At Port of Entry

[mikelaberge 0]

Hi,

My wife did a DCF through London and everything went great. We have the mysterious brown envelope and her visa is all sorted. We have a little girl that is 1.5 y.o. who has dual US/UK citizenship.

My question is: What happens at the port of entry? Are we all able to go through the same side or will my daughter and I go through the US Citizens side and my wife will have to go through the Non-US side? Is there anyway to all go through together?

My wife is a bit nervous about not being allowed through and being separated from our daughter.

Can anyone shed some light? Thanks.

P.S. This website has been an AMAZING help through our process. Thanks you guys!

[Otto 83]

Your wife will be directed to the US Citizen/Resident line - if in doubt, ask for assistance from one of the attending officers. They're not going to separate you guys.

Check out POE review section for other people's experiences with specific POEs.

[lucyrich 19]

It may depend on the specific port of entry, and on how busy they are. Most ports of entry have a "traffic cop" directing people into the appropriate lines, at least during busy times. Look for such a person and ask which line to use. Always trust the word of a uniformed officer on the scene more than you trust the internet postings of someone on VJ (I'm including this posting in those that are not as trustworthy as an officer on the scene).

Normally, they'll let you stay together. They may direct all of you to go through the citizens/residents line, or they may direct you to go through the visitors line, or the lines might have different labels and different criteria for separation.

They normally don't have a problem with letting a US Citizen through on the visitor's line. So if there's nobody available to tell you otherwise, you can almost certainly get in line as visitors and then explain the situation when you get to the desk.

If you don't want to be separated, just don't separate yourselves. Politely explain to anyone who asks that you are travelling together as a family, and that you'd prefer to go through together. The worst that's going to happen is they'll say, "oh, if you want to go together, you'll have to go through that line over there".

A new immigrant coming in for the first time on an immigrant visa is likely to be sent into secondary inspection for further processing anyway, especially if it's at a busy time, so don't be alarmed when this happens.

[mikelaberge 0]

Thanks guys that's sound advice. We're going next month so we're just trying to get our ducks in a row. I really appreciate it.

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

We went through Newark and were directed to the US citizenship line (USC husband, two USC kids and me on the IR-1). The officer in the secondary area was a bit confused why there were 4 people coming in but only one brown envelope, but let us all stay together (we had 8 months old twins so it would have been difficult to control them with one person, especially after the long flight).

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

We went through Newark as well, but were directed to go to the non-USC/Green Card queue. We were allowed to go together (in fact I was told I should go with my husband). It really is the luck of the draw on the day at the airport.