Angelus71

Here’s my POE experience…..it only took about 10 minutes from start to finish.

Wednesday July 23rd 2003.

When I got to the place where they check your passport, I entered the line for the “None US Citizens�.

I went to the booth and told the guy that I had a K1 visa, to which he replied “That’s nice� in a kind of sarcastic voice!. I couldn’t tell if he meant it that way or not, so I just kept my mouth shut and waited. He asked for my envelope, opened it, stamped all the forms that were in it, and then he told me to go to the room at the end of the booths.
I went to the room, told the person that I had a K1 visa, she took my forms and told me to take a seat until I was called for. I waited about 5 minutes, watching one of the guards going through my forms, he called me and I went up to the desk. He handed me my passport and said “You have 90 days to get married�. That was it, nothing else!. I guess he must have had a hard day or something as all the other guards were laughing and smiling.

I left that room and went and got my luggage. I went to the customs line…waited for my turn and handed the guard my ticket. He looked at it and said it should have a stamp on it and told me to go back to the guy that had seen me and tell him it needs to be stamped. So I hauled my luggage back through to the immigration desk, told the guy he should have stamped it, he did, then it was back to the guard at the customs desk. He looked at it again and said “That’s fine�, then he told me to exit on the left, and that was it.

I don’t know if I got my 90 day EAD or not….all I have in my passport is a stamp that is impossible to read…it’s 2 rectangles, so I don’t know if that’s it or not?. I was too excited and nervous to ask any questions. I know I should have asked, but I didn’t want to wait any longer to see my AdiaStar.

Well, I hope that gives you some idea of how they handle K1’s at JFK in New York.

Good luck to everyone who is still going through the K1 process. Don’t give up…it’s worth it in the end. )

Regards
Angelus71

Steve2003

sounds like it is the temp ead stamp. If you didn;t get it then they just would have stamped the I-94 and the passport indicating the time your I-94 is valid for (and the date you entered).

Noorah101

Thanks for sharing your experience, Angelus. I'm happy to be hearing how easy JFK is. It will also be my fiance's POE.

Welcome to America! :-)
Rene

Noorah101

Thanks for sharing your experience, Angelus. I'm happy to be hearing how easy JFK is. It will also be my fiance's POE.

Welcome to America! :-)
Rene

ccalgreen

Chances are it is the "Employment Authorized" stamp, although it wouldn't have mattered if they had stamped it or written it. It's on the back of the I-94, right?

Congratulations! Having been through all the hassle of the K-1 work authorization, I don't know why people *don't* go through JFK. It might cost a bit more money, but can you weigh that up against the possibility of three months' earnings?

CLEM

SelfStudy

I'm suddenly a bit confused. My understand was that the work authorization was a separate set of paperwork which had to be filed after the K1 is granted. Is there a way to combine it?

My fiance will go stir crazy not being able to work when she gets over here, so it would be nice to have a way to expedite it.

Matthew Udall

It is true that one will normally prepare an I-765 (for a 1-year work card) and file that form along with the I-485 AOS package, but what they are talking about is an employment stamp that may or may not be given at the POE (usually not given), that gives someone brief (90-day) evidence of their employment authorization incident to their K-1 status. Even those lucky enough to get that employment stamp at the POE will usually file an I-765 to obtain a 1-year work card.

M.U.

ccalgreen

Matthew Udall is right (and so he should be as he's an experienced immigration lawyer and I am not!) - the work authorization that I currently have attached to the K-1 expires when my status expires, i.e. after 90 days.

I assume the original intention of granting 90 days work authorization to fiance(e)s was that once upon a time it took less than 90 days to issue the 1-year EAD based on an AoS application (assuming you married fairly soon after you arrived in the country - I had to wait 3 weeks to coordinate the ceremony with our parents etc.) I wonder if now that people are being told much longer timescales for processing whether it would be possible to change the K-1 law to allow a longer grace period - say 12 months? That way I wouldn't be in the ridiculous situation of having to quit my job to wait for my 1-year EAD.

CLEM

Shaun Su

Angelus71,

How to find the EAD stamp. Look on your I-94 Departure Record. Turn it
over, look under Record of Changes, there should be the A######## number.
And under that there is a NYC XX stamp with endorsement "Employment
Authorized" and the expiry date. That's it!

-shaun

"Angelus71" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

    > I don't know if I got my 90 day EAD or not..all I have in my passport
    > is a stamp that is impossible to read.it's 2 rectangles, so I don't
    > know if that's it or not?. I was too excited and nervous to ask any
    > questions. I know I should have asked, but I didn't want to wait any
    > longer to see my AdiaStar.

Angelus71

Thanks Shaun
In my passport I have the NYC stamp, but then after it there are 2 lines of stamp that can't be read. I guess that's it.

Regards
Angelus