When entering the US by car via a Sentri lane as a US lawful permanent resident (LPR), the CBP agent often takes over a minute on their computer to decide whether to allow the US LPR to enter the US, not counting the questions that they may ask, verifying that the US LPR looks at the same as on their Permanent Resident Card nor the quick visual inspection of the vehicle. This makes me wonder: What are CBP agents doing when deciding whether to allow a US LPR to enter the US?
asked Jan 16, 2022 at 23:56
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For comparison. Do you know how long a US citizen (or an LPR other than you) takes to be processed under at the same entry point? Because without a comparative analysis, asking what's special about your entry times is not really useful.– Peter MCommented Jan 17, 2022 at 1:49
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@PeterM nothing special about me– Franck DernoncourtCommented Jan 17, 2022 at 1:53
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The opining about why it can't be faster doesn't make sense– Peter MCommented Jan 17, 2022 at 3:58
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@PeterM I'm not asking why it can't be faster.– Franck DernoncourtCommented Jan 17, 2022 at 4:03
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1You literally said below "Thanks, wouldn't these checks be made automatically and take a few secs?"– Peter MCommented Jan 17, 2022 at 12:15
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1 Answer
A US Citizen just needs to confirm their identity. However, since as an LPR you don't have an inherent right of entry, the CBP officer needs to confirm, on top of your identity, that you're still in fact an LPR and that no further inspection is needed before admitting you.
For starters, they need to check your previous exits and entries to make sure that you haven't spent more than 1 year out of the country (in this case a REP would be required) or more than 2 years out of the country (in this case a SB1 visa would be required). There are some links in this answer and comments to it.
They may want to check that you're not entering and leaving the country just to circumvent the above time limits (e.g.: that you're not entering for a week every half a year to avoid resetting your citizenship clock, or every year to avoid the REP/SB1 thing).
There may be additional checks that I can only speculate about that US citizens wouldn't need: cross-checks against immigration enforcement databases (ICE/USCIS), potentially maybe checking some crime databases (conviction of certain crimes may lead to invalidating your LPR status), and what's not.
As mentioned in the comments, these are very likely automated. But when entering by land, the CBP has no prior knowledge of your impending arrival (as opposed to sea or air travel, where the carriers provide the manifest and details about the passengers, ahead of time). So all the information needed cannot be pre-fetched from the various databases and needs to be accessed online while you're there, waiting. This takes time, even in the digital age.
There's also a customs check component, but it's no different for LPRs compared to anyone else.
If for whatever reason necessary information is not currently available, you may be referred to a "secondary inspection". This is true for anyone, not just LPRs. Same happens if there are some suspicions, or if there's missing documentation (e.g.: a US citizen arriving without evidence of their citizenship). Once all the necessary details are confirmed, the person would then be either admitted or denied entry, or may even be arrested (if, for example, there's an outstanding arrest warrant).
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1Thanks, wouldn't these checks be made automatically and take a few secs? Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 0:49
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2@FranckDernoncourt they may be automated (in fact they very likely are automated), but especially on land crossings where the details about your arrival are not provided ahead of time as they are with air travel - these may take a bit longer than seconds since the data needs to be fetched from somewhere. Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 0:50
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3in addition, when deciding to admit anyone (even a citizen who cannot be excluded) the officers also need to decide whether or not to admit your stuff (which has no rights) and whether it needs to be looked through to make that determination. They may therefore be doing absolutely nothing during that "delay" but observing you to see how you feel about it and how worried you appear, since there is a common belief smugglers can be spotted from such things. Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 0:54
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1That's simply not true. For example, a US citizen can show a driver's license, which proves Identity, but unless it's an enhanced license, which also proves citizenship, the officer will not admit the person without additional inquiries to establish whether the person is a US citizen. The idea that a person can be treated as a US citizen without proving that they are a US citizen makes no sense. On top of that, most LPRs are not applying for admission, either.– phoogCommented Jan 17, 2022 at 1:08
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1I didn't do anything to get your comment deleted. I never said that US law requires a US citizen to hold any given piece of paper, only that proving identity is not sufficient for a US citizen to gain admission to the US: the officer must be convinced that the person is a US citizen in order to admit the person as such, and the burden of proof lies on the traveler. Sure, a verbal claim of citizenship may be accepted with little investigation, but not necessarily. A US citizen born and raised abroad who has a foreign accent, for example, is unikely to be admitted without documentary evidence.– phoogCommented Jan 18, 2022 at 1:40