today i just paid for my fiancees ticket to come to the US, she will pick up her K1 visa a few days beofre the flight. my question is, do i need to fly there then fly back to the US with her? she will be ok to fly alone but im just wondering if it will be a problem at the POE interview if im not there, or should i fly to the POE to meet her there?

No, you don't need to fly with her and even if you flew to POE, you would not be able to be with her when she's getting through immigration. (I'm trying to remember how LAX is set up and how far non-passengers can come in.)How strong is her English? It might be worth practicing some interview questions and answers with her to alleviate nerves. (The immigration people always make me nervous, even when I have nothing to be nervous about. I keep thinking they'll deport me just for the fun of it.) She has her K1 now so she should not have too much trouble getting through. I guess it might be useful to let her know that if there is any harrassment at all to keep calm, remember the person giving her the trouble, and just try to get through the process as quickly as possible.

Oh, and congratulations on your upcoming reunion!

ok thanks. yes her english is very good, a little broken but its better than alot of people i work with.lol. ill tell her to stay calm and be polite. also, will there be someone to tell her where to go befroe she goes through customs? when i came back from VN we passed by a customs desk before going through the inspection point, im guessing they will direct her to the right area there?

Your fiancee will get through just fine without you, but I personally am so glad I came to Vietnam personally, for a number of reasons.

For one thing, I would hate to send anybody to LAX by themselves for the first time, heck I wouldn't want to send MYSELF to LAX. I know people do it all the time--I guess you just sort of rise to the occasion and muddle through. Yes, there should be somebody there to sort of direct the immigration lines. Don't worry, everything will be fine. She's got the visa and the immigration packet, there won't be any problems, I'm sure.

wait, so POE has to go through LAX? What POE did you guys enter through? I'm from Des Moines. IA.

don2008--sorry to hijack your thread.

No, we went through ORD (Chicago O'Hare). It doesn't matter where you live, just where your plane ticket has you entering the U.S. at first. I was only voicing my distaste for LAX airport. I personally hate that place.

ok thanks. i plan to send her a cell phone so when she gets to LAX she can call me. one more question, sorry; lol. from what i read on the customs forms she does not need to tell them about the money she is bringing here unless its more than 10k, right? she wont have that much lol, but i didnt know if she was brought a couple thousand if she needed to tell customs about it. thanks in advance for the help!



violet.. no problems about hijacking, thats how we all help each other. you read then you ask. when i came back from Vn last year i landed in seattle, im not sure if they use that one as a POE. i did have to go through customs there but i dont remember if there was an immigration line.

No, there is no need to report anything that's less than 10 grand. In fact, I had 8 grand in my small carry-on, and they never even said anything to me after they ran it through the x-ray machine. In fact, they never asked us ANY questions at all in Chicago, even though we had 1 suitcase full of nothing but food (all acceptable, I might add--no fresh fruits or meats or anything like that).

If you can buy a plane (or ship) ticket that will put you in that city directly from a foreign country, then that city is your Port of Entry.

Just to be clear, POE (Port of Entry) is any location in the United States or its territories that is designated as a point of entry for aliens and U.S. citizens. All district and files control offices are also considered ports, since they become locations of entry for aliens adjusting to immigrant status. (USCIS website). When you get off the plane, and you are directed to Immigration and Customs, then you are at a point of entry.

LAX has people there to assist your fiancee if she needs it. They will direct her to the proper line. It's good that she speaks English as they don't have Vietnamese speakers at Immigratation when I've gone thru Bradley International or United. They do have Vietnamese people at customs at Bradley International. Just don't bring any poultry or other items that they will throw away if they search her bags. There's a xray machine that she may have to run her bags thru, if the operator finds something they will open the bags otherwise, she can take them. When we went thru the xray screening, they told us we were ok and didn't open any bags or boxes. We had some food stuffs, mushrooms, shrimp, fish, etc but no chicken or beef products.

Also they are remodeling Bradley so it's a bit of a mess. Not the best impression of the US!!

If the Vietnamese Customs are like the ones when Thi and I left Vietnam, they will ask your fiancee if she is taking money out of the country. Since Thi said she didn't have any money, they let her go without any more questions, etc. Hopefully there won't be any problems for your Fiancee. They didn't ask me if I was taking any money out of Vietnam. I was, I took with me, 8400 VND..... and some US cash.....

US Customs is only interested in sums larger than $10,000.

Like James, I'm glad I was at Thi's interview and we flew back together. At LAX we went thru Immigration/Customs together so she was comfortable and not stressed. I went first and asked the Immigration Officer if Thi could come with me and we be processed together, he agreed which helped Thi relax.

Hopefully your fiancee will have an easy trip.

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26
I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11
I-129F RFE(s) :
RFE Reply(s) :
I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26
Touched: 2007-11-02
NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16
Consulate recieved ??????
Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11
Packet 3 received 2007-12-24
Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28
Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14
Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23
Interview Date 2008-2-27
Passed Interview 2008-02-27
Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05
Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)
POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles
Wedding 2008-4-26

ya i told her to put a 20 in her passport at the Vn customs. im sure after that they will let her pass with no questions. i also told her she can NOT pay customs here, her first question was, why. lol. its funny how in Vn it just seems to be a way of life to pay your way out of every situation. when i was on my way back to the US i tiped the Vn customs guy 5 bucks to let pass quickly, my plane was 10 mins from taking off. lol that was crazy running through the airport like that. i had to pay my way past all the other lines too, a lady from china airline ran us past all the lines for 25 dollars. needless to say i made it, with a few mins to sapre...