Detroit POE - Returning PR
Jul 12th 2008, 7:40 pm
#1
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Detroit POE - Returning PR
Hi All,
Just wanted to post our first-time experience as a returning permanent resident at the Detroit POE. Sadegh went home to Iran for 4 months to see his family, we met up in Istanbul to spend 10 days for ourselves on vacation, and our return route was Istanbul - Amsterdam - Detroit - Los Angeles.
No problem leaving Istanbul, but in Amsterdam they did a pretty lengthy security check before boarding the plane to Detroit. It didn't help that just 2 days before, there had been terrorist attacks at the US Embassy in Istanbul. They wanted to see our complete flight itineraries, and when they saw we had traveled separately, they asked a lot of questions about that. They asked Sadegh a lot of questions about the length of time he was in Iran, what he was doing there, and what cities he visited there. They asked how long he's lived in the USA, what he does for work there, what our relationship is to each other, they wanted to see our hotel confirmation in Istanbul, and of course the usual questions about who packed our luggage, did we accept anything from strangers, etc.
Oh, and it also didn't help that Sadegh had to renew his Iranian passport in Iran. He had his old one with him too, good thing, because they wanted to see both the old one and the new one. The bad thing is, Sadegh's last name is spelled a slightly different way on his new passport - so now his new passport last name doesn't quite match his old passport and green card name. ARGH. So the Amsterdam agent spent some time looking at more of Sadegh's paperwork (such as flight itineraries, his AZ state ID, a credit card, etc.) to see if his name was consistent. It was consistent on all but the new passport. Side question: I wonder if Sadegh has to get a corrected passport? He is planning to apply for US Citizenship this year. Will the misspelling be a problem?
Detroit was hassle-free. We both got in the USC line, and it moved quickly. The agent there never commented on the different spelling between Sadegh's green card and new passport, never asked to see the old passport, and only asked the nature of our overseas travel and how long we'd been gone. The best part was hearing him tell Sadegh "Welcome Home"!
They x-rayed our luggage because we had declared "food" brought in, which was all dry - almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, dried berries, and saffron from Iran. It was all acceptable, but when Sadegh opened his suitcase when we got home, all the pistachios were loose in the suitcase (instead of in the plastic bag they were tied up in), which made him think someone had actually opened it up and rummaged through it at some point along the way. That wouldn't surprise me, and no harm was done.
We are really glad to be HOME!
We won't be doing any overseas traveling for quite a while now, it's just way too much hassle.
Rene
Just wanted to post our first-time experience as a returning permanent resident at the Detroit POE. Sadegh went home to Iran for 4 months to see his family, we met up in Istanbul to spend 10 days for ourselves on vacation, and our return route was Istanbul - Amsterdam - Detroit - Los Angeles.
No problem leaving Istanbul, but in Amsterdam they did a pretty lengthy security check before boarding the plane to Detroit. It didn't help that just 2 days before, there had been terrorist attacks at the US Embassy in Istanbul. They wanted to see our complete flight itineraries, and when they saw we had traveled separately, they asked a lot of questions about that. They asked Sadegh a lot of questions about the length of time he was in Iran, what he was doing there, and what cities he visited there. They asked how long he's lived in the USA, what he does for work there, what our relationship is to each other, they wanted to see our hotel confirmation in Istanbul, and of course the usual questions about who packed our luggage, did we accept anything from strangers, etc.
Oh, and it also didn't help that Sadegh had to renew his Iranian passport in Iran. He had his old one with him too, good thing, because they wanted to see both the old one and the new one. The bad thing is, Sadegh's last name is spelled a slightly different way on his new passport - so now his new passport last name doesn't quite match his old passport and green card name. ARGH. So the Amsterdam agent spent some time looking at more of Sadegh's paperwork (such as flight itineraries, his AZ state ID, a credit card, etc.) to see if his name was consistent. It was consistent on all but the new passport. Side question: I wonder if Sadegh has to get a corrected passport? He is planning to apply for US Citizenship this year. Will the misspelling be a problem?
Detroit was hassle-free. We both got in the USC line, and it moved quickly. The agent there never commented on the different spelling between Sadegh's green card and new passport, never asked to see the old passport, and only asked the nature of our overseas travel and how long we'd been gone. The best part was hearing him tell Sadegh "Welcome Home"!
They x-rayed our luggage because we had declared "food" brought in, which was all dry - almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, dried berries, and saffron from Iran. It was all acceptable, but when Sadegh opened his suitcase when we got home, all the pistachios were loose in the suitcase (instead of in the plastic bag they were tied up in), which made him think someone had actually opened it up and rummaged through it at some point along the way. That wouldn't surprise me, and no harm was done.
We are really glad to be HOME!
We won't be doing any overseas traveling for quite a while now, it's just way too much hassle.Rene
Jul 12th 2008, 10:03 pm
#2
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 16,266
Re: Detroit POE - Returning PR
Detroit is hell on arabs. When I started reading your post, I was wondering if Detroit would cotton on to the fact Sadegh was not Arab.
I don't think the spelling will be a problem. Do note that his name is transliterated.
Jul 13th 2008, 1:33 am
#3
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Re: Detroit POE - Returning PR
Thank you Mr. F. The spelling is close, they just added two vowels in there that weren't there before...making it look like more of a French transliteration rather than an American one. This is in the second half of his 2-part long last name. When he naturalizes, he's going to officially drop that part of his name anyway.
Rene
Rene
Jul 13th 2008, 2:37 am
#5
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Jul 13th 2008, 4:22 am
#6
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Reno Nevada
Posts: 15,917
Re: Detroit POE - Returning PR
Hi All,
Just wanted to post our first-time experience as a returning permanent resident at the Detroit POE. Sadegh went home to Iran for 4 months to see his family, we met up in Istanbul to spend 10 days for ourselves on vacation, and our return route was Istanbul - Amsterdam - Detroit - Los Angeles.
