JessicaKate

Hi all,

A huge thanks to everyone for all your help over the past few months. Hubby got his immigrant visa approved last Tuesday and we are so excited! We are thinking we should get his passport back today and so I wanted to start researching flights. (Obviously not booking anything until passport is in hand.)

I'm sure this information will be with his passport when we get it back but I figured I would research flights now.

So what's the process for when he enters the US for the first time. If we have a stopover in Europe (which is possible) before we land in the US does he go through the immigration process then? (I thought I've read that somewhere). Do we need to plan for a longer stopover in order to get through this? What information will he need for immigration? A link to this information online would be helpful too.

Oh and on another note... how long after entering the US will it take to get his social security number.

THANKS!

aaronjamie

he wouldn't go through the process in a european country, because well, simply, that isn't the usa. goes through all that at the first port of call in america

and i think social security takes a few weeks?

JessicaKate

Thanks for the reply!

I thought that going through it in Europe wasn't possible but for some reason, I also thought that I read about someone going through the process in Dublin...

About how long does the process take at first point of entry because more than likely we will have a stopover in the US as well... more than likely Newark.

aaronjamie

from what i've read, at worse, expect to be there an hour or two

i'm not looking forward to it!

JSL8610

Dublin's a bit of a special case. Certain flights from Dublin to the USA do send you through immigration on the Dublin side. As far as I'm aware, nowhere else does.

Assuming you're not going through Dublin, then he'll go through all the immigration stuff at his first port of entry in the US. I hear that to actually process him only takes about 15 minutes, but there's no way to tell how many other people will be in line before him - especially if it's a major international hub.

I'm flying out tomorrow morning so I can probably give you a bit more detail on the process tomorrow evening. If he has a connecting flight in the US, leave several hours to catch it.

JessicaKate

Ahh ok. That clears things up a bit as far as Dublin goes.

Thanks for the details on going through. Definitely let me know how it goes tomorrow for you. And good luck! Which airport are you flying into first?

BTW- can you send me a link to info online that has info about this process? Or does it just come back with the passport?

Rete

No, it is not in the passport and there is no link. Do a search here on BE or look through the Wiki for more info.

If you, the USC is not with him, but already in the US, then he goes to the non-citizen line and will be sent to secondard where his visa will be processed. That processing can take 1 hour to 5 hours or more depending on the number of people who need processing in secondary. The process, itself, is approximately 15 minutes.

Where POE will he be arriving at?

rpjs

Shannon in Ireland too, all major Canadian airports and a selection in the West Indies. Nowhere else in Europe though.

jeffreyhy

Correct. to be specific:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/c..._locations.xml

Regards, JEff

lansbury

The advantage of doing a stopover at an airport in Europe, is if that airport has a direct service to your final destination.

When I came over I went via Frankfurt, as Lufthansa had a non stop service to Portland (Oregon), so I didn't have to worry about a connection in the US. I cleared immigration in Portland. Saved the hassle of leaving enough time between flights somewhere in the US.

Ryan NI

Will be doing the same in a month or so.

Flying Dub to Heathrow and on to San Fran. We would usually connect in Chicago or Philli but so glad we aren't going those routes as we have a 3 month old and 2 yr old to deal with. In San Fran i can just send the wife and kids on through to her Ma while I go through the process.

All the best and please post up how it went.

holly2234

Good luck! We're flying in two weeks with a 19 month old and the thought of it is already horrific

MrsWaring

Good luck to all of you flying with young children!

I will be flying (hopefully) out in Jan on my own with our 7 & 4 year old boys. Hubby will be following in Feb.. I am already dreading it and trying to think of things to buy that will keep them occupied during the long flight.

Jessica, I will be flying out of Dublin. Edingburgh-Dublin-Chicago.

I originally looked at this way, when I thought we would all be going at the same time, because of the POE at Dublin. But now that the children and I (all USC's) are going first, we are going via Dublin as its direct flight to Chicago and also Aer Lingus do really cheap one-way tickets.

JSL8610

Well hey y'all. Arrived in Kentucky on Tuesday and just starting to settle in. Flew from Newcastle to Paris and then straight to Northern Kentucky international airport. On arrival I was directed to the non-citizens line. I handed over my passport and said that I have an immigrant visa. The guy took my finger prints and photograph as normal and then called his colleague over to process me. I was the only person directed to secondary on my flight which was nice.

I took a seat while the guy stamped about 100 different pieces of paperwork and then he called me in to ask some basic questions (date of wedding, joint sponsor's name, address in US and a couple of others) and then took my index finger print and had me sign by it for my green card. Although my visa said CR-1, when I told him I'd now been married for more than 2 years he just nodded and wrote "IR-1" on a couple of piece of paperwork.

He told me my green card should arrive anywhere between 2 - 6 months from now, and not to call anyone unless it got to 9 months. He also told me to wait a week and then where to go to get my social security number. I asked him whether it would be done automatically since I ticked the box to apply for one on my visa application but he didn't know anything about that, or even that it was possible. Given the number of stories on here from people who didn't have theirs done after ticking that box, I think I'll go down to the office anyway next week.

And that was everything. I was on my way and wasn't even the last person from my flight to pick up my bags. Then it was just the final hurdle of having my bag scanned again and going through security again (just to leave the airport - any other country in the world do that?). I have 1001 things to do, but since a lot of them are waiting on my SSN this first week's been very quiet. Spent a lot of time enjoying the weather that in mid-October is nicer than the nicest summer's day in Newcastle

ian-mstm

Hey neighbor! Welcome to bluegrass country!

Ian