Entering US from Chicago

[wulongtea]

We arrived in the US through Chicago. The process was fairly easy and quick. Here is what we did:

 

- After our plan arrived from Hong Kong we walked to the immigration booths.

 

- Since we were together, we queues up under the Vistor section, rather than separate and have me go to the US citizens and her to the visitor.

 

- In the line, someone checked our passport and I-94, and i just said i was with her for a K1 visa, and the person said no problem.

 

(what was interesting was the people checking the passports in the line all spoke Russian between themselves.)

 

We then waited in line until it was our turn to go to the immigration officer.

 

We got a nice lady who smiled and seemed to be in a good mood

 

I said we were together and handed her our passports (with mine on top) and said that my fiancee was here on a K1 visa.

 

She took the passports and asked for the consulate packet.

 

She looked at the visa and passports, opened the packet, and made a comment that the consulate changed something. but she found what she was looking for.

 

she asked how we had met, i think she was just curious. so i simply said on the internet. she said, it seems that a lot of people are meeting that way.

 

she asked how long ago we had met, i think again just curious, and so i said it was about a year ago.

 

she asked my fiancee to put her left index finger into the finger print machine, and then her right, and then took her picture with the little webcam.

 

that was about it, maybe 5-10 minutes total.

 

she then stamped everything, staple the i-94 into my fiancee's passport, and just said we had 90 days to get married, and wished us good luck with everything.

 

we then got our bags, we had many, and then went to clear customs. when i handed our paper and passports to the customs guard, i made sure that mine was on top, so he could see, US citizen.

 

he just asked if we were together, commented that we had only about $300 to declare and said no problem.

 

the longest time was waiting for our bags to arrive.

 

we had a connecting flight that gave us only 2 hrs, and we were at the gate about a 1/2 and hour early, so everything worked out well!

 

one tip i would have it just to try to get to the immigration lines as quickly as possible. they seem to fill up fast after the flight arrived.

 

i think it was also good that i stood together with my fiancee, i think that helped the whole process go by smoothly.

 

i was afraid she would have to go to a separate room and have other things checked, but that never happened.

[tucsonjim]

We arrived in the US through Chicago. The process was fairly easy and quick. Here is what we did:

 

- After our plan arrived from Hong Kong we walked to the immigration booths.

 

- Since we were together, we queues up under the Vistor section, rather than separate and have me go to the US citizens and her to the visitor.

 

- In the line, someone checked our passport and I-94, and i just said i was with her for a K1 visa, and the person said no problem.

 

(what was interesting was the people checking the passports in the line all spoke Russian between themselves.)

 

We then waited in line until it was our turn to go to the immigration officer.

 

We got a nice lady who smiled and seemed to be in a good mood

 

I said we were together and handed her our passports (with mine on top) and said that my fiancee was here on a K1 visa.

 

She took the passports and asked for the consulate packet.

 

She looked at the visa and passports, opened the packet, and made a comment that the consulate changed something. but she found what she was looking for.

 

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Thanks for this info and tips. I like that you went to the visitor line with her. I'll remember that one. Thanks and best of luck!!