gnasher12

Hi,

I know its been a while since i got on here, so thought i would share my recent experiences.

I arrived at chicago, waiting in a long immigration line, showed my passport and told them I was immigrating, he asked for my brown envelope and took me to a little room. I waited, and waited, then i was called, gave my fingerprints, signed two documents, and he gave me back my passport. that was it, i asked for more details, he said you can go now, your green card should arrive with 3-6 months.

chicago is a big airport took me a while to get my luggage, and check in all over again, and run to my connecting flight, i gave myself a 3 hour lay over, I had about 45 mins to kill after i went through immmigration, re checked my bag, etc, to be honest i should have left more time, i felt really rushed, by the time i did everything i needed to in the airport which wasnt much at all, didnt even have time for a coffee, my flight was boarding. worse flight from london i had ever experienced, nothing to do with my visa, just general flight problems all the way until i landed at my final destination in cleveland.

now im waiting for my green card and SSN, its only been two weeks since i arrived, so hoping my paperwork will come shortly.

britishspouse

try going into the SSN office. I got here one week ago, and went in yesterday to inquire. They told me immigration had filed the paperwork monday and my SS had been assigned. I dont have the card yet, but they gave me a printout with my number on

My POE went ok.... I poe'd in Atlanta so it was BUSY, and the officers didnt seem to want to be there, doing each others hair etc lol. Found out they wrote my name down wrong too... so my SS will have 'fayemarie' whereas me name is faye, middle name marie lol. But she said SS office could correct it after my card arrives.

Glad you got here safely though, have fun!!

katiekat

Thanks so much for this! My fiance will probably be heading into Chicago so it's awesome to know that I was about spot on thinking I'd get him a four hour layover. Thank you, thank you!

deftoneuk

I have had many airports as my POE over the years and I think Chicago is one of the worst... it always seems to take forever to get into the country, I actually found Atlanta and Newark to be good. DFW is my home airport....and it often sucks

thephionex

cheers for this as O'hare is my POE and final stop nice to know i was told by the consular officer i could go through with my wife in the USC line.

Scouse Express

When I Emigrated, and arrived in Chicago, I handed my brown Envelope to the Immigration officer at the Booth. He processed me right there and then, taking only a few minutes and I was on my way, to Iowa.

That was 15 years ago, mind you.


Jim.

jeffreyhy

The consular officer may be correct, but in the event that the CBP staff at O'Hare disagree it may be useful to recognize that the Consular Affairs section of the Department of State has nothing to say about how the CBP section of the Department of Homeland Security runs each of its POEs.

As a practical matter, you might want to look to see which type of booths have the shortest lines.

Regards, JEff