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Immigration Attorney Near JFK Airport: Visa Issues Upon Arrival
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Last Updated on: 11th October 2025, 11:05 am
Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation immigration law firm managed by Todd Spodek – with over 40 years of combined experience handling visa denial cases at JFK Airport and other ports of entry. You might know us from the Anna Delvey case that became a Netflix series, or our representation in the Ghislaine Maxwell juror matter. You landed at JFK with what you thought was valid documentation – a visa, an approved ESTA, a green card – but CBP pulled you into secondary inspection and now you’re facing denial of entry or expedited removal. This article covers what happens during primary and secondary inspection at JFK, why CBP denies entry even when you have approved documentation, the difference between expedited removal and withdrawal of application, and what rights you have during the process.
Primary Inspection Versus Secondary Inspection At JFK
When you arrive at JFK on an international flight, you proceed to CBP primary inspection – the booths where officers check your passport, visa or ESTA, and ask basic questions about your visit. Most travelers pass through in under five minutes. The officer scans your documents, asks where you’re staying, why you’re visiting, how long you plan to stay.
CBP officers at JFK deemed 194 people inadmissible in March 2025 – out of over 1.1 million travelers who passed through that month. The numbers are small, but if you’re one of them, it destroys your travel plans and potentially your immigration status.
When CBP Sends You To Secondary Inspection
If something raises questions during primary inspection – inconsistencies in your story, issues with your documents, flags in CBP databases – the officer sends you to secondary inspection. They stamp your documents with a code, call over a colleague, and escort you to a separate room away from the main inspection area.
Secondary inspection is where CBP conducts additional research to verify information without delaying other passengers. It’s routine for some categories of travelers – people using advance parole, those with prior immigration violations, travelers from certain countries. For others, it signals serious problems.
You sit in a waiting area while CBP officers review your file, make phone calls, check databases, sometimes search your luggage or electronic devices. The process can take hours, and you have limited ability to contact anyone outside the inspection area. CBP controls when you eat, use the restroom, make phone calls.
What CBP Looks For During Secondary
Officers verify the purpose of your visit matches what you told them. If you said you’re visiting for tourism but your luggage contains business documents, work samples, or materials suggesting you’re planning to work – that’s a problem. Inconsistencies between your stated plans and your actual circumstances trigger denials.
They review prior entries and exits to determine if you’ve overstayed before, worked without authorization, or violated visa terms during previous visits. Past violations show up in CBP systems even if you were never formally deported, and officers use that history to deny current entry.
Financial documents matter. CBP wants proof you can support yourself during your stay without working. If you claim you’re visiting for three months but have $200 in your bank account and no credit cards – CBP suspects you’ll work illegally to support yourself.
Common Reasons CBP Denies Entry At JFK
Expired or soon-to-expire passports cause problems even when your visa is valid. Some countries require passports valid for six months beyond your intended stay – if your passport expires in four months and you’re visiting for two weeks, CBP may deny entry.
Prior Overstays And Visa Violations
Previous overstays of even a few days create presumptions of immigrant intent. If you overstayed a B-2 tourist visa by 30 days three years ago – CBP sees that when they scan your passport, and they’ll question whether you’ll overstay again. Many people don’t realize that overstays get recorded even when you weren’t formally deported.
Under the Visa Waiver Program, any past violation of U.S. immigration law – working without authorization, overstaying, violating student visa terms – makes you ineligible for ESTA. If you applied for ESTA without disclosing the violation and CBP discovers it during inspection, that’s misrepresentation, which leads to expedited removal and a five-year ban.
ESTA Denials And Visa Waiver Problems
Travel to Cuba after January 12, 2021 makes you ineligible for ESTA under the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act. Many travelers don’t know this – they visited Cuba legally under Cuban travel regulations, then tried to use ESTA to visit the United States. CBP denies entry, and you need to apply for a visa at a U.S. embassy instead.
Criminal history triggers ESTA denials even for minor offenses – DUI arrests, shoplifting charges, drug possession from decades ago. The ESTA application asks if you’ve ever been arrested or convicted, and answering “no” when you have a record constitutes fraud. CBP catches this during inspection, and you face expedited removal rather than just denial of entry.
Misrepresentation And Fraud
Lying to CBP officers during inspection is grounds for immediate expedited removal and a permanent bar from the United States. If you say you’re visiting your friend for two weeks but officers find rental agreements, job applications, or evidence you’re moving to the United States permanently – that’s fraud, and you’re removed with a bar to future entry.
Document fraud – using fake visas, altered passports, stolen identities – results in criminal prosecution in addition to expedited removal. Federal agents at JFK arrested multiple travelers for document fraud in 2025, and those cases resulted in prison sentences before deportation.
Expedited Removal Versus Withdrawal Of Application
When CBP determines you’re inadmissible at JFK, they have two options: expedited removal or allowing you to withdraw your application for admission. The difference matters enormously for your future immigration options.
