POE Experience: JFK

[Little_My 464]

This is just to share a recent entry experience at JFK.

I spent the summer in my home country Finland visiting family. Our GC interview got scheduled for July 20th, so I returned for that from Finland on July 19th. I used the new combined EAD/AP card at POE, and came through JFK. Just in case, I also had with me my original marriage certificate as well as the interview notice letter from USCIS. Did not need either one. The IO at the counter had not seen the combination card before, so he went to show it to a colleague to verify that it's acceptable. This did not take more than 2 minutes. After that, he told me that he would take me to this other room, because before they used to stamp the paper AP document with "paroled into the country" stamp, but now they would stamp my passport instead. I was taken to another room close to the baggage carousels, have the man there my passport and AP card, and sat down to wait for him to go through them. He made some small talk while typing something in the computer, stamped my passport with a stamp that says "paroled into the United States of America" with the entry date on it, and that was it. Whole thing from when I stepped up to the first IO took about 15 minutes.

I would advice people using the combo card to reserve a bit more time than usual when going to the airport in the country where you are departing from though. Finland, for example, is a visa waiver country, which means that as a person who does not have a valid visa in my passport, I am expected to fill out ESTA before leaving. Obviously I had not done that, since I have a pending GC application and the AP. I flew Iceland Air, and when I got to the counter at Helsinki airport to check in my bags, they of course can see that there is no ESTA clearance for me. I gave them my EAD/AP card and explained that it has recently been changed from the previous paper AP, but naturally since it was new to them, they had to make about 5 calls and have someone come to check it before they would let me complete check-in. This took probably about 30 min and the people were very nice and helpful, but this is just to advice others to make sure to have enough time at the airport before your flight is boarding if using the EAD/AP combo card.

I left the US again on July 21st right after our interview and returned to Finland. While I was there, 2 days after our interview, we got an email about card production. My GC arrived while I was still abroad. My husband returned home 2 days before me, so he scanned the GC and welcome letter and emailed them to me, so that I had copies of them on me. I returned to the US again on Aug 6th, and at JFK took the green card holders line. Once I got to the window, I told the IO that I have been issued a GC while I was abroad, that I have an AP card on me, and that I also have a copy of the GC and welcome letter. Also, my husband was at the airport waiting for me on the other side with the actual card, in case they demanded to see the physical card itself. The IO told me that there should be no problem, they can also see from their computers that a GC has been issued to me, but that he would send me to this other person who would do the admission process. He took me to another IO, who went through my documents again, and told me that he could not admit me as a permanent resident with only a copy of my GC, but that this is no problem since I have the AP and he can use that. I had already filled out the I-94 on the plane in case they would admit me with the AP, which he was very happy about. He told me that I am basically paroled into the country again, but that it's no issue as long as I travel abroad within the next 12 months. In case I won't travel, I should come back to deferred inspection with my GC and passport so that they can change my status in their systems, as I now show up as a parolee and not a permanent resident. He was very nice and polite, and the process from stepping at the window with the first IO to being done with immigration took about 15 min.

So - all together a very positive experience. No problems whatsoever. My advice is to have your papers and docs in order, fill out everything in advance just in case, know which document is which, and make the process as simple and fast as possible to the IO.