Advance Parole (AP) experience at JFK

[Melibelle 10]

Hi all,

My husband and I returned from vacation in Europe and thought I'd share our initial Advance Parole experience.

First point of confusion was what to do with the customs form. On the plane, they mentioned that JFK no longer requires US citizens and GC holders to fill out customs forms; there are kiosks for use instead, but since my husband is still neither, he filled out the form as if it were for him individually and I figured I'd go to the kiosk on my own. Later once we got into customs, another agent advised us that the single form could be used for both of us as a family, so he changed the "number of family members traveling with you" to 1 instead of 0. Incidentally, we do not have the same last name, but this wasn't an issue at all.

Also, for his country of residence, he wrote Canada, since he isn't officially a permanent resident in the US. The agent said this was technically correct, but he then corrected it to say "Canada/USA" on the residency line.

Next problem was, what line do we get in? I wanted to accompany him to secondary processing if possible, so we explained to one of the CBP helpers that I was a USC and he had an AP card and they directed us to get into the Permanent Resident line. This was at Terminal 4, btw (mostly Delta).

The agent there was friendly and helpful, corrected his form, did some more scribbles and then took us to the side room and told us where to sit. It wasn't an issue for me to wait with him. We waited about 15 minutes. Then they called his name and handed him back his stamped passport, EAD card and our customs form and sent us out. No questions asked. The officer even smiled and apologized when he saw me laughing at his mangled pronunciation of my husband's name. We got to the baggage carousel before any of the bags from our flight were out.

I'd advise you to still allow plenty of time if you have a connection. We landed about 4pm on a Saturday and I noticed 2-3 international flights landing, but it didn't seem very busy. It also seems the officers can be sympathetic as I heard them talking amongst themselves about getting a folder looked at quicker to get someone on their flight.

No one asked why we left - it was purely vacation. So in case anyone is stressed about using it, I'd say not to worry, especially at JFK. They seem to know the drill quite well.

[gabreigns 75]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I will be in the same boat soon albeit a different airport.

[steve n songsang 45]

We have learned that having to go thru secondary inspection is a one time thing and subsequent re-entries do not require this, you go straight thru immigration, also, for Chicago/ohare at least, we were told that any line was ok since we were together.

Edited September 28, 2014 by steve n songsang

[Mollie09 1,543]

We have learned that having to go thru secondary inspection is a one time thing and subsequent re-entries do not require this, you go straight thru immigration, also, for Chicago/ohare at least, we were told that any line was ok since we were together.

Just want to add that any line is ok as long as there aren't just kiosks. As a green card holder, my husband and I were pulled off the USC line in BOS because the kiosk was only for US passport holders. We went to the GC line instead.