Expedited Removal Process
Expedited removal expanded on January 21, 2025 under executive order – now applying to anyone who can’t prove they’ve been continuously present in the United States for at least two years. At ports of entry like JFK, expedited removal has always applied to people seeking admission.
CBP issues an expedited removal order on Form I-860, and you’re deported within hours or days without seeing an immigration judge. The removal order creates a five-year bar to reentry – you can’t return to the United States for five years even with a valid visa. If you try to reenter unlawfully after expedited removal, you face felony charges for illegal reentry.
You have almost no appeal rights under expedited removal. The only exception is asylum – if you express fear of persecution or torture if returned to your country, CBP must refer you to an asylum officer for a credible fear interview. If you pass the interview, you’re placed in removal proceedings before an immigration judge instead of being immediately deported.
Withdrawal Of Application For Admission
Withdrawal of application for admission is CBP’s discretionary option allowing you to voluntarily withdraw your request to enter the United States and immediately depart. Unlike expedited removal, withdrawal doesn’t create a bar to future entry – it’s not counted as a removal or deportation.
CBP documents the withdrawal on Form I-275. You sign the form agreeing to depart immediately, and CBP puts you on the next available flight to your home country or another country that will accept you. You pay for your own ticket.
The benefit is huge – withdrawal doesn’t appear as a removal on your immigration record, doesn’t trigger the five-year bar, and doesn’t require you to disclose it on future visa applications when they ask if you’ve been removed or deported. You can apply for a new visa and try to enter again as soon as you resolve whatever issue caused CBP to deny entry.
When CBP Offers Withdrawal
CBP typically offers withdrawal when the inadmissibility issue is technical or minor – expired documents, insufficient proof of ties to your home country, minor inconsistencies in your story. They’re less likely to offer it when you committed fraud, have criminal history, or violated immigration law previously.
You can request withdrawal even if CBP doesn’t offer it. Sometimes asking for withdrawal and explaining that you understand there’s an issue with your entry and you’re willing to leave voluntarily convinces the officer to grant withdrawal instead of issuing an expedited removal order.
Your Rights During Secondary Inspection And Removal
If you have a valid visa – B-2 tourist visa, F-1 student visa, H-1B work visa – and CBP denies entry, you can demand a hearing before an immigration judge. This right is significant – instead of expedited removal, you’re placed in removal proceedings where you can present evidence, call witnesses, and argue why you should be admitted.
People entering under the Visa Waiver Program waive this right. When you applied for ESTA, you agreed that CBP’s decision is final with no appeal. If CBP denies you entry at JFK under ESTA – you have no right to see a judge, no right to appeal the decision. You’re either granted withdrawal of application or expedited removal, but you don’t get a hearing.
Contacting An Attorney From JFK Secondary Inspection
CBP is required to allow you to contact an attorney, but they control when and how. Some officers let you make a phone call immediately, others make you wait hours. You’re not entitled to have an attorney physically present during the inspection – CBP can deny entry and issue a removal order before your attorney arrives at the airport.
Having an attorney who practices near JFK and responds immediately makes a difference. We’ve helped clients negotiate withdrawal of application instead of expedited removal, secured delayed departure so families could arrange travel together, and helped people invoke asylum claims when they feared return to their countries.
Deferred Inspection For I-94 Errors
Sometimes CBP makes mistakes when they admit you – they issue an I-94 with the wrong visa category, wrong expiration date, or wrong annotation. If you discover the error after leaving JFK – you can correct it through deferred inspection at the JFK Deferred Inspection Unit in Terminal 5, which operates Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Deferred inspection only fixes CBP errors – it doesn’t help if you were denied entry, issued expedited removal, or need to resolve inadmissibility issues. It’s for administrative corrections to I-94 records, not appeals of removal decisions.
Why You Need An Immigration Attorney Near JFK Airport
Visa denial cases at JFK require immediate response – CBP makes decisions within hours, and by the time you’re on a flight back to your home country, the damage is done. Our immigration attorneys respond 24/7 to calls from JFK secondary inspection, negotiate with CBP officers for withdrawal of application instead of expedited removal, and advise clients on whether to invoke asylum claims.
Todd Spodek grew up in Brooklyn working for his father’s law firm before attending Northeastern University and Pace Law School. Our law firm has handled thousands of immigration cases since 1976 – including cases featured in major media outlets, like the New York Post, Newsweek, and Bloomberg.
If you’re in secondary inspection at JFK right now, if CBP denied your entry and you’re trying to understand whether you have a five-year bar, if you need to fix an I-94 error through deferred inspection, if you’re planning to reapply for a visa after being denied at JFK – contact our immigration attorneys immediately. We’re available 24/7, and we’re located throughout NYC and Long Island specifically to handle urgent airport cases.