K-1 Visa POE unanswered question

[aceveale 0]

So just yesterday my fiancee got her K-1 visa approved in Montreal, but forgot to ask how the whole POE thing works. After looking online, what we do know is that they mail her passport and some papers back that she takes with her when she travels here, but what we don't know is how she has to travel. We had planned to drive from her home to mine, to bring all of her items, clothing, etc. But does she have to fly into the US from Canada? Is it okay to drive through the border as well instead? Will it cause issues if we cross the border into the US with all of her personal belongings, even with her K1? And lastly, can she fly/drive through any international airport/part of the border?

Thanks!

[Tamara and Jose 0]

So just yesterday my fiancee got her K-1 visa approved in Montreal, but forgot to ask how the whole POE thing works. After looking online, what we do know is that they mail her passport and some papers back that she takes with her when she travels here, but what we don't know is how she has to travel. We had planned to drive from her home to mine, to bring all of her items, clothing, etc. But does she have to fly into the US from Canada? Is it okay to drive through the border as well instead? Will it cause issues if we cross the border into the US with all of her personal belongings, even with her K1? And lastly, can she fly/drive through any international airport/part of the border?

Thanks!

I don't have an answer for you, but my fiancé and I have the same plan once I get approval so I'm interested in any responses you may receive. Good luck!

[Smiley-one 13]

There is no problem for you and your fiancée to drive across into the US. I drove across at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge in Ontario to Buffalo, NY in February of 2012 with all my personal belongings in my car and had no issues. I had made a list of all my personal property that I was bringing with me and they didn't even look at the documents. I was there roughly an hour and a half as they were not very familiar with the K1 visa at that particular border crossing. Good luck with your journey.

[Shadowess 13]

I drove across at the Port Huron/Sarnia border crossing with a Uhaul and my car towed behind it. March 2016. My fiance came with. When we got to the border I told the officer at the wicket (after giving him both my fiance and my passport) that I was activating a K1 visa. He put a magnetic cone on the roof of the Uhaul and told us to pull over to secondary inspection. There the officers told us to leave all bags and purses in the van and just bring our documents. We also had to unlock the trailer door.

We went it and were called up. I told them I was activating my K1 visa and importing my car (if you are bringing you car you need to TELL them you want to import it) They took my passport, and sealed documents (it says clearly on them to keep them sealed) and told me to sit down. The officers outside looked through one box of my stuff and asked that we removed the car cover so they could look in the back seat of the car. They came in while we were waiting and told me they had looked through one of my boxes and since it had some fragile items that I could go out and repack the box (they provided me with some tape as well)

I told them I had an inventory of all my stuff, but they said it wasn't necessary. But it's good to have this just in case. I actually numbered my boxes and then wrote the contents of each box on a piece of paper. That way if they had questions about any specific thing I could direct them to the specific box instead of having them root through everything.

I got called up and the officer asked me to confirm the information, then stamped my passport and he gave me the car importation documents and other items back (they kept the sealed documents - they had opened it as I saw my original I129F petition) Then they said welcome to the USA and we were free to go.

Overall it took about 1 1/2 hours from the time we pulled up to the border to the time we pulled away.

[chiggins82 87]

All options are good. You can fly with or without your belonging or drive with or without belongings. If you choose without, do some searches on how to move your stuff. It isn't super complicated, but you need to cross the border before your things do which for me made it tricky!

If you drive or fly with your things, I advise you have the itemized list. It will have the additional benefits of being an organized packer and for me, a way to purge (if I couldn't figure out how to list the item I was packing... i.e. some weird knickknack then I tossed it). I have seen a lot that they don't care so much at the border, but I asked CBP and they said to have it. Moving companies require it. When I drove through, they didn't even glance in my car which was loaded with stuff.

As for the paperwork, they will need your envelope with the visa items in it and car import info if you are doing that, I just kept all my visa stuff in a backpack with my laptop and it didn't leave my side. Keeps everything together.

All borders will process the visa to my knowledge.

Congrats!