Flew from UK to US on CR-1 Visa

[Jamie Solo 70]

Hey guys, thought I'd give a quick post so people can know a bit more about what to expect when travelling on a Spousal Visa during all the restrictions from COVID. And since I'm in the US now, obviously did it right 😜

 

My flight was booked with British Airways. Manchester to Heathrow and then onward to Seattle.

 

After booking my flight and managing my booking I did attempt to say I had a proper visa (not ESTA) as there was an option. It accepted it and I thought it worked.

 

Turned out it didn't cause when online check-in opened, they flagged me and said I had to do it all at the airport. This happens in a few cases for BA but the check-in staff at the airport confirmed it was cause of the visa issues when I got there.

 

Got to the airport in Manchester and handed over my passport. They looked at my visa and had a senior person look it over. They spoke about how it should be okay since it was issued in July. I explained that if they needed I have marriage certificates, a copy of US spouses passport etc. if they wanted to look at it. They were then happy to send me on my way to Heathrow but warned me I might get taken aside to go over all of this stuff when I'm boarding.

 

In Heathrow, after handing over my passport, the agent checked with someone behind him. They gave a thumbs up and I was on the plane! So the people in Manchester either passed on that I had everything or they were just happy with the issuance of the visa. Either way, I only needed the visa in the passport, and I didn't show any additional stuff.

 

Arrived at SeaTac, did my COVID checks and got to immigration and it was business as usual from there like you've seen in many posts before! Except my fingers were so dry from hand-sanitiser that my fingerprints took a few tries lol

[Quarknase 1,072]

Thank you for sharing - and welcome to the US! Doesn't your visa even have a little sentence on it stating that it's exempt from presidential proclamation or something like that? Wondering what they would have done to a (valid) spouse visa issued in February or March, hehe...

[Jamie Solo 70]

3 minutes ago, Quarknase said:

Thank you for sharing - and welcome to the US! Doesn't your visa even have a little sentence on it stating that it's exempt from presidential proclamation or something like that? Wondering what they would have done to a (valid) spouse visa issued in February or March, hehe...

Thanks! 

 

And there is a line on being exempt to risk of labor market in the visa, but nothing about the travel ban.

[JFH 12,189]

Welcome to the PNW! 

[Quarknase 1,072]

7 minutes ago, Jamie Solo said:

Thanks! 

 

And there is a line on being exempt to risk of labor market in the visa, but nothing about the travel ban.

Yup, that's THE line "risk of labor market..." is the presidential proclamation. Glad it worked out!

[ReneeGG 27]

Yes, thank you for sharing this! My husband just received his IR-1 visa and I'm fearful of transiting through Europe to get to the US even though it says we'd be exempt from the ban. Glad it worked for you!