POE

[maritime04]

POE

Well I have fully relocated back to the states, my fiancée currently is staying with my parents (Spanish speaking support group), I set-up a magic jack phone with her mother and sister, so they can keep in touch. Passing through immigration took allot longer than I expected, but everything went well with travel arrangements, it was fun traveling with her on her POE, and goring through the process . I wish I had more time to show her around before heading back to work.
When we arrived in MIA, the Customs immigration officer at the front desk, asked me why I used the vistors line, instead of returning US citizen line, I replied I did not think she was allowed.
First tip; Use the USA line for your K-1 visa for POE.
The guy made a smart ass comment about my line of work and being married and leaving my wife for 28 days; I shrugged it off no need to get pissed off about nonsense.
They sent us to a small office on the side of the immigration room, I guess for data entry and logging, it took 3 hours, and another rude CBP officer who asked some questions aggressively to my fiancée, in the end we were let go.
My application was received March 15^th 2010, Visa issued October 14^th 2011, and received October 20^th with POE In December.

[thekfc]

Congratulations!!

The CIO was either having a bad day or wanted to give you a hard time.

A K-1 visa holder is "suppose" to use the visitor's line as she/he is not yet a US resident. If traveling together then some airport will allow the use of the resident or citizen line (JFK sometimes does).

Yes, at the POE they do take the visa holder into a room and "interview" him/her - there is no way around that. Some officers are aggressive & some are not plus the "interview" can take a long time (especially if there are a few people to interview), this is one reason it is advisable to make your hometown your POE or have plenty plenty of time for a connecting flight. 

My wife's interview didn't take that long, I assigner her a seat in the front of the plane & she was off the plane before the majority of the economy flyers. When she came to the arrival area there were still people exiting.

YMMV on the treatment at the POE - you are dealing with human beings and they act/are different.

[Alabamaboy!]

When my wife passed through POE in LAX it was very funny that the old Filipino man who was processing her paperwork was bitching about not being able to understand my wife's English when he could barely speak English himself! Kind of strange given that English is taught in all Filipino schools as far as I know.

[Researcher]

    I hate going through the Maimi airport they are pretty much always rude.


      Researcher

[braziliangirl]

    I hate going through the Maimi airport they are pretty much always rude.


      Researcher

Or they ask you out. 

Once I was with a friend that was entering on a student visa. Just some days after we saw that her name was misspelled in one of the forms and the guy didn't even notice because he was too busy asking us out.

A K-1 visa holder is "suppose" to use the visitor's line as she/he is not yet a US resident. If traveling together then some airport will allow the use of the resident or citizen line (JFK sometimes does).

I've heard that's true also for B1-B2 visas. I thought it was in all airports. I know Dulles and MIA allow.

[Alabamaboy!]

Miami airport in itself if a horrible place to bring anyone from another country. It gives a very bad first impression about this country. It is like night and day compared to the Colombian airports or Panama. The place is dirty, loud mouths everywhere, rude, badly dressed people. Nothing good about that place.

    I hate going through the Maimi airport they are pretty much always rude.


      Researcher

[thekfc]

I have seen on a few occasions at both JFK & EWR that if a visitor is on the wrong line, the officer who is directing the passenger "traffic" will send the person to the front of the correct line or just leave them.

[DesmondID]

The FLL POE experiance was quite different.. I also made sure we were sitting up front and were first off the plane (other than one jackass that sprinted from about 10 rows back while the airplane was still rolling in) mainly because we had a connecting flight less than 90 minutes out. There were no lines, and the back room wait was under five minutes. She was not given an interview, just signed two papers and we were on our way.. Everyone was quite friendly. We were out and to the luggage area before our flights bags started coming out.

[whitey]

Congrats Maritime - I hope everything works out well for the both of you.

I haven't flown out of Miami for many years, but keep hearing bad things about it.  The US Customs/Border Security people seem pretty much all trained to be a-holes now since 9/11.  Didn't use to be that way of course - I don't know why courtesy needs to go out the window, although I understand the need for heightened security.

Fort Lauderdale, Detroit airport, Detroit-Windsor border crossing where I spend my travel time are all bad compared to Canada.  Although, they are usually a little easier on me once they notice that I am a US citizen (I carry a Canadian passport).
 

