Man's family deported after US visa form mistake
July 29 2009 by Matt Jones
The Nuefelds: victims of US visa mistake
A family was deported back to Canada and banned from re-entering the US after a simple error made while filling out a US visa application form.
In 2004 Ben Neufeld was offered a job in the US as a music director at the Fellowship Bible Church. He obtained a US work visa for himself and support visas for his wife and son.
The family moved to Gardner, Johnson County, in January 2005 and the couple had three more children there.
Neufeld applied for a two year extension to his US work visa, a prerequisite for applying for permanent residency for himself, his wife and eldest son. In error he added his wife and eldest son on the same work visa application in error.
In 2008 and unaware of his mistake, Mr Neufeld spent thousands of dollars and a great many hours filling out permanent residency US immigration forms. His own permanent residency (greencard) was granted, but his wife Ingrid and eldest son Asher were declined because they had been living in the US illegally for over a year and were be deported back to Canada. Ingrid and Asher were also told they were not be allowed to return to the US for 10 years due to their accidental law breaking.
Mr Neufeld claims he had no wish to break the law, as proven by the fact he spent so long trying to use the visa system properly. Meanhwile, his wife and four children moved back to Winnipeg, Canada.
The family is still separated and Mr Neufeld visits them once a month in Canada.
The harsh truth is that the Neufelds were not notified of the visa application mistake until it was too late for them to correct it. If the family had found out sooner, US Immigration law states they could have paid $2000 for an amendment and the problem would have been resolved.
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