Slicknurse

can anyone tell me what its like at the poe in atlanta my husband will
be making that poe next week coming from montegobay..

RICH

Hi

I cant comment on a Visa experience as such, but I came through Atlanta last month (on VWP from London, with K1 pending) en route to Tampa.

I was expecting a problem but in the event I went straight through. It was extremely quick in the non USC Line (not very busy/ lots of officers- it was a wednesday afternoon). The Lady that stamped my passport looked about 18, and just asked cursory questions.
You get a shuttle train from the international terminal for internal connections/exit.
There was an "Budweiser" bar in the airport, and a smoking room handy for my gate so I was happy with the experience ;-)

RICH

wesleygolf

My fiance went through POE in Atlanta back in December and had no problems. Not even a question. All they wanted was the brown envelope and she went straight through to meet me. She is from Brazil. Never been to the US before either. It should be a easy experience.

Stefan

You went through with a K1 pending and had no trouble. I had a binder full
of evidence that I would return to the UK for my K interview. I explained
that I would not overstay as it was against my best interest. The first guy
said he wasn't sure about me and sent me to 'secondary processing'. There
they still grilled me for a half hour and threatened to come round to where
I was staying to confirm that I was there. The moral of the story is avoid
Seattle and go through Atlanta

--
www.geocities.com/k1journey




"RICHJEN" <member20004@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Originally posted by Slicknurse
    > > can anyone tell me what
    > its like at the poe in atlanta my husband will
    > > be making that poe next
    > week coming from montegobay..
    > Hi
    > I cant comment on a Visa
    > experience as such, but I came through Atlanta last month (on VWP from
    > London, with K1 pending) en route to Tampa.
    > I was expecting a problem
    > but in the event I went straight through. It was extremely quick in the
    > non USC Line (not very busy/ lots of officers- it was a wednesday
    > afternoon). The Lady that stamped my passport looked about 18, and just
    > asked cursory questions.
    > You get a shuttle train from the international
    > terminal for internal connections/exit.
    > There was an "Budweiser" bar in
    > the airport, and a smoking room handy for my gate so I was happy with
    > the experience ;-)
    > RICH
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

nkem4ever

Glad you posted that. What part in Atl are you from?
My fiancee is also coming thru ATL on 2 May. It's on a Sunday so I doubt it'll be too terrible. When I returned from Lagos on 20 Aprl I sort of observed the non USC lines and they were kind of long. But the service is organized and pretty quick so long as you stay in line and follow directions. The longest wait is most likely going to be in baggage claim so tell him to be prepared for that. We had to collect then recheck our baggage, then collect it again at the end.

I will be parking my car at a MARTA station and when I pick him up we'll take MARTA back to the parking lot. It saves money from parking at the airport for hours unexpected (delays and holdovers like that) and his flight is during the early afternoon so he'll get to view ATL in a different light.
That's just a suggestion if you want to use it.

Smooches & welcome him to the USA.

Roland Perry

In message <[email protected] >, slicknurse
<[email protected]> writes
    >can anyone tell me what its like at the poe in atlanta my husband will
    >be making that poe next week coming from montegobay..

What happened when I arrived was that I handed in my envelope at the
immigration booth and they immediately sent me to a small office just
before the escalators that take people from the immigration area up to
the baggage claim.

Here there was a motley collection of people who seemed to be in some
sort of trouble or other. They'd got out-of-date Visas, no Visas, no
Passports, no speak English, and so on (there seem to be constant public
address announcements for translators in that immigration hall). They
took my envelope and stuck it in a simple manual queuing system on the
counter.

When it was my turn (about ten minute wait, the first guy said it was a
"quiet day...") the somewhat harassed staff seemed relieved it was an
"easy one". They took my fingerprints for the Green Card, stamped my
passport with a big red I551, and wrote an expiry date and "A number" on
it. They then handed me a bunch of leaflets with information that might
be useful, and I was free to go to baggage reclaim.

I've never had to wait for baggage at Atlanta, but beware, after you've
exited customs you have to surrender your checked bags, which are sent
to the baggage reclaim in the main terminal. You then have to wait in
what I've always found to be the longest line, to go through a security
check as if you were *departing* at an airport. Because, in a way you
are.

When they built the new International Terminal for the Olympics, they
made the elementary mistake of mixing inbound-International and
outbound-Domestic passengers up (it wasn't like that at the old
international terminal that's now called the "T-gates" used by American
Airlines domestic).

You then have to go downstairs to get a train to the main terminal (last
stop) up a very long escalator and to baggage reclaim.

Altogether, perhaps allow 1.5-2hrs from touchdown to final baggage
reclaim.

I agree with another poster that getting the Marta train is a good idea,
especially if it's a weekday between 4-8pm. But if you live near Atlanta
there's probably not much I can tell you about the traffic!
--
Roland Perry