My boyfriend (a naturalized US citizen) applied for an immigrant visa for his mom (a South African citizen). She received her visa last week and we are planning to purchase a one-way ticket for her to come to the US soon.

She is wondering about what will happen when she goes through passport control in South Africa with an immigrant visa, and with whether she needs to do anything in particular to prepare for it. She is not planning to bring much with her (she is selling most of her possessions, does not have much in savings and has not made enough money for the past few years to even have to pay taxes). Does anyone have any advice/experience that they can share in this regard? Will she need any kind of tax certificate or other release from the RSA government?

Will coming here on an immigrant visa affect her status with South Africa in any way that will make traveling to South Africa (or returning there permanently, if she decides she prefers it there) difficult?

Also, what can she expect when she arrives in the US at immigration? We are planning to have her fly into LAX so that she doesn't have to catch a connecting flight after going through the port of entry (just in case there are delays). If for some reason the immigration officer decides to refuse her entry (you never know, right?), will she be able to contact us (so that we can try to intervene with legal process) or will they simply put her on a plane and not tell us?

Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm a South African citizen who came to the US on a K1 visa. South African Passport control didn't have anything to say about my visa ( I think the K1 is an immigrant visa too, of some sort at least ). I just went through and out of the country with my one-way ticket. I did worry that they'll try and prevent me for some reason, but I went through smoothly ( she really needs to be sure she gets to the airport well in time. It took me almost two hours to get through passport control because there weren't enough officials on duty. You don't want to miss this plane! )

As far as taxes goes - getting a tax certificate probably won't hurt but I doubt it will be necessary, especially since she hasn't earned enough to pay takes of late. You need to get that tax certificate if you are permanently emigrating, in order to take assets out of the country. But if she's not bringing much with her, that's probably not a concern. Certainly if she gets traveler's cheques or dollars exchanged for the money she wants to bring, she doesn't need the certificate.

( You may want to consider her buying her ticket herself, and then you reimburse her when she gets into the US. That is a way to bring a little bit of her money out )

As for going back ... I haven't tried it yet so I don't know! I'd imagine that as long as you have a valid RSA passport, you shouldn't run into any problems.

I flew into LAX myself, so I can tell you a little about it. Basically, she really doesn't need to worry. At immigration control she just gets into the non-US citizen queue and presents her passport and paperwork ( I had a packet to hand over when I came in on the K1. I don't know how it will work with hers? ), and she will be processed and can go through and meet up with you. They will examine her passport, maybe ask a question or two ( like how she got the visa, who she's coming to stay with ), take a photo with a digital camera, take her fingerprints, stamp her passport, and that's it.

I don't know if she'd be allowed to contact you in case of trouble, but I can't imagine that there will not be provisions of the kind made. This is something you might be able to check out for yourself by giving LAX a call. Hopefully somebody will be able to tell you about the procedure.

Thanks Griffon64. This is very helpful!

She does have a packet of information that she has been told not to open and to give to the immigration control officer in the US.

My boyfriend applied for and was given permission to retain his SA citizenship when he became a US citizen and has been back to RSA using his RSA passport a couple of times since then without any problem. Before that he had a greencard and also had no problem going back and forth. Of course, he always leaves me behind in the queue for Non-RSA citizens when we arrive at immigration control in CT!

Flying back into South Africa I've always zipped through the RSA citizen queue, which always seems much shorter, with glee - probably because there is less processing!

Good to know your boyfriend got back into RSA easily, since I'm going to be doing that, too, when I got back to visit . And also good to know that he was allowed to retain his RSA citizenship. I would like to keep mine, too, when I naturalize.

That packet of info you mention would be the same kind as what I had, I think. It contains all the proof and paperwork you needed to hand in at the consulate to get the visa, plus a few other papers from the consulate.

Best of luck with your arrangements, and congratulations on your boyfriend's mom's visa!

Hi, i wounder when you have an immigrant visa and you get to usa, how long you have to wait for your greencard and is it a 10 years greencard or less than that?
thanx

My wife and her son first got a 2 year green card it took about 5 or 6 months most every one I know got a 2 year card first then after that was about to run out they got 10 year card
If you marry a us citizen you can file for citizen ship in 3 years from first green card issue date but my stepson has to wait 5 years for his.