ESTA problem when cruising from New York to Montreal

[trrrip]

Hi - has anyone had this problem.  I am a UK citizen and had an ESTA to spend few days in New York prior to New England and Canada cruise.  I flew back to UK 14 days later from Montreal.  I have now received notification from US customs that I have 10 days to leave US but I left two months ago.  Because I left from Montreal after the cruise they think I’m still in US.  
 

i need to travel to US again in April for Deep South tour and I am worried I won’t get in to US.  I have searched everywhere but can’t find definitive answer.  I have printed cruise confirmation with dates and flight tickets from Montreal to Heathrow as proof and hope that is enough to prove I left US.  
 

thanks 

[jcl410]

I think it would be best to take care of this now. There should be a method to contact US Customs Border Protection(CBP). Be proactive and send them a copy of your cruise itinerary that shows your last stop in the US.

 

 

Good luck,

 

John

[trrrip]

Thanks for answer.   After extensive searching on US immigration site I found address of a company called Coleman Data Solutions and have forwarded cruise and flight receipts and proof of transactions carried out in UK.  Hopefully this will sort the problem. 

[GTJ]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:21 AM, trrrip said:

I am a UK citizen and had an ESTA to spend few days in New York prior to New England and Canada cruise. I flew back to UK 14 days later from Montreal. I have now received notification from US customs that I have 10 days to leave US but I left two months ago.

You should have checked-out with CBP before leaving the United States, but it sounds like this was not done. Seemingly the error was not caught by Canadian immigration. Many countries require reporting to immigration both on entry and exit, and it is up to traveler to do so, to not leave a country without taking care of immigration matters, so as to avoid this very type of problem. I recall several years ago that I had faced this issue. I had forgotten to check-out of Panamá when crossing the land border into Costa Rica, but the friendly Costa Rican immigration official noticed this, explained the Panamanian procedure, and asked that I take care of the Panamanian exit before doing the Costa Rican entry. Thus, I was able to take care of the issue then and there, a solution you would not have been able to do.

 

If I were in in your position, I would contact the United States consulate in Edinburgh. Visit their website for contact details: http://uk.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/edinburgh. Obviously, your physical presence in Scotland (perhaps at the consulate itself) would be proof that you have departed the United States, though you should be prepared to present your ticket from New York to Montréal plus proof of your lawful entry into Canada on a date particular.

[Ashland]

I thought I heard this ESTA program has been delayed/pushed back again.

[trrrip]

Thanks again for advice.  I Will look into that.  Fortunately I still have all the paperwork for my travels. 

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Ashland said:

I thought I heard this ESTA program has been delayed/pushed back again.

 

ESTA has been in use for about 15 years.

 

I think you're confusing ESTA, which is a program for people entering the US from visa waiver countries with ETIAS, which is a process similar to ESTA for those entering the EU that has been postponed numerous times and is now expected to be implemented in mid 2025.

[Ashland]

8 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

ESTA has been in use for about 15 years.

 

I think you're confusing ESTA, which is a program for people entering the US from visa waiver countries with ETIAS, which is a process similar to ESTA for those entering the EU that has been postponed numerous times and is now expected to be implemented in mid 2025.

Thanks for clarifying this.

[daydream1]

Did you get this fixed? I have in the past mailed the paper recipt (before ESTA) to the embassy. When leaving on a place the airline automatically makes a note, so this has not happened to me since then. HOWEVER, any irregularity and there is a high chance to be stopped at the border. If that happens...you get take to secondary screening and then it usually is easily fixable if you have recipts (has happened to me).