LPR's-what line do you use at POE (green card holder)

[bakphx1 789]

My husband and I traveled abroad together for the first time since he arrived with his CR1.  When we approached the various lines in LAX (the airport from hell), there seemed to be signs indicating separate lines for permanent residents and visitors.  As we went together, there were people who guided us to the visitor lines.  I noted we were together and he's a permanent resident and I'm a USC, but they put us with non US passport holders. 

 

The line was long, and then airlines would summon people, often large groups, to cut in line to make their flights. We missed our flight  even though our own interaction with the CBP officer was quick and routine. I thought three hours would be plenty.   He was out the door only one hour after landing in Houston with his initial packet. 

 

I read that green card holders were in shorter lines than tourists and could accompany USC's in their line when they are a family.  

 

Were we gypped? Or is it safer to just plan on using smaller airports and/or not plan any continuing travel until the following day for future travel? Walk up fares are murder. 

 

[Highmystic 234]

40 minutes ago, bakphx1 said:

My husband and I traveled abroad together for the first time since he arrived with his CR1.  When we approached the various lines in LAX (the airport from hell), there seemed to be signs indicating separate lines for permanent residents and visitors.  As we went together, there were people who guided us to the visitor lines.  I noted we were together and he's a permanent resident and I'm a USC, but they put us with non US passport holders. 

 

The line was long, and then airlines would summon people, often large groups, to cut in line to make their flights. We missed our flight  even though our own interaction with the CBP officer was quick and routine. I thought three hours would be plenty.   He was out the door only one hour after landing in Houston with his initial packet. 

 

I read that green card holders were in shorter lines than tourists and could accompany USC's in their line when they are a family.  

 

Were we gypped? Or is it safer to just plan on using smaller airports and/or not plan any continuing travel until the following day for future travel? Walk up fares are murder. 

 

That sucks!  I have no answer, but I only am replying because I want to be able to better read the other peoples' posts here for my own curiosity!  There may very well be a day in a year or two for my wife and I to travel.   When she entered on her K1, she flew in direct from Hong Kong to Las Vegas, NV.   I imagine less hassle than LAX? 

 

[bakphx1 789]

1 hour ago, Highmystic said:

That sucks!  I have no answer, but I only am replying because I want to be able to better read the other peoples' posts here for my own curiosity!  There may very well be a day in a year or two for my wife and I to travel.   When she entered on her K1, she flew in direct from Hong Kong to Las Vegas, NV.   I imagine less hassle than LAX? 

 

I think LAX is more frantic of an airport. But I hoped permanent residents got shorter lines.  

[abum 324]

hurm i arrived at LAX before and I was ushered to use the line similar to USC (as they grouped USC along with LPR). Especially if you have machine readable passport/card. 

 

It could also be due to the time i arrived (night) where my flight was one of the few flights landed there at that time (not that many people). it was not that long for us to pass immigration - but i did get pulled to secondary.

[bakphx1 789]

1 minute ago, abum said:

hurm i arrived at LAX before and I was ushered to use the line similar to USC (as they grouped USC along with LPR). Especially if you have machine readable passport/card. 

 

It could also be due to the time i arrived (night) where my flight was one of the few flights landed there at that time (not that many people). it was not that long for us to pass immigration - but i did get pulled to secondary.

Curious - - why did you get pulled to secondary? 

[abum 324]

because i was out of the country for more than 6 months (less than 1 year still). i was lucky that the secondary office i was brought to - even the officer was about to leave for the day and his computer was not working at that time (he said he needed to reboot his PC and log in - which would take some time), he gave me the option (as he saw me coming in with my toddler), either wait for him to setup his system - which could take about 20 minutes, or go to the other secondary office , which has a lot of people waiting in line and that could take hours for my turn. 

i chose to wait, around 35 minutes, he was able to get into his system and verified my identity , my passport got stamped, and i was free to enter. So  the secondary was not really about LPR but more about me being out of the country for more than 6 months. 

[cyclone27 710]

Every POE is different - you follow the rules setup at that individual POE.

 

IAD has  seperate lines for visitors but also US Citizens/LPR.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

We use the USC line when we travel together

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

A number of airports have one line for both LPRs and USCs but others don’t - luck of the draw.

another way round this issue is for both of you to get global entry cards, then you just use the global entry line/kiosks - you’ll be together and probably faster than any other line.

 

which line is shorter May also depend where you fly from, when we flew into SNA from Cabo, there are separate  lines for LPRs and USCs but the vast majority of arrivals were USCs so both the LPR and visitor lines were waaaay shorter...

Edited March 28, 2018 by SusieQQQ

[LionessDeon 2,060]

On 3/27/2018 at 1:35 AM, bakphx1 said:

My husband and I traveled abroad together for the first time since he arrived with his CR1.  When we approached the various lines in LAX (the airport from hell), there seemed to be signs indicating separate lines for permanent residents and visitors.  As we went together, there were people who guided us to the visitor lines.  I noted we were together and he's a permanent resident and I'm a USC, but they put us with non US passport holders. 

