Hello,
A similar post was made on here, although my circumstances are a little bit different.
To the question:
Have you ever stayed in the U.S. exceeding the length of stay permitted by the U.S. government?
I had to answer "Yes", since I couldn't leave the U.S. on time last year on my J-1 visa, and left 4 days after the end of my grace period. To provide a little bit of a background, Hurricane Laura hit and the Greyhound Bus had stopped circulating because of it. I had no other means of transportation and had to wait for the only available person to take me to the airport and it unfortunately was 4 days later.
I understand that the circumstances don't really matter, since you're unable to provide the length of overstay when answering that question, but I submitted my inquiry to the CBP Info Center explaining exactly that, and I got this response:
Hello,
The Department of Homeland Security’s Travel Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) is a single point of contact for individuals who have inquiries or seek resolution regarding difficulties they experienced during their travel screening at transportation hubs, like airports and train stations, or crossing U.S. borders, including: denied or delayed airline boarding, denied or delayed entry into and exit from the United States at a port of entry or border checkpoint continuously referred to additional (secondary) screening.
You can contact DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) at: www.dhs.gov/trip.
Or, by mail at the following address:
DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP)
601 South 12th Street, TSA-901
Arlington, VA 22202
Regards,
Traveler Communications Center
On the other post, I saw OP was advised against submitting a TRIP inquiry. When I called the CBP Telecommunications Center (wasn't a CBP officer), they told me I had to wait for an answer from CBP, and that it would likely be saying I had to apply for a visa, but the response I got is the one I shared above.
Should I proceed like the other user who got their ESTA denied and just apply for a tourist visa, regardless of this email?
Thank you in advance!
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/ov3pcy/esta_denied_cbp_tcc_referring_me_to_dhs_trip/