[mambocowboy]

POE

Well I have fully relocated back to the states, my fiancée currently is staying with my parents (Spanish speaking support group), I set-up a magic jack phone with her mother and sister, so they can keep in touch. Passing through immigration took allot longer than I expected, but everything went well with travel arrangements, it was fun traveling with her on her POE, and goring through the process . I wish I had more time to show her around before heading back to work.
When we arrived in MIA, the Customs immigration officer at the front desk, asked me why I used the vistors line, instead of returning US citizen line, I replied I did not think she was allowed.
First tip; Use the USA line for your K-1 visa for POE.
The guy made a smart ass comment about my line of work and being married and leaving my wife for 28 days; I shrugged it off no need to get pissed off about nonsense.
They sent us to a small office on the side of the immigration room, I guess for data entry and logging, it took 3 hours, and another rude CBP officer who asked some questions aggressively to my fiancée, in the end we were let go.
My application was received March 15^th 2010, Visa issued October 14^th 2011, and received October 20^th with POE In December.

3 hours! That's ridiculous. After a long international flight that's a pretty rude welcome to our country...

[z_k_g]

Miami, Newark and Dulles worse airports awards.

Zulu

[JimD]

It's not always like that. I have a very close friend who flew into Miami with his Colombian wife a short while ago. It was her first arrival in the US.  He said the process took half an hour and there were even a couple of people ahead of them. He said the agent was gracious with them and upon completing the entry proceedure said to her welcome to the United States. It's also true that absolutely everything in her file was correct and properly completed. The only annoyence was that as required by the US embassy in Bogota she had schlepped along her chest x-rays and the immigration agents said they weren't necessary. While it's true these agents might have a bad day and sometimes may just be looking for trouble I think if you have crossed all your t's and dotted your i's it will more than likely be the cake walk it was for my friend and his wife. They had no trouble making their onward flight to the interior of the US.   
 
One additional comment. When dealing with Colombian officials of whatever sort ones "attitude" doesn't seem to affect the outcome of the encounter one way or another since officials are accostomed to being yelled at by every other person who steps up to their window. With US agents however one's "attitude" is often the principal determining factor in how things go.   

[thekfc]

Miami, Newark and Dulles worse airports awards.

Zulu

EWR worse airports awards in terms of what?
It is ranked up there as one of the easiest POE airports. I also haven't heard harassment storied coming out of there.

I fly out of there very often & would rate it above a lot of airports in the USA.

[maritime04]

I thought the comment about my line of work was a little unnecessary, and really nobody’s business but mine, as toward the second interview, he was doing his job I understand, but no need to be abrasive and rude, you simply ask your questions and use your best judgment in deciding if this is fraud or something is not right about the people standing in front of you, he was just rude and realizes he some power to act anyway he wants…… 

[robert angel]

Maritime,
I am glad that it worked out in the end, even if parts and people in the process were a PIA some times. Having a brother in law who's an international mariner, the way they treated your respectable occupation irks me too. Still:
 
                                             "All's well that ends well" as the Bard said.....
 
And let's not forget the difference between God and the USCIS:
 
                                                 "God KNOWS he's not the USCIS!"

[maritime04]

Yeah i got over it, i have allot more issues, and stuff to think about and deal with.

[JWR]

My ex wife was coming into Houston from Colombia after she was a US citizen.  The chinese immigration agent speaking very poor english wanted to see her "green card".  She told her that "of course she doesn't have a green card because she's a citizen and here's my US passport".  This went round and round and she ended up in a back room for two hours after they put her US passport in a bag and took it away.  Ultimately she got out, and on her way, but of course she missed her connecting flight.   What ya gonna do?
 
 

I thought the comment about my line of work was a little unnecessary, and really nobody’s business but mine, as toward the second interview, he was doing his job I understand, but no need to be abrasive and rude, you simply ask your questions and use your best judgment in deciding if this is fraud or something is not right about the people standing in front of you, he was just rude and realizes he some power to act anyway he wants…… 

[z_k_g]

EWR worse airports awards in terms of what?
It is ranked up there as one of the easiest POE airports. I also haven't heard harassment storied coming out of there.

