The Australian man arrested in the United States after overstaying his visa for 90 minutes has been granted a court date.
Baxter Reid, 26, is now expected to appear for his first bond hearing on May 10, where Mr Reid may be granted bail.
Mr Reid's family and friends originally feared a court date could be as far as six months away, with Mr Reid currently jailed in the Buffalo Federal Detention Centre in Batavia, New York.
Mr Reid's American girlfriend Heather Kancso said Mr Reid had been excited to learn he was granted a court appearance in eight days.
Ms Kancso set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Mr Reid's legal costs, and it has since exceeded its $US8000 goal.
She said everyone was more at ease now Mr Reid had an appearance date.
"We're hoping that he gets to just go home and that I'm able to go back to Australia with him."
Ms Kancso said the support had been overwhelming since news of Mr Reid's case broke.
"I literally had to turn my phone off last night because it would not stop ringing," she said.
"I certainly wish there was a less cliche word than thank you to show my gratitude."
Baxter's brother, Ben Reid was cautiously optimistic and hoped Baxter would be allowed home.
"A week from now is considerably better than six months from now, we'll take that any day," Ben said.
"I don't think he should be in there in the first place, they could have just given him a good kick up the bum and sent him home."
Ben said the attention his brother's case had gotten had been huge.
"A big thank you to everyones that's contributed," Ben said.
"I know I owe a lot of beers when this is over but not nearly as many as Baxter does."
Baxter and Ms Kancso travelled to the Canadian border in upstate New York before Baxter was arrested by US border police on Monday, April 24.
Ms Kancso said Baxter was on a five year visa, which required him to leave the country every six months to renew it.
The pair arrived at the Canadian border at 10:00pm on Sunday, April 23 where they were questioned by Canadian police for several hours and eventually turned back.
Upon crossing back into the US at 1:30am Monday, April 24, Baxter was arrested for overstaying his visa for 90 minutes.
A US Customs and Border Protection spokesman said an individual remaining in the US longer than allowed would be barred or deported from the country.
"The proper procedure for requesting an extension of stay while in the US is to file an application with US Citizenship and Immigration Services before the individual's authorised stay expires," the spokesman said.
90 minutes late
90 minutes late
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: 90 minutes late
His own stupidity. He couldn't have attempted to cross the border a few days before and get to the Australian consulate in Toronto to renew it? When he was refused entry into Canada, should they have let him re-enter the U.S. with an expired visa and simply trust that he would put things in order?
Plus the fact that he was refused entry into Canada suggests some other irregularities that weighed against him.
Plus the fact that he was refused entry into Canada suggests some other irregularities that weighed against him.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
Re: 90 minutes late
Agreed about the stupidity but he did make a good last-minute dash for the border. Last 120 minutes, really.
Canadians really don't like Australians do they?
yrs,
rubato
Canadians really don't like Australians do they?
yrs,
rubato
Re: 90 minutes late
The problem was, as I read later in Canadian press, that Canadian border agents were unwilling to admit him because they were afraid that the U.S. would be unwilling to re-admit him. Which, as we saw, was precisely what happened.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
Re: 90 minutes late
From the story it appears he has a multiple entry visa which is good for a stay of up to 6 months each time; however, such visas do not permit a person to leave for a day or two and then reenter, the usual rule of thumb for tourist visas is that your stay outside of the US is at least as long as your stay in the US (so if you were here 6 months, you should stay outside for around 6 months before reentering absent a valid reason for coming earlier); although it is discretionary with the ICE Agent and there is no hard and fast rule, many people are refused admission if they don't observe those periods.
His biggest problem now is to be certain he leaves without having his record show he tried to enter illegally (and entry with no plans of being able to exit before your visa expires is an illegal entry), which could prohibit his reentry into the US for years; I guess he'll find out how the court views it Monday, but I hope he has good counsel.
His biggest problem now is to be certain he leaves without having his record show he tried to enter illegally (and entry with no plans of being able to exit before your visa expires is an illegal entry), which could prohibit his reentry into the US for years; I guess he'll find out how the court views it Monday, but I hope he has good counsel.