Davina

Hi

I'm new to this forum and have one question that I can't seem to find the answer to on any of the websites.

I am a British gal married to an American for almost 4 years and living in Thailand. We have been through all the formalities with the US Embassy here and now have the stacks of papers to take to US when we go in 4 weeks time.

What is the procedure upon arriving in USA (San Francisco Airport)?

I have heard that INS will interview me again and the wait could be 2+++ hours - any info would be great?

Davina

Yorkieabroad

We came in thru Houston 4 weeks ago, but I guess it'll be pretty much the same in SF. We were sent to a seperate line at the end of the immigration hall, and stood in line for about 30 minutes (probably longer than normal because priority was given to a bunch of foreign seamen joining a ship) to hand in the 'brown envelope', our passports and medical records, then waited around 10 minutes while they were processed, then we were fingerprinted, given our passports back, and sent on our way. All very cordial, and straighforward, though at the time it seemed like the last thing we needed after 24 hours travelling with a very restless 17 month old! We were told to expect our green cards in 6-9 months, but they arrived a couple of weeks later.

suebo

We came through SFO airport in 2000. We just went through immigration as per everyone else, they looked at our permits, stamped the passport and we were on our way. No hassles at all

Yorkieabroad

hmm - wonder if the fingerprinting etc is something new after the events of 9/11?