I fly out of there very often & would rate it above a lot of airports in the USA.

Rude US Customs/Border Security and I hate the BUS transport system at Dulles.

Zulu

[thekfc]

Rude US Customs/Border Security
Zulu

In my many years of flying out of Newark, you are one of the few who say that the US Customs / Border Security at Newark are rude. Yes, there are issues but there is at every airports.

A lot of the issues I see at some airports especially the NYC area ones are from passengers who have the DYKWIA attitude.

[Kiltboy1]

Miami, Newark and Dulles worse airports awards.

Zulu

Agreed
 
But Miami does get the "BEST EYE CANDY" award
 
KB

[robert angel]

Airports (and Asian malls) are my favorites for 'people watching'. But regarding bad manered USCIS or really customs--immigration  staff anywhere in the world, you might as well 'get over it' and act as nice and humble as you possibly can, because they obviously hold all the power cards.

 
If you want to whine, act 'put out' and make faces like you need to pass gas, they will be more than happy to escort you to a room with two way mirrors, where you can do all that and more.

 
I used to pass between Canada and the USA often and going into Canada, they were almost always as nice as could be. Keep in mind, that they sometimes have to do a random,, say 'every 25th passenger or vehicle' thorough checks and that it's not personal. When I was with my wife and/or half Asian kids, I made sure they had their birth certificates and some documentation, passports, etc--just to be safe and never had a problem. For a while there, when I was driving single, they knew me to the point where they'd just wave me by.
 

I've had far, far worse experiences coming back from Canada, with US customs. There were times they were in such surly moods, despite me being calm and low key, that I was afraid they were going to take my car apart looking for contraband and maybe even do a body cavity search, looking for Cuban cigars or some such rubbish!

[thekfc]

But regarding bad manered USCIS or really customs--immigration  staff anywhere in the world, you might as well 'get over it' and act as nice and humble as you possibly can, because they obviously hold all the power cards.

Yep, they hold the power cards.

They tell me the rules are A , B & C - I follow it, they tell me to do X, Y & Z - I do it. Be at the airport 2 hours before - I am there 3 hours before & spend the extra time in one of the lounge and I haven't had any problems.

There are set rules in place, we the travelers have to abide by these rules & the agents are there to enforce those rules. Yes, there are agent that will abuse their authority as well as passengers who will challenge/try to break the rules.

Many time I have seen people do things while the agents keep their cool and my reaction is why don't they just take that guy in the back & beat the crap out of him.

Why is it always the person in front of you (and not behind you) causing problems & holding up the line?

I used to pass between Canada and the USA often and going into Canada, they were almost always as nice as could be. Keep in mind, that they sometimes have to do a random,, say 'every 25th passenger or vehicle' thorough checks and that it's not personal.

Same for the NYC subway - if you travel on a train then there is a 99.9% chance that you will heard the announcement (I hear it 4-5 times daily on my way to work).

[z_k_g]

I've never had any problem traveling from USA to Canada.

But on the way back...via SEATAC...Hell on earth.  One time I had an Orange I forgot in my carry on...OMG a mortal sin!

Plus.....I am always "randomly" checked....ALWAYS!! 

When I was doing business in the Golden Triangle, I always avoided LAX because I knew I would be checked extensively and questioned over and over...and over.

Oh well.....sign of the times

Zulu

[z_k_g]

Agreed
 
But Miami does get the "BEST EYE CANDY" award
 
KB

Damn Skippy KB, Latina Heaven, and you can oogle the Virgin Airlines Flight Attendants! 

But my "BEST EYE CANDY" award is SFO....the place for Asian hotties!

Zulu

[Dan Las Vegas]

Rude US Customs/Border Security and I hate the BUS transport system at Dulles.

Zulu

Hey Zulu, when was the last time you were at dulles, there is a underground train now for most of the terminals!!  I hate the Miami airport, everytime when I returned from Colombia, I was harassed by the immigration agent, my luggage was almost always searched and they were just in general awful to deal with. Now that I live in the DC area, returning through customs a Dulles is fairly good experience for the most part. (best part is I have only a fifteen minute drive to my house)
 
Dan LV