Hi Everyone,

I've read pretty much every post on this site related to POE procedures, and I think I know what to expect tomorrow, as I will be entering the US through Miami Intl' to get the stamp on my newly acquired IR1 through DCF in Ecuador.
Unfortunately, most of the information here is related to K visas (with a very few references to CR1's), and I wanted to know if there should be any major differences between my entry and those I've read, (I've heard for instance, that I will be allowed to queue in the citizens/residents line, that I will I not need my X-Ray? that I won't need to fill out the I-94, etc).
If anyone knows details, or could share their experience entering the US with this kind of Visa, I would love to hear them. Oh and if anyone has any experience regarding the entry through Miami in particular, especially this time of year, i'd love to hear it as well. (I'm concerned because I have 3 hours to catch my connection).
I guess I'm just assuming Miami must be the entry port for most of Latin America's immigration, but I don't know if this time of year is particularly busy in that front (in combination with your usual holiday rush)...

thanks in advance.

a

p.s. I did not fill in my timeline or anything, because I presume it would just ruin your statistics; My wife(USC) and I are not in a rush to move to the States, but we got the IV just to have the option readily available I guess, so we procrastinated a lot during the process (it took us about 3 months to call and ask for the interview to give you an example). I started reading this forum a week before my consular interview. - If anyone is interested I could tell how it was, let me know. (It took place in Guayaquil, Ecuador and was pretty uneventful to be honest)-.


cheers,

a

You can only que with citizens and residents if you have a green-card, if not you are immigrating and need to follow the line for immigrants, that is what your IR-1 visa requires, it is the same procedure as K-1, K-3, and CR-1, you should have a large brown envelope that is sealed, and needs to be given to the officer at the POE.

I (USC) went through immigration at MIA alone about a month before we (USC and CR-1 visa holder) came through MIA together. I took the opportunity to ask the officer which line we should go through on the first entry with the CR-1 visa. He didn't seem to be very definite, saying they'd probably let us go through the US Citizen/permanent resident line, depending on how busy it was, or they might make us go through the visitors line. We decided to go through the visitor's line. I know that doesn't give you much solid guidance, but there's usually someone there to help people figure out the right line, so you might ask them what their policy is on that day.

Three hours to make connections should be more than adequate, but don't assume you've made it until you're at the gate of your connecting flight. You should know that after you make it through immigration and customs, you'll be dumped out into an "insecure" area of the terminal, and you'll have to wait in line for TSA security screening before entering the gate areas. The TSA screening wait can sometimes be long when the airport is crowded.

The POE procedure is pretty much the same for K visas as for CR-1 visas, except that no I-94 is needed for CR-1 cases. They'll ask for the address where you want the Green Card and other paperwork sent to, and they'll spend a lot of time punching things into the computer and waiting on the computer, but overall, it's pretty uneventful.

YuAndDan,

My K1 wife went through the Citizen-Resident line with me, as directed by the immigration officer working the floor at the time. As lucyrich notes, this is something that can be subject to conditions at the time.

Yodrak

a,

Miami would certainly one of the top POEs for immigrants from Latin America, and may even be the top one, but it would depend more on where the immigrant is going to than where they are coming from. I would bet that few Latin American immigrants heading to LA enter at Miami.

Yodrak

Do you really believe that? This has got to be one of the busiest times of the year for Miami. Remember that a POE handles all international traffic and with all of the Carribean traffic alone that passses through Miami it must really put stress on the facility.

Adding to that: if I traveled back with my husband with the IR1 (DCF filiing) ... should we go in seperate lines, so together in the Citizens line or the visitor?
Thanks for your help...

As some have stated, the USC line is recommended. Just ask the person on the floor to confirm. We did (at JFK) and were directed to the USC line.