pay the price for no mistake of ours. I shared this to educate companies and engineers to understand how worst the situations can be so that one can act appropriately before hand to avoid humiliation like this.
At some point of time I shall update this blog with what happens to career in terms of travelling to US or any other country after such an experience. My advise as of now to those who have been through such experience is to be patient. Also make sure to have a copy of the documents given by the US CBP. Normally those documents are taken over by the immigration in India. You can get a copy upon requesting them.
It would also be useful to everyone if those who have experienced this situation before could share what happened to their careers in the comments section.
At some point of time I shall update this blog with what happens to career in terms of travelling to US or any other country after such an experience. My advise as of now to those who have been through such experience is to be patient. Also make sure to have a copy of the documents given by the US CBP. Normally those documents are taken over by the immigration in India. You can get a copy upon requesting them.
It would also be useful to everyone if those who have experienced this situation before could share what happened to their careers in the comments section.
