leema5

I have finally flown to the US using my CR-1. My first stop in the states was Detroit so I went through immigration there.

The immigration area was not that busy and after asking someone, was directed to a line specifically for visas. There was only a couple of people in front of me so it didn’t take long. The guy at the desk was good natured. I had our marriage certificate with me as today is our 2 year anniversary so I asked about IR-1 instead of CR-1. He said to ask at secondary and he walked us there. My wife was able to come in too.

It was a little busier in secondary but I don’t think anyone else was there for immigrant visas from the snippets I could hear.

I was called up after about 10 minutes and the lady was really friendly. She asked for a U.S phone number and we had some small talk. I gave her the marriage certificate and asked her about having an IR-1 and she seemed convinced that I couldn’t change the category. Her reasoning was that the CR-1 leads to a green card but the IR-1 was a different category.

Luckily, she was happy to double check and went into a side room to speak to someone. She came out all smiles and stamped my passport with the IR-1 and also noted that in fact they had a responsibility to change it to IR-1.

She walked us out and welcomed me to the U.S. It took about 20 minutes tops and was quick and painless.

tom169

Good planning to be admitted after your 2 year anniversary. What happened was the correct procedure.

Jamackabi

Congratulations! We'll be entering via Pittsburgh at the end of this month, hoping for a similar experience! Pittsburgh don't handle many international flights, so I am hoping for a smooth process.

JuniorJ194

Was this Detroit Wayne County? That’s my POE in two weeks! I’m arriving on a K-1 Visa, thanks for the information!

leema5

It was Wayne County, yes. Just ask someone at the immigration area which line to join. I hope it goes as smoothly as mine did. If you have an onward transfer it is easy there too. The transfer luggage belt is just beyond the baggage claim area and someone will take your bags as you pass. Good luck!

leema5

Hopefully that will mean a quiet immigration line for you if you have an onward connection. I’ve flown in and out of Pittsburgh a lot on domestic flights for years as my other half is from there. It’s an easy airport to navigate so hopefully it will be pretty straightforward.

My other half has flown into Pittsburgh via Iceland and said it’s not normally a really busy immigration area and that was in the summer months.

Best of luck.

Jamackabi

We are flying the Pittsburgh via Iceland route, we've done it a few times now. Iceland is pretty hectic as the Airport is small and not really set up for the additional passengers they have started to receive recently, but Pittsburgh is generally a nice airport. We leave 3 weeks today!!