Hello All,

I had a question regarding Port of Entries ( POE's ) & Immigration,
Are certain cities specifically designated as POE's ?
How would we know if the POE city has immigration in it ?

When the beneficiary comes to the US with the K1 VISA,
Would he/she schedule the Flight route to a city with a POE & Immigration in the same airport ?

Are they in every city ?
Are they in some cities ?
What cities ?

Would it be wise to pick a large city nearby the petitioner's home, eg JFK ?
Or maybe a large major US city close to the benficiary's home ?

Please Advise

Thanks
Syl

The first city in the US where your flight lands will be your POE.
Any US destination from Europe will have immigration and customs available at the airport.

POE or Port of Entry are not located in cities per se but at actual points where individuals enter the boundaries of the US... These include airports, highway or land borders points, seaports, etc... In some instances you can be processed before you enter the US if you use on of the pre-clearance facilities in Canda, Ireland or the carribean.

Two primary things each and every POE performs is immigration and customs processing...

As fwaguy stated.

Some exceptions on the PFI's (preclearance points, outside US): Dublin and Shannon process immigration-only not customs.

The point to remember is that if you're travelling by scheduled commercial airline, you don't need to be concerned about this issue. Commercial airline service is always arranged so that you'll go through the proper facilities. All inspection stations are capable of handling all types of visas, so marriage based visa holders don't need to make sure they get routed through certain facilities.

Even if you're piloting your own plane, skippering your own private boat, driving your own car, or walking across the border, all you need to do is make sure that you enter at a legal port of entry which is staffed by customs and immigration, and that you enter at an hour when the port of entry is open.


With airline service, the port of entry is usually the first place the airplane lands in the US. There are a few exceptions, where the immigration process happens before boarding the plane instead of after landing. But if, for example, you fly from Paris to New York and continue to Chicago and finally Los Angeles, you'll have to get off the plane and go through immigration at New York -- you don't get the choice of going through immigration at a later stop, even if you're continuing on the same flight number and the same airplane.

The only thing you DO need to be aware of is that sometimes it takes a bit of extra time for a marriage-based visa holder to be processed through on the first entry to the US. So don't schedule a really short layover after the first landing inside the US. It may take an extra ten minutes, or maybe an extra 45 minutes to clear immigration, so you may want to plan on a fairly long layover so you don't have to rush or feel stress about a connecting flight.

So if I understand correctly, we can enter at any border crossing and be processed if we enter during normal working hours?

My husband and I are planning to fly from London to Toronto, Canada, and then cross the border at Niagara Falls. Is there any benefit to going to a larger POE or is it preferable to go to a smaller one, or doesn't it matter? We're concerned that since we need a waiver for our visa we might still be turned away at the actual POE.

Thanks!

Anna