POE @ SFO, what to expect

[roadwarrior]

I'll be leaving for China in 2 weeks to pick up my fiance, just wondering what should we expect at SFO? Can we use the same immigration lane, or do I have to go back to the USC lane once she is done? Can we walk to the immigration counter together? What kind of the documents should we hand to IO (besides her passport & the sealed envelope?) TIA

[warpedbored]

I don't know about SFO but there have been several reports from members about going through the line with their sweet heart at other POEs. I would assume SFO would be the same. Worst case is they make you go to the other line

[Batmaniac]

I'll be leaving for China in 2 weeks to pick up my fiance, just wondering what should we expect at SFO? Can we use the same immigration lane, or do I have to go back to the USC lane once she is done? Can we walk to the immigration counter together? What kind of the documents should we hand to IO (besides her passport & the sealed envelope?) TIA

 

I can only tell you what we did in at DFW. I mentioned some of it here a few weeks ago.

 

We both got into the visitor/non-citizen/non-green card line. I got out of line and asked a guy at the immigration booth if we could come see him since we had a K1 and he had no line. He said we had to get stamped with the regular visitors first.

 

So I got back in line with Ying and then an officer (the boss I think) came over and took us out of line and jumped us ahead of everyone in a faster queue. He saw our sealed K1 packet and asked if we had pictures inside. I said we have pictures, but she passed her lengthy (ok, i lied to him, it was 3 questions) interview in Guangzhou. He went into full on dick mode and raised his voice telling me that we must satisfy customs before she is allowed into the US. Now I could have gone into full on dick mode as well, but why? We were so close now I knew that if I just smiled he'd cool down. I told him that as far as I knew there were not pictures in the sealed packet but I had 200+ in my bag. He then smiled and said "Sir, we only need 5!"

 

So he goes away and we both go up to the regular customs officer at the same time. She looks at my passport (but doesn't stamp it, I've found LAX and DFW don't stamp me ever on entry but ORD does) and looks at Ying's passport and I 94 and declaration card. I think she gave Ying a stamp (maybe just on the declaration form) and quizzed her about some kind of fish shaped cake she brought in from HK that we had listed on the declaration form since it is food.

 

We walked over to the original immigration officer's booth that I talked with before. "Full on dick mode guy" was dealing with another immigrating couple and seemed to have lost interest in us. The first guy went through the sealed packet while we sat. He called us over and told us what he was mailing off asked when we would marry. I told him in a couple of weeks. He then said "welcome to the United States!" Very friendly gentleman. Never asked for any pics. He stapled Ying's I 94 stub into her passport and off we went to collect luggage. It was exiting there that another officer took the declaration cards. Yes there were two because we were not married yet.

 

Hope that helps. It's pretty straightforward. If you are doing something wrong they will tell you.

[Yi_&_Me]

I'll be leaving for China in 2 weeks to pick up my fiance, just wondering what should we expect at SFO? Can we use the same immigration lane, or do I have to go back to the USC lane once she is done? Can we walk to the immigration counter together? What kind of the documents should we hand to IO (besides her passport & the sealed envelope?) TIA

We went through SFO in late January. It was the easiest return of the five trips I have taken (2 SFO 3 ORD). We were processed at the same time and the new officer trainee asked all the questions of me. Yi asked about what additional food we could have brought back and they all laughed that we did not bring the abalone and squid. The senior officer was stationed in Taiwan for five years so it was a food story session.

 

The mysterious sealed envelope, passport and I-94 were all that were asked for. Stapled the I-94 to her passport and away we went. All the trouble that we had for the lost X-Ray, replacement, and worries were for nothing, just as many had stated it would most likely be the case.

 

Good Luck and enjoy it!

[roadwarrior]

Thank you all for the replies. I'll just keep few pictures in my carry-on just in case we encounter the DFW style IO (cross my fingers).