Restrain your Curiosity when Traveling! – A Cautionary Tale
Posted Nov 02, 2001

In MurthyBulletin NewsFlashes entitled Foreign Nationals: Carry your Immigration Documents with You! (Sept. 26, 2001) and Travel Advisory for Foreign Nationals (Sept. 27, 2001) we warned about the importance of carrying one's immigration documents at all times - particularly when traveling either within the U.S. or abroad. To the list of what to do and what not to do while traveling, we now add the following caution: Do not ask questions about airline equipment and procedures!

The wife of an H1B professional recently called The Law Office of Sheela Murthy relating an ordeal they had endured. Her husband is an Indian professional who was waiting in line to use the restroom while on a long flight. He happened to notice the emergency exit door nearby and, either out of curiosity or boredom, idly asked the flight attendant how the emergency door worked. Within a few minutes, he was being interrogated by an FBI agent. Questioned as to why he wanted to know about the exit door, he stated he was just curious. However, the inquiry did not end there. The FBI agent then wanted to know about his immigration status. It so happened that he was on an H1B but had lost his job a few months before. He had a new job offer, but the new company had not yet filed the H1B petition for him. He was therefore not currently maintaining H1B status.

The immigration status problem then led to the FBI’s contacting INS officials at the destination airport. An INS agent met the plane when it landed. The INS agent took the Indian professional into custody. No, he was not accused of being a terrorist, but he was taken into custody for failure to maintain his immigration status and he had a bond hearing.

By now he has been released from custody, but he will be facing removal proceedings. If all goes smoothly and he obtains voluntary departure, he could go back to India and await the approval for the new company's H1B petition, so that he can be readmitted in valid status.

Of course, even if he had not been put into proceedings, the gap in his status would have meant at least a brief trip outside the country so that he could be readmitted on the new H1B. He could, however, have avoided the ordeal of being taken into custody, put into detention, and placed into proceedings before an Immigration Judge. Needless to say, this situation has been frightening for his family as well.

It all started with simple, curious questions. Many readers may be surprised that a seemingly simple question could cause so much trouble for this professional who appeared to have no other immigration law violation. One must understand that, in the current post-9/11 climate, law enforcement agencies are in a heightened state of alert. Therefore, the prudent posture is to avoid curiosity and keep one's questions to oneself!