No problem leaving Istanbul, but in Amsterdam they did a pretty lengthy security check before boarding the plane to Detroit. It didn't help that just 2 days before, there had been terrorist attacks at the US Embassy in Istanbul. They wanted to see our complete flight itineraries, and when they saw we had traveled separately, they asked a lot of questions about that. They asked Sadegh a lot of questions about the length of time he was in Iran, what he was doing there, and what cities he visited there. They asked how long he's lived in the USA, what he does for work there, what our relationship is to each other, they wanted to see our hotel confirmation in Istanbul, and of course the usual questions about who packed our luggage, did we accept anything from strangers, etc.
Oh, and it also didn't help that Sadegh had to renew his Iranian passport in Iran. He had his old one with him too, good thing, because they wanted to see both the old one and the new one. The bad thing is, Sadegh's last name is spelled a slightly different way on his new passport - so now his new passport last name doesn't quite match his old passport and green card name. ARGH. So the Amsterdam agent spent some time looking at more of Sadegh's paperwork (such as flight itineraries, his AZ state ID, a credit card, etc.) to see if his name was consistent. It was consistent on all but the new passport. Side question: I wonder if Sadegh has to get a corrected passport? He is planning to apply for US Citizenship this year. Will the misspelling be a problem?
Detroit was hassle-free. We both got in the USC line, and it moved quickly. The agent there never commented on the different spelling between Sadegh's green card and new passport, never asked to see the old passport, and only asked the nature of our overseas travel and how long we'd been gone. The best part was hearing him tell Sadegh "Welcome Home"!
They x-rayed our luggage because we had declared "food" brought in, which was all dry - almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, dried berries, and saffron from Iran. It was all acceptable, but when Sadegh opened his suitcase when we got home, all the pistachios were loose in the suitcase (instead of in the plastic bag they were tied up in), which made him think someone had actually opened it up and rummaged through it at some point along the way. That wouldn't surprise me, and no harm was done.
We are really glad to be HOME! We won't be doing any overseas traveling for quite a while now, it's just way too much hassle.
Rene
Just wanted to post our first-time experience as a returning permanent resident at the Detroit POE. Sadegh went home to Iran for 4 months to see his family, we met up in Istanbul to spend 10 days for ourselves on vacation, and our return route was Istanbul - Amsterdam - Detroit - Los Angeles.
No problem leaving Istanbul, but in Amsterdam they did a pretty lengthy security check before boarding the plane to Detroit. It didn't help that just 2 days before, there had been terrorist attacks at the US Embassy in Istanbul. They wanted to see our complete flight itineraries, and when they saw we had traveled separately, they asked a lot of questions about that. They asked Sadegh a lot of questions about the length of time he was in Iran, what he was doing there, and what cities he visited there. They asked how long he's lived in the USA, what he does for work there, what our relationship is to each other, they wanted to see our hotel confirmation in Istanbul, and of course the usual questions about who packed our luggage, did we accept anything from strangers, etc.
Oh, and it also didn't help that Sadegh had to renew his Iranian passport in Iran. He had his old one with him too, good thing, because they wanted to see both the old one and the new one. The bad thing is, Sadegh's last name is spelled a slightly different way on his new passport - so now his new passport last name doesn't quite match his old passport and green card name. ARGH. So the Amsterdam agent spent some time looking at more of Sadegh's paperwork (such as flight itineraries, his AZ state ID, a credit card, etc.) to see if his name was consistent. It was consistent on all but the new passport. Side question: I wonder if Sadegh has to get a corrected passport? He is planning to apply for US Citizenship this year. Will the misspelling be a problem?
Detroit was hassle-free. We both got in the USC line, and it moved quickly. The agent there never commented on the different spelling between Sadegh's green card and new passport, never asked to see the old passport, and only asked the nature of our overseas travel and how long we'd been gone. The best part was hearing him tell Sadegh "Welcome Home"!
They x-rayed our luggage because we had declared "food" brought in, which was all dry - almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, dried berries, and saffron from Iran. It was all acceptable, but when Sadegh opened his suitcase when we got home, all the pistachios were loose in the suitcase (instead of in the plastic bag they were tied up in), which made him think someone had actually opened it up and rummaged through it at some point along the way. That wouldn't surprise me, and no harm was done.
We are really glad to be HOME!
We won't be doing any overseas traveling for quite a while now, it's just way too much hassle.Rene
Arrrr lovely Schipol airport you may remember I posted here about my experiance there, they are really really strict and when I say the worst I don't mean it in a bad way I guess,its a good thing but they sure put you through the ringer..
I did Schipol to Detroit last year because I had been re-routed rather then direct to O'hare...Detroit was great straight in
Jul 13th 2008, 4:29 am
#7
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Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Posts: 58,687
Re: Detroit POE - Returning PR
Arrrr lovely Schipol airport you may remember I posted here about my experiance there, they are really really strict and when I say the worst I don't mean it in a bad way I guess,its a good thing but they sure put you through the ringer..
I did Schipol to Detroit last year because I had been re-routed rather then direct to O'hare...Detroit was great straight in
I did Schipol to Detroit last year because I had been re-routed rather then direct to O'hare...Detroit was great straight in
Jul 13th 2008, 4:42 am
#8
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 35,082
Re: Detroit POE - Returning PR
So glad you're home safe!
Hugs to PK and Welcome Homes for Sadegh!
Hugs to PK and Welcome Homes for Sadegh!
