Border Love: Newlyweds Barred From Entering Each Other's Country

Sept. 25, 2009— -- Like any newlywed couple, David Williams and Janeane Ardiel enjoy looking into each other's eyes and imagining many happy years together.

But their only physical contact comes during weekly meetings at a picnic table in a park on the U.S.-Canadian border while they sort out the legal complications that prevent the two from entering each other's country.

"I was just devastated," Ardiel said of the day in July when she was banned from entering the U.S. for six months after officials told her they feared she would stay with her husband illegally instead of going back to Canada.

They've known for a couple of years that Williams was barred from entering Canada because of a 2003 DUI conviction. The government has told him that he needs to wait at least five years from the time his probation ends in the U.S., which was in 2004.

For now, the couple, both 45, are just happy they get to see each other at all while their paperwork is being processed. They told ABCNews.com they didn't know about the Peace Arch International Park that straddles the two countries until they hired a lawyer who has worked with clients in similar situations and knew just the place for the two to meet.

"It's been absolutely awesome that I can see him," Ardiel said of their picnic meetings, which include lunch and about four hours together each week. "At least you can hold hands -- you can do something physical."

The two, both previously divorced parents, began a relationship over the phone after Ardiel's sister met Williams, then living in Florida, while visiting Williams' friend.

"She's never done anything like that before," Ardiel said. "She said 'You know how there's that perfect guy for you? I found him.'"

Ardiel was the one to initiate the first phone call in October 2006, and both said they clicked right away.

"Next thing you know we were talking every day," Williams said. "We fell in love over the phone."

Ardiel agreed it was an easy relationship right from the start, despite the distance between British Columbia, where she lived, and Florida, where he lived.

"We talked for hours on the phone," she said. "We could talk about anything and everything."

Blossoming Relationship Leads to Border Troubles

They met for the first time in January 2007 when Ardiel flew to Florida, though Williams quickly pointed out that "I was already in love with her before I met her."

But when he tried to reciprocate two months later, he was denied access at the border because of the DUI conviction, even though he's no longer on probation in the United States.

"We were really surprised," Ardiel said.

They continued their long-distance romance and in October 2008, Williams left his job as a chef to move to Washington State so Ardiel wouldn't have as far to travel.

He spent two months working as a day laborer and dishwasher, but the two were only 40 minutes apart. Then he got a job as a steakhouse chef and with Ardiel driving down several times a week to visit, life seemed happy.

They married in a courthouse ceremony in Bellingham in April 2009, jumping at the chance after learning all of Ardiel's family would be in the area.

The couple told ABCNews.com that they had always intended to file the paperwork to allow both to travel freely back and forth and to eventually live together.

"At the time, we weren't really worried about that," Williams said.

Ardiel said the two were waiting to save up the money to file for her citizenship -- some forms cost more than $1,000 in addition to legal retainers. Then, on July 22, she was stopped by border patrol on her way to visit Williams.

Her car was searched and the contents of her purse were emptied. That's where the border agent found her marriage certificate and determined Ardiel was a risk for illegal immigration.

"He looked at it and said, 'Yup, you're not going across the border today,'" she said.

The couple hired a lawyer and filed the first of the forms for Ardiel to get her green card. That's when they found out about the picnic table in the park.

"I get to hold her and talk to her and look into her eyes, which is amazing," Williams said.

And Williams said he is beginning to look into when Canadian law will allow him into his wife's country since he's nearing the end of the five-year penalty.

Marriage Not a Free Pass to the United States

A foreigner is not automatically entitled to permanent residency simply for marrying an American, according to Paromita Shah, associate director of the National Immigration Project.

"That's a very common misconception," she said.

Though unfamiliar with the case of Williams and Ardiel, Shah said that even though Ardiel may have been entering the U.S. legally, her recent marriage could have easily piqued the interest of border patrol agents, especially if she didn't offer that information when questioned.

"When you don't disclose that information, it can be used negatively against you," she said.

Ardiel said the two have been extremely careful not to violate any laws, both out of a sense of responsibility and because her government job would be at stake.

"It was never 'I'm not going to sneak across,'" she said.

They still aren't decided where they want to live once they are allowed to be together. Ardiel wants to keep her job as a 911 operator and would consider commuting from Bellingham if she can get dual citizenship.

The couple said their friends and family have been very supportive.

"They think it's heartbreaking,"Williams said. "And no one really understands why they're doing this."