The Departure

[lilysintrigue 0]

So I have decided to share how the experience went for me while leaving the UK behind to be with my fiance. So the day started out early like most flights and saying goodbye to my family. It's hard to say bye to your loved ones but remembering you will see them again is something that really helps ease the pain of moving to another country. Packing my life into a few bags has proven to be an interesting task as you can fit quite a lot into a few bags and get away with weight limits. Either way we checked 1 30kg bag, 1 26kg bag, a apple imac in it's box and a guitar in it's flight case. We managed to get away with paying over weight fees on the 26kg bag so it must have been my lucky day only having to pay $50, I was expecting to pay at least $100 for both the heavy bags. So we said our goodbyes and wished everyone well and then passed though the security at Bristol Airport. We sat down for a little while in the departure lounge and then boarded our flight 20 minutes later to Newark Airport.

The flight was pretty smooth, I don't like flying that much but it's mainly due to turbulence and some of the very harsh landings. Once in Newark me and shawna went though the security and immigration lines and had our passports scanned and checked. Once I had had my passport scanned the officer at the desk took my visa packet with passport and took me and shawna to a lift hidden being immigration and told us to give the visa packet to the officer on the lower level. Got out of the lift and handed over all the info but he didn't want the x-rays which I had been trying not to damage then we followed the office and sat down in a line up of chairs where the visa packet and my passport were handed over to another officer at the desk. We sat in the immigration checkpoint for around 5 minutes and then the officer called us up to the desk asked when we are getting married and "you know you have 3 months to get married" which we said we knew about. The office then handed over my passport and said enjoy your stay, at this point we made our way out to baggage claim to hunt down our bags and then carried on our flight to houston.

The passport had my K1 I-94 stapled in the back with K1 written within the dated stamp of expiration. be sure to check this to make sure the stamp says K1 as there have been a few incidents so i've heard where they have written the wrong visa type in the stamp.

The 2nd flight took forever, or seemed forever, I guess that's because I was sick of traveling and wanted to rest but now I'm here with shawna in this lovely humid but warm part of the country and we have plans to be married mid june. I hope this is of use to someone who is interested to what is coming up and what there is to expect when arriving in the US.

Good luck to everyone who hasn't had their interviews yet.

- Chris

[william_wallace 8]

Sounds as though everything went smoothly at the POE. Congrats on arriving safely.

[SMB x2 0]

Aye, that sounded fairly painless. Congrats!

Stu

[stevi1123 0]

Congratulations and welcome to America!

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

It sounds like it was relatively painless. Congrats.

[Welshcookie 17]

Congrats on the smooth trip...and enjoy your new life

[ginger1981 0]

Congrats on the smooth trip...and enjoy your new life

Hahaha...almost sounded like it was the easiest part of the whole process!

[Lisax 0]

So I have decided to share how the experience went for me while leaving the UK behind to be with my fiance. So the day started out early like most flights and saying goodbye to my family. It's hard to say bye to your loved ones but remembering you will see them again is something that really helps ease the pain of moving to another country. Packing my life into a few bags has proven to be an interesting task as you can fit quite a lot into a few bags and get away with weight limits. Either way we checked 1 30kg bag, 1 26kg bag, a apple imac in it's box and a guitar in it's flight case. We managed to get away with paying over weight fees on the 26kg bag so it must have been my lucky day only having to pay $50, I was expecting to pay at least $100 for both the heavy bags. So we said our goodbyes and wished everyone well and then passed though the security at Bristol Airport. We sat down for a little while in the departure lounge and then boarded our flight 20 minutes later to Newark Airport.

The flight was pretty smooth, I don't like flying that much but it's mainly due to turbulence and some of the very harsh landings. Once in Newark me and shawna went though the security and immigration lines and had our passports scanned and checked. Once I had had my passport scanned the officer at the desk took my visa packet with passport and took me and shawna to a lift hidden being immigration and told us to give the visa packet to the officer on the lower level. Got out of the lift and handed over all the info but he didn't want the x-rays which I had been trying not to damage then we followed the office and sat down in a line up of chairs where the visa packet and my passport were handed over to another officer at the desk. We sat in the immigration checkpoint for around 5 minutes and then the officer called us up to the desk asked when we are getting married and "you know you have 3 months to get married" which we said we knew about. The office then handed over my passport and said enjoy your stay, at this point we made our way out to baggage claim to hunt down our bags and then carried on our flight to houston.

The passport had my K1 I-94 stapled in the back with K1 written within the dated stamp of expiration. be sure to check this to make sure the stamp says K1 as there have been a few incidents so i've heard where they have written the wrong visa type in the stamp.

The 2nd flight took forever, or seemed forever, I guess that's because I was sick of traveling and wanted to rest but now I'm here with shawna in this lovely humid but warm part of the country and we have plans to be married mid june. I hope this is of use to someone who is interested to what is coming up and what there is to expect when arriving in the US.

Good luck to everyone who hasn't had their interviews yet.

- Chris

Congrats! My POE was Newark and I had a great experience there as well, was all very quick and easy. I had to get a connecting flight to T.F.Green airport in Rhode Island. Was so relieving to land in Rhode Island and think, this was the last flight by myself, thank god! it can get very lonely on a plane by yourself. Every time we go away now, I will have my husband with me.

Congrats again!

[Jeraly 4]

Gratzies! Did you live in Bristol? I live here for the next ooohh... just over a month

[redkitty 0]

Congrats and welcome home!!!

[lilysintrigue 0]

Gratzies! Did you live in Bristol? I live here for the next ooohh... just over a month

Sorry for the late reply, yes i was living in Bristol, can't say I enjoyed it that much apart from the music scene which I played my part in for a little while. Well a few years but now I'm here in Houston and loving it.

- Chris

[warriorprincess 0]

Seems like you had a rather incident free experience.

All the best in your new life together.

[debbylyn 0]

Congrats and wishing you two much happiness here in the US!

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

So I have decided to share how the experience went for me while leaving the UK behind to be with my fiance. So the day started out early like most flights and saying goodbye to my family. It's hard to say bye to your loved ones but remembering you will see them again is something that really helps ease the pain of moving to another country. Packing my life into a few bags has proven to be an interesting task as you can fit quite a lot into a few bags and get away with weight limits. Either way we checked 1 30kg bag, 1 26kg bag, a apple imac in it's box and a