 

The line was long, and then airlines would summon people, often large groups, to cut in line to make their flights. We missed our flight  even though our own interaction with the CBP officer was quick and routine. I thought three hours would be plenty.   He was out the door only one hour after landing in Houston with his initial packet. 

 

I read that green card holders were in shorter lines than tourists and could accompany USC's in their line when they are a family.  

 

Were we gypped? Or is it safer to just plan on using smaller airports and/or not plan any continuing travel until the following day for future travel? Walk up fares are murder. 

 

We just had the same experience and it was horrible at FLL.  Our airline rep (Spirit) refused to help us.  We missed our connecting flight and had to spend the night on a bench in the airport.  They put us in the non citizen line and everyone including other passengers were nasty and mean.  I, too, was under the impression it would easier once he got his green card.  It was the complete opposite.  We spent 2 hours in customs/immigration line (Yes, we used the electronic passport scanner for both of us, got our receipts and everything no problem) and then they put him in the secondary inspection room for an hour just sitting there.  He said no one asked him one question, just finally called his name, looked at his passport and green card, handed it back and said he was good to go.  I do not understand why that had to be done when the immigration officer at the counter had just done all that and took his fingerprints and picture!  We could've made our flight.  

 

We used the same exact airport in 2016 for his K1 arrival and is was quick and easy and everyone was so nice.  Utter 180 this time.  We were so stressed out and I was paranoid they were not going to allow him back into the USA.  We finally reached home 24 hours later.  RIDICULOUS!  I will never use Spirit Airlines ever ever again.  I will also do my best to find a direct flight, not an easy task but will definitely make it a priority for future travel.

On 3/27/2018 at 11:37 PM, Nitas_man said:

We use the USC line when we travel together

FLL didn't give us a choice this time 

Edited May 9, 2018 by LionessDeon

[LionessDeon 2,060]

On 3/28/2018 at 1:27 AM, SusieQQQ said:

A number of airports have one line for both LPRs and USCs but others don’t - luck of the draw.

another way round this issue is for both of you to get global entry cards, then you just use the global entry line/kiosks - you’ll be together and probably faster than any other line.

 

which line is shorter May also depend where you fly from, when we flew into SNA from Cabo, there are separate  lines for LPRs and USCs but the vast majority of arrivals were USCs so both the LPR and visitor lines were waaaay shorter...

We didn't get to choose a line at FLL.  They told everyone which line they were allowed in.

[LionessDeon 2,060]

On 3/27/2018 at 4:22 AM, abum said:

because i was out of the country for more than 6 months (less than 1 year still). i was lucky that the secondary office i was brought to - even the officer was about to leave for the day and his computer was not working at that time (he said he needed to reboot his PC and log in - which would take some time), he gave me the option (as he saw me coming in with my toddler), either wait for him to setup his system - which could take about 20 minutes, or go to the other secondary office , which has a lot of people waiting in line and that could take hours for my turn. 

i chose to wait, around 35 minutes, he was able to get into his system and verified my identity , my passport got stamped, and i was free to enter. So  the secondary was not really about LPR but more about me being out of the country for more than 6 months. 

Well my LPR husband was out of the country for 5 days and they held him in secondary for an hour causing us to miss our connecting flight.  Didn't ask him one question.

[charmander 692]

Each airport has a different setup. Boston Logan used to have separate line for LPRs, now LPRs follow the same line as US citizens and use the APC kiosks. But I agree the worst would be sending LPRs with non-immigrants; those line take the longest especially at airports like JFK.

[LionessDeon 2,060]

19 minutes ago, charmander said:

Each airport has a different setup. Boston Logan used to have separate line for LPRs, now LPRs follow the same line as US citizens and use the APC kiosks. But I agree the worst would be sending LPRs with non-immigrants; those line take the longest especially at airports like JFK.

It was horrible and to make it worse there were about 50 J1 visa holders visiting from Dominican Republic that make it in line just ahead of us.  They were from a school group all wearing matching shirts.  My husband said he only saw one of them waiting in secondary with him.  Now why would he have to go to secondary and not them??

[bakphx1 789]

46 minutes ago, LionessDeon said:

It was horrible and to make it worse there were about 50 J1 visa holders visiting from Dominican Republic that make it in line just ahead of us.  They were from a school group all wearing matching shirts.  My husband said he only saw one of them waiting in secondary with him.  Now why would he have to go to secondary and not them??

I almost would have felt better if we had gone to secondary.  We just got put in the slowest line for over 3 hours just to have the passport stamped, no questions asked.  We missed out connecting flight as well.  We paid walk up fare for the next flight (we used a totally separate airline than what we arrived to POE on, so it wasn't on the itinerary and as far as they were concerned, we were just late).  We took a shuttle to go from one terminal to another, but didn't realize that it also went to an offsite park and ride lot, so when the bus left the airport, I had a panic attack and just said if I drop on the floor, it's a heart attack for sure.    Not a good ending to what was a nice vacation.