What would be my options if I were refused at USA port of entry?

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Accepted answer

If you are denied entry in the US, two things can happen:

  1. The officer offers to allow you to voluntarily withdraw your application for admission, and allows you to voluntarily depart on your own quickly, on your own arrangement, and you accept and do depart according to their terms, or
  2. The officer puts you into expedited removal proceedings, and you are ordered removed. How you are flown out would presumably be arranged by the US government. A removal upon arrival triggers a 5-year ban under INA 212(a)(9)(A)(i) for the first time (or 20-year ban for a second time).

Note that the officer doesn't have to offer you to voluntarily depart; it's up to the officer, i.e. they can put you into removal proceedings (thus causing you a ban) even if you offer to depart on your own, or even if they at first offer to let you depart on your own, if you take too long to arrange your transportation, they can change their mind and put you into removal anyway. But they usually do offer you the option of voluntary departure unless your past immigration violations were particularly egregious.

(Note that the above only applies to ports of entry in the US. If you are denied entry at a US pre-clearance facility, e.g. if you are flying from Canada, Ireland, or Abu Dhabi, removal is not an option as you are not in the US. In that case, you would simply be left at the foreign airport and not be able to take your flight to the US.)

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