Hey everybody. I will be booking our flights tonight for my trip to Japan to bring my fiancee back with me. I have a couple of questions about the POE process.

1. Will a two hour layover give us enough time to go through immigration on a late Saturday afternoon?

2. I have read about people having problems in Detroit. We will need to switch planes there. Does anybody know if Detroit is still a bad POE location?

Thanks!

I don't know about question 1, but according to stats on VJ, Detroit is a good POE:

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/poestats.php?history=90

Detoit was my husband's POE and it was a very easy, very friendly experience. I think 2 hours would be enough, but maybe to be on the safe side, plan for longer (espeically since your luggage also has to go through customs at the first POE).

Have fun!

I just looked at that link and... Harassment level?? JFK, the POE we figure my fiance will have since I live in NY, has the 2nd highest harassment level on that list.

Oh dear. Relax... 0 is the slowest grade and it has a 1.something average... Also, JFK is the only POE that could give him a temp EAD.

Reading that cracked me up. LOL thanks, and sorry if I come across as... whatever I might come across as. I got told that the last time I hung around here, too.

JFK also is tied for the most votes, so the more people voting, the more people are gonna say they had some problem. I'm glad the temp EAD thing is still around like it was when I hung around here in January, he and I are kinda hoping that'll happen for us. But, yeah, one step at a time, and I don't care if he gets it as long as he gets HERE.

1. It can be enough, it can't be enough. Get into Detroit together with a few other international flights and you've lost your connection. Get seats as far in front of the plane as possible and it can be that you are past immigrations in 5 minutes.

2. My experience shows that most people who have problems caused the problems themselves by having a bad attitude or something like that. Just relax, calm down and realize that the guy or the lady at the computer is also a human who is there to protect the border and to keep unwanted individuals outside of the country. Then everything will be fine.
Be prepared that they will process your fiancee after you. Don't expect that you can assist her in any way or that you can stay at her side.

Gee. Slowest grade? I'm the slow one here. Lowest, d'oh.




The process may turn bad, but all in all it's quite easy and people tend to worry too much. I thought I had a job as a full-time worrier, but you actually beat me! Let's hope he can get an EAD. But yeah, getting him there is what matters

Pfft, I didn't even pick that up. Who's slower now?



You should've seen me when I was here back in January. I had just gotten over being sick for 3 months, my nerves were shot, and I wasn't working. At least now I work 7.5 hours per day, so that doesn't leave much time for worrying.

The biggest thing I'm still worried about is whether or not I can get myself as his sole sponsor without a problem... but Laurel Scott, that immigration attorney that has free chats on Wednesdays, said she (he?) can answer my questions about it tomorrow. The chat just-so-happens to be at noon, when my lunch break is, and I convinced my boss to let me use her computer (the only one in the office with internet access, guess they don't want us buying stuff on Ebay when the phones are slow ) for it. So, that'll help settle my worries about it.

Other than worrying, I'm also good at getting posts off topic!

Pray for good weather. My POE was Detroit and when I arrived from Tokyo there was an electrical storm. This prevents luggage from being unloaded as the workers are not allowed on the tarmac during storms. The whole time you are at the POE you will not be able to use any cell phones for any reason until you're past customs. They are VERY strick about that, no matter how long it takes to get past customs. All in all though I was through customs in about two hours though only to find my connecting flight was canceled. I won’t leave any comments here about that ordeal as I don’t want to use any bad language.

Stinger157,
We entered at JFK and I know that different POE are, well, different.

I had been advised by a passport control agent at JFK that "if she's your fiance, you can take her wherever you want!" and that's just what I did. I stood at her side through the entire entry process -- and we entered on through a USC line since it was faster.

All the government people we interacted with were friendly, and some had a sense of humor.

My fiance was visiting via Detroit and they treated him like the Taliban. Stripped him down to his boxers and looked at his computer hard drive. They eventually let hom in though. This was not a K1 Visa entry though.

Hey!!! Detroit was a great POE for my husband! Nothing to worry about. They didn't even ask him any questions, just made jokes about getting married The worst that happened was my husband got his German sausage taken away from him He was so upset! As long as you aren't bringing any foreign meats into the country you shouldn't have a problem!!


Diana

I personally would get more time for the layover. Last time I went through JFK the Immigration stuff was easy, our bags took forever then I had to go check back in at Delta and it took 2 hours to get my tickets and go through the security line and that was on a Thursday.

I gave my fiance 5 hours in JFK just in case- we don't want him to miss the flight.

Good luck,
Sarah

Hahahaha he tried to bring sausages! Awesome!

Novotul,
If you read carefully what I wrote you will see that I wrote that the OP shouldn't expect....

It can be different, but nothing is granted. I think it is better to be prepared getting separated than expecting holding hands all the time and then she is all alone with the immigrations officer.

Of course "government people" are friendly unless you give them a reason not to be friendly anymore.

GatorFan,

The only time I went through Detroit, about 2 years ago, there were more people in the immigration hall than in the Super Dome after Katrina. Two hours would not have been enough time to make a connection. I've avoided Detroit ever since.

Yodrak

One time, before 9/11, I was coming home through Chicago and the entry hall was almost empty. The visa lines were curiously shorter than the USC line I was in. There was this German who had a big string a sausage he wanted to bring in. They wouldn't let them. I just watched the interaction. He went to the back of the hall, grumbling, got out a knife, and proceeded to cut up and eat this really large amount of sausage! Then he presented himself to the authorities who admitted him. He turned, pointing to his stomach, and said, "Now the sausage is in the United States!"