higher air fare charge for K1 visa immigrants???

[beck26 1]

that was just beautiful @ andrea & henry

now i want to kiss my fiance so much your story is inspiring and informative at the same time. i hope all of us will always have a happy married life with our better halfs

best wishes to you guys! and thank you so much!

[InHisTime 110]

hi everyone! i hope you are all having a good day.

i would just like to ask few things (especially to the manila K1 applicants)

1. i called a travel agency (hoping to catch some cheaper flights) and they asked me if i have an immigrant or non-immigrant visa, i answered "immigrant" since the K1 visa was categorized as such, so they gave me a flight date and a somehow cheap air fare deal for it. (just around $600 +)

then i said "wow, that's good, since i don't want my fiance to worry about the money and i'll take care of it myself" then the travel agency respondent suddenly said that K1 visa have higher visa air fare charges...then they gave me a higher priced ticket! ($800 +)

now im back looking for cheaper flights, i need to schedule a flight ASAP since i want to be with my fiance before April 13.

is there really such a thing as higher air charges for K1 petitioned visa travellers?

2. can anyone give me an advice on how to handle the "point of entry" stuff at the airport? my fiance will be there to fetch when i arrive but should i bring anything more documents? (except the yellow envelope thing, passport and CD from St. Luke's medical exam) also if anyone can help me about the process at POE.

i'm sorry if these are dumb questions, i'm just too nervous right now. i'll be leaving outside the country (and will live there) for the first time in my life. though i don't worry about living at US too much since my girl is with me.

thank you very much!!!

Hi there Yes, there are local travel agencies who offer discounts to first time US immigrants. K-1 is a non-immigrant visa type. Yeah, it is a lot cheaper if you are a holder of immigrant type of visa like CR-1, etc.

Good luck to your journey and God bless

[Shelbee 4]

I have no advice for the point of entry but I can tell you that airline tickets are the same for everyone! I have previously worked at a travel agency and I am assuming your agent just jumped at the chance to raise the price for that extra commission. I would suggest searching for your flight on your own; I have had much better luck finding lower priced tickets through websites like www.bing.com/travel versus going through a travel agency! Best of luck to you and your fiancé

[InHisTime 110]

Hi there Yes, there are local travel agencies who offer discounts to first time US immigrants. K-1 is a non-immigrant visa type. Yeah, it is a lot cheaper if you are a holder of immigrant type of visa like CR-1, etc.

Good luck to your journey and God bless

Just adding...

When I bought our tickets to the US, we were asked by the travel agent if we were holding an immigrant visa and that will be our first time to US, but since we were K-1 and K-2 beneficiaries we were not given discounts. They have promo fare for first time US immigrants only. K-1 and K-2 are not considered as immigrant visa. You can actually google the travel agencies in Manila who are offering discounted rates and a lot cheaper to buy from them than thru online.

[Sveta & Ron 23]

every time i fly i play again and always find a round trip has always been alot cheaper then one way when I bought sveta's ticket the round trip was almost 400 less then one way

[SolarAbyss27 0]

i would just like to ask few things (especially to the manila K1 applicants)

1. i called a travel agency (hoping to catch some cheaper flights) and they asked me if i have an immigrant or non-immigrant visa, i answered "immigrant" since the K1 visa was categorized as such, so they gave me a flight date and a somehow cheap air fare deal for it. (just around $600 +)

then i said "wow, that's good, since i don't want my fiance to worry about the money and i'll take care of it myself" then the travel agency respondent suddenly said that K1 visa have higher visa air fare charges...then they gave me a higher priced ticket! ($800 +)

A K1 is a non-immigrant visa which is only good for 90 days, hence why you have to apply for change of status after you get married

[lost_at_sea 995]

A K1 is a non-immigrant visa which is only good for 90 days, hence why you have to apply for change of status after you get married

I'm glad someone pointed this out. The k1 is just allowing you to legally marry in the US and then adjust status to immigrant. It is legally "non-immigrant".

[NikLR 13,227]

for online booking sites check the airlines websites and also:

www.expedia.com

www.travelocity.com

www.kayak.com (checks multiple sites for you and lets you see which days can be cheaper.)

I would definitely book the flight online and NOT through a travel agent. To be honest, if you can do immigration without a lawyer, you can book a flight without a travel agent.

[mrsSpitze 9]

what we usually do is search for cheap flights using the search engines given NikiR then check the airline's website. better to deal with the airline directly than with a third party.

[moemac59 192]

Can anyone give me an advice on how to handle the "point of entry" stuff at the airport? my fiance will be there to fetch when i arrive but should i bring anything more documents? (except the yellow envelope thing, passport and CD from St. Luke's medical exam) also if anyone can help me about the process at POE.

Hey Beck26, try not to be nervous about POE as you have already been approved. You should be fine with the 'do not open yellow envelope.' Everything that you need is in that envelope except for your passport that contains the visa. When I moved to the states, I was really, really nervous about driving my Uhaul over the border. I labelled and numbered all of the boxes and had a corresponding typed list to go with the boxes plus the applicable customs forms. When I POE'd with the Uhaul, the agent just opened up the back, looked in and then shut the door. He didn't even want my list. I went into the building and sat for about 45 mins while they processed the yellow envelope and me. I again asked if they wanted the list and the officer said no. It was a piece of cake.

[ckurt 23]

hi everyone! i hope you are all having a good day.

i would just like to ask few things (especially to the manila K1 applicants)

1. i called a travel agency (hoping to catch some cheaper flights) and they asked me if i have an immigrant or non-immigrant visa, i answered "immigrant" since the K1 visa was categorized as such, so they gave me a flight date and a somehow cheap air fare deal for it. (just around $600 +)

then i said "wow, that's good, since i don't want my fiance to worry about the money and i'll take care of it myself" then the travel agency respondent suddenly said that K1 visa have higher visa air fare charges...then they gave me a higher priced ticket! ($800 +)

now im back looking for cheaper flights, i need to schedule a flight ASAP since i want to be with my fiance before April 13.

is there really such a thing as higher air charges for K1 petitioned visa travellers?

2. can anyone give me an advice on how to handle the "point of entry" stuff at the airport? my fiance will be there to fetch when i arrive but should i bring anything more documents? (except the yellow envelope thing, passport and CD from St. Luke's medical exam) also if anyone can help me about the process at POE.

i'm sorry if these are dumb questions, i'm just too nervous right now. i'll be leaving outside the country (and will live there) for the first time in my life. though i don't worry about living at US too much since my girl is with me.

thank you very much!!!

Contact different travel agency, ticket price should be the same for anyone at the time you are buying. It is not based on immigration status it is based on number of seats available. Good luck

[sarsorti 36]

hi everyone! i hope you are all having a good day.

i would just like to ask few things (especially to the manila K1 applicants)

1. i called a travel agency (hoping to catch some cheaper flights) and they asked me if i have an immigrant or non-immigrant visa, i answered "immigrant" since the K1 visa was categorized as such, so they gave me a flight date and a somehow cheap air fare deal for it. (just around $600 +)

then i said "wow, that's good, since i don't want my fiance to worry about the money and i'll take care of it myself" then the travel agency respondent suddenly said that K1 visa have higher visa air fare charges...then they gave me a higher priced ticket! ($800 +)

now im back looking for cheaper flights, i need to schedule a flight ASAP since i want to be with my fiance before April 13.

is there really such a thing as higher air charges for K1 petitioned visa travellers?

2. can anyone give me an advice on how to handle the "point of entry" stuff at the airport? my fiance will be there to fetch when i arrive but should i bring anything more documents? (except the yellow envelope thing, passport and CD from St. Luke's medical exam) also if anyone can help me about the process at POE.

i'm sorry if these are dumb questions, i'm just too nervous right now. i'll be leaving outside the country (and will live there) for the first time in my life. though i don't worry about living at US too much since my girl is with me.

thank you very much!!!

check price on round trip ticket. They are usually cheaper. If you don't need a travel agent book the flight yourself.

[LSnBigBear 61]

$600 seems low but good if you're traveling to the West Coast USA. As others mentioned they just played the famous " Oh you are marrying a foreigner trick". So no to your question that the fee is higher based on your Visa type.

Upon entering the USA POE you will fall in line with others arriving that are non american citizens. It takes up to 10-15 mins depending on line size to get through. Then I believe ( I have seen it done differently when I observed) they take you to a an office area that others are there and they briefly interview you asking for your sealed packet etc. all in all after leaving your airplane it should not take longer than 30-45 mins. Most say about 20 mins avg time.

Good luck

[aws&ndd 103]

for online booking sites check the airlines websites and also:

www.expedia.com

www.travelocity.com

www.kayak.com (checks multiple sites for you and lets you see which days can be cheaper.)

I would definitely book the flight online and NOT through a travel agent. To be honest, if you can do immigration without a lawyer, you can book a flight without a travel agent.

When I booked the flight for my fiancee, it was the same as just buying a normal one way ticket regardless of status. I bought 2 one way tickets (one for me and one for her) so that I could fly back with her and go through the POE with her. I booked through Jetblue on a flight I found through Kayak. I'm not going to spend extra on a travel agent when I can do the work myself, and still end up with a fairly cheap ticket.

[Dave&Roza 748]

You can search for ONE WAY TICKETS through different website and you may find some good deal, for my perspective, buying a round trip ticket is wasting your money.

I understand your reasoning, but let me give you our situation and you can then decide if I "wasted" my money. My wife received her K-1 visa in September. She wanted to finish out the semester at work plus get the permission to leave completed so she could retain ownership of her property. We decied that she would be leaving in December. One-way tickets in December were running $3200. Round-trip tickets in December were running $2300. So I bought a RT ticket and canceled the return leg which I picked to be 88 days after arrival. So I did not use half of the trip package, but I only spent $2300 verses $3200 for the using the entire trip package. So from your perspective did I waste money?

OP: Go on-line search for a cheap ticket and buy the cheaper of a one-way or round-trip that meets your needs of travel time, layover times, connection times, number of stops, transit visa requirements (if needed but you should check) and price. Notice that I put price last as IMHO for this part of the visa process all the othr factors should come before buying just the cheapest priced ticket. My wife's ticekt was more expensive because I refused to have her go thru O'Hare where the cheaper flights are. This was based on her last two trips where she had problems in O'Hare and that was with a tourist visa.

Good luck,

Dave