Read this prior to crossing US border with K1!

[vtjbrent 0]

My fiancee and I just crossed the US border at Sweetgrass, MT with a brand spanking new K1 visa that took us 5 months to obtain. We thought we had it all set and just needed to physically the border with the visa in hand. When we were having the visa "endorsed" by our border agent, he asked us what proof we had that we were actually getting married! What? Isn't that why we went through the whole k1 process? the interview? all the documentation? We had not expected this. The agent wanted proof that we had actually made arrangements for a wedding ceremony in the next 90 days. All the info we had read on this site and others said to NOT make any plans as the visa may not go through. In the end, we were able to scrounge up some proof via fax. But we had no documentation of this sort with us as we had thought this was all taken care of and already proven by the fact that we had a K1 visa in hand! We were able to get my fiancee's mother to fax us some airline tickets and reservation emails and in the end, our K1 was endorsed and we were let thru into the good old, increasingly paranoid and increasingly redundant, US of A.

Has anyone else heard of this????

[raymaga 25]

I have not heard of this happening to anyone else, but I'm sure someone here on VJ will post if it has.

I think what probably happened is that you got an officer that didn't know all the facts, which happened to us many many times during the whole K-1 process.

Anyways, congrats on your entry into the U.S., and good luck with the wedding planning!!!!

[Aztec&Taino 144]

My fiancee and I just crossed the US border at Sweetgrass, MT with a brand spanking new K1 visa that took us 5 months to obtain. We thought we had it all set and just needed to physically the border with the visa in hand. When we were having the visa "endorsed" by our border agent, he asked us what proof we had that we were actually getting married! What? Isn't that why we went through the whole k1 process? the interview? all the documentation? We had not expected this. The agent wanted proof that we had actually made arrangements for a wedding ceremony in the next 90 days. All the info we had read on this site and others said to NOT make any plans as the visa may not go through. In the end, we were able to scrounge up some proof via fax. But we had no documentation of this sort with us as we had thought this was all taken care of and already proven by the fact that we had a K1 visa in hand! We were able to get my fiancee's mother to fax us some airline tickets and reservation emails and in the end, our K1 was endorsed and we were let thru into the good old, increasingly paranoid and increasingly redundant, US of A.

Has anyone else heard of this????

What? I think it was just that particular border officer's thing. I am glad you were able to produce something though! Good luck in the rest of your journey.

[tbaygrrl 2]

I had something similar happen. I crossed at Pigeon River in Northern Ontario. The gaurd there kept asking/stating that I was petitioning to be a US citizen????? How he got that I am unclear. But I am ####### with paper work, so I pulled out a whole K-1 print up of boarder crossing procedures and had to show him this. He was so confused, as he had never done this before. When all was done, he let me through, but entered me in the computer I later found out as a K-2 child. LOL..... now that took me 7 months to straighten out. Yikes.

But it happens and it is gaurd specific. I think there are certain crossings where K-1's are fairly unheard of, so tons of confusion occurs. you'll know you'll have issues when they pull out their big black "how to" binder

Congrats on getting the visa and have a great wedding

[TBoneTX 43,048]

there are certain crossings where K-1's are fairly unheard of, so tons of confusion occurs. you'll know you'll have issues when they pull out their big black "how to" binder

This is true. If you know where you might be crossing, CALL AHEAD to let them know, and to ensure that there will be ENOUGH and ADEQUATE personnel available to process you, during the window of time when you expect to cross. (Don't ask about "knowledgeable" personnel, because that may be perceived as insulting.)

The CBP will appreciate your courtesy in asking. (What if their staffing levels and expertise that week are, for example, geared toward intercepting suspected drug couriers, and instead they're "distracted" from their planned duties by the unexpected arrival of a K-1 entrant?) Who knows -- by tipping them off in advance, you may get a small crowd of other agents who'll watch the processing agent's activities with great interest.

The phone numbers can be found at www.cbp.gov under "ports" for the applicable U.S. state.

Ask me sometime about the partially comedic processing of the wife's Advance Parole at a Mexican POE, si man.

Edited to add: If you simply show up at a POE, and the agent appears unknowledgeable, pleasantly request to speak with the PSR (Passenger Services Representative) or with the Port Director.

Edited October 6, 2010 by TBoneTX

[HeatDeath 430]

I PoE'd at Pembina, North Dakota, by car, a year ago last July. I don't know if my CBP officer was used to K-1 visas or not. Here's what happened.

He first asked me where my fiancee was, as if she should normally be crossing with me and that it was unusual that she was not. when I replied "Uh, she's in Salt Lake City, where she lives" or words to that effect, he almost snapped "What does that mean to me?!"

It took him 90 minutes of going through my packet page by page, and cross referencing the forms with his [as referred to above] big black "how-to" reference binders. At one point he found a letter (initially included with my I-129F packet) where my now-inlaws had written "we do not only approve, but also think the marriage will be a great blessing". He then asked "what if i told you your file contained a letter from her parents where they say they do not approve" and I said "Then I would be very confused, because they do approve." I don't know if it's because he legitimately misread the letter (who's grammar was, granted, a little twisty) or if he was doing what I have come to believe is a standard government interview trick of slightly twisting some fact and checking to see if you hold your ground on the truth. [At the time I was genuinely confused, and thought he was just making stuff up. I didn't remember the precise contents of that letter, and I didn't make the connection until I reread a copy of it in one of our duplicate back-up I-129F packets weeks later after I arrived.]

Suffice to say it wasn't a fun 90 minutes. At the end of all of it he also accidentally printed me a multi-use I-94, and had to call a more experienced officer over to show him how to print a single entry I-94. He also didn't really want to import my car for me, until I pressed the issue, asking him if I had to go over to the other building in the PoE or something. Then he did it. On the plus side that part was easy, they showed no interest at all in the list of the stuff I was bringing down, nor in my chest xray, nor [returning to the OP's issue] any new evidence of engagement. He did emphasize that I couldn't leave the US without a green card in hand. I knew at that an AP document would also suffice, but I wasn't about to quibble at that point.

I suspect, on balance, that he wasn't sure how to do a K-1, that it was also probably near the end of his shift when I got dropped in his lap, and he was trying a couple of standard border guard "knock'em off balance and see if they trip" tricks. I was so glad to get out of there. I stopped at the first town, called my now wife, and my first words to her were "I'm in."

Government officials, as a class, when they become confused, have a disturbing tendency to simply make things up. I'm pretty sure this applies to CBP officers, particularly those on the Canadian border who rarely see a visa of any kind, let alone a K-1. If they've also been recently transferred up from the Mexican border, and are used to seeing every intending entrant as a threat to national security, it's a bad combination.

On the plus side, the CBP officer I got at San Francisco International Airport, when I reentered the US with my GC for the first time, a year later, was very friendly and very nice. He expressed some casual interest in the canceled K-1 visa, giving me the impression that they're a bit of a rarely encountered oddity, and waved me right through, even giving me a "Welcome back". That was nice

[payxibka 10,044]

not a K-1 visa process issue... moving thread

[joojoo78 1]

you know what , I think TSA need to freaking raise their educational requirements, I bet you 5 bucks , anyone below managements is their on a HS diploma or on a GED. oh help me god , if I run into this ######, someone better save me.

[sara..... 371]

I seriously have to wonder at the education of some of the immigration officers at the ports coming out of Canada........once we were questioned for about 30 minutes ......why are you coming to the USA.....where are you going when your in the USA.......who will you see when your in the USA

HELLO we are USA citizens and we were going home!!!!!!!!!!!

sara

[Flames9_RN 358]

Not all USA citizens have good intentions!! They have an important job to do!! They are not meant to be your friends and joke around with you.

[TBoneTX 43,048]

They are not meant to be your friends and joke around with you.

They're also not supposed to act like the USA is their country more than it is mine. If this happens to me again, I'll ask for a supervisor, with or without a blank complaint form.

[Flames9_RN 358]

They're also not supposed to act like the USA is their country more than it is mine. If this happens to me again, I'll ask for a supervisor, with or without a blank complaint form.

Good luck with that. Just because one is an American, does not mean they can't ask you questions. As we have seen on the news recently, lot of these terrorists are American born.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

Great story.

I learn something new every day.

[TBoneTX 43,048]

Just because one is an American, does not mean they can't ask you questions. As we have seen on the news recently, lot of these terrorists are American born.

Terrorists rarely ask for supervisors with (or without) complaint forms. This would be a response to the CBP agents who have a 'tude.

[Kimbear 53]

Good luck with that. Just because one is an American, does not mean they can't ask you questions. As we have seen on the news recently, lot of these terrorists are American born.

How true, when i was crossing on my K1 Visa they interogated my then Chicago fiance / now husband asking him about his passport and asking him where his parents were born etc. and this was going INTO the usa. go figure lol. he had more of a hard time then i did