In search of the September Letter

What if I told you there exists a one time letter you could get from DHS that would permanently clear you for US entry? With this letter, you would never again need an I-194 waiver of inadmissibility (US entry waiver). I'm sure your response would be along the lines of: "where do I sign up?"

September Letter – the permanent waiver

A September Letter is a document from DHS that states that you do not need an I-194 waiver. The letter is a one time thing. Once you have this letter, you present it to the border officer and your USA entry should be permanently cleared for this particular issue. The packet is prepared with specific documentation to show why you likely do not need a US entry waiver. It's likely processed through ARO (Admissibility Review Office) and if they agree, you'll get issued the letter for permanent US travel.

There is hope?

The US code states that you can qualify for an exception for a moral turpitude conviction if (1) you only have one CIMT conviction and (2) the max sentence is less than a year and (3) you were not sentenced to more than 6 months. 

So let's assume this letter is similar to the petty offence exception. As described above, I would not qualify on the 1st point since I have 2 CIMT convictions: 2 theft under $1K – each a summary conviction which has a maximum penalty of 6 months (in my case both fines and on one a suspended sentence).

There is another section that I referenced in a recent post about how ARO assesses ineligibility that states (and this may cause hope for me), that if you have more than one conviction, CIMT or otherwise for which the aggregate sentence was more than 5 yrs, you are inadmissible. The combined of my summary convictions: 1 year!

Only focusing on how ARO assesses ineligibility, I could be admissible without a waiver, since the aggregate of my sentences are low. The fact that point 1 makes me inadmissible for a CIMT, and then doesn't make an exception for multiple convictions, doesn't bode well. Still, there is hope, right?

Sounds excellent, where do I sign up?

This is where things get difficult. I've found absolutely zero documentation about the September Letter on any US government website. It gets worse. On a recent trip to the US through Toronto I asked the pre-clearance border officer if he could provide me information about the September Letter. He looked confused and said he'd never heard of it. He checked with a peer in the next station. Nope, neither of them had heard anything about a September Letter.

Finally, if you Google the words – September Letter – you'll find a list, mostly garbage and unrelated, but specked with a few waiver service provider companies offering to assist you in getting the fabled September Letter. So is the September Letter fact or fiction? I'd certainly like to know.