Has anyone experience problems at the POE with their SO's relatives entering the country for the wedding? I am concerned because my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law essentially speak no English.

Marco was going to type up a letter for them to hand to the POE officer explaining that they are here for our wedding, etc...and then a copy of his K1 VISA.

Any thoughts?

I would think there should not be a problem. Do they need tourist visas to come in? they should be fine; with the wedding invite and the letter. And also without them; they can say they are here on vacation, I would think.

I'm unfamiliar with the visa requirements for residents of Germany to enter the U.S. to visit, but if they require visas, and have them, there shouldn't be any problems no matter what the reason for them entering the U.S.

The letter might be good as a back-up but I would teach them the word "vacation" or "pleasure" and have them leave it at that unless quized more. Surely they will do other things besides attend a wedding. General and truthful wins the day on this kind of thing.

My parents came over for my wedding,the officer asked them the usual questions and they said that they where going to their daughters wedding.
They then asked if I came here on a K1 visa.
But it was fine not a problem at all,I would not worry about that too much.

Every international POE is supposed to have someone who speaks the mother-language of the country of departure upon that flights arrival. Though this may not always be true. I believe that EU countries do not need visas to the U.S.

They deal with non English speaking people everyday.... They are *equipped* to handle these situations.

This should help

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/....html#countries

Check with your relatives if they have machine readable passports - You can tell by a thick central carboard page that says dont bend. In Australia, all passports issued after mid 2006 are automatically made this way. So I am guessing Gemany have introduced them as well to be on the visa waiver program.

I traveled to the US on such a system, and was no problem at all - I found the customers officers to be extremely helpful with issues that came up, and having a return ticket and departure date should seal the deal.

Maybe as an absolutely worst case senario, take the phone number of the nearest Geman consulate to your POE so they can help clear any silly miss understandings that occur. But as someone said, the customs guys are used to communication issues - so lots of pointing and smiles will get you a long way.

Finally - stress to your people not to get agitated or frustrated over the process, you will find the customs guys will respond to a good natured approach

Biggest problem will be for your inlaws getting a tourist visa granted to them in order to travel to the USA for your wedding date. If they are from one of those EU visa waiver travel program countries then you should not have a problem.

No, there is normally no problem at POE travelers to USA, as long as they have that visa stamped in their passport. You do not have to type a letter to hand to the POE officer, unless you feel need to or if it makes you feel better just in case, once they see their tourist visa in their passport, they are going to let them come right on in. And you do not have to give them a copy of your K1 visa either. POE officer will only be interested in the fact that A) they have round trip tickets they have valid tourist visa in their passports stamped and they enter and exit within those dates on tourist visa and that the airline round trip tickets have arrival and departure dates within the granted tourist visa time frame.

And in maybe your case, it looks like your inlaws are from Germany, thus a visa free waiver travel country with USA, so all they need is the passports they have which are valid for and do not expire within 6 months from the time they enter the USA and depart. Also they will not even have to have visa stamped for tourist in their passport, all they have to do is go buy round trip plane tickets, which POE will examine to see if they are going to fly in and out under the visa waiver rules for length of stay. You might have to tell them where your inlaws are going to be staying at, but I never saw that happen, it was never asked.

Speaking from first hand experience.

Good Luck.

No visa for Germans.

They fill in a I-94W on the plane.

One of the questios is where they are going to be staying.

Assuming their flight originates in Germany there will be a translation of the questions, trying to remember which languages are normal no matter where you come from, pretty sure German is one of them.

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, Germany enters under the VWP. They've never been here....there passports are brand new with no entrances to any other countries...They were literally just issued....My concern is only because they can't speak English. If the POE office asks them anything, they'll stare at him blindly...which was why we were thinking of giving them a typed explanation and a photocopy of my SO's VISA...

I bet they can get them a translator if necessary....was just hoping it wouldn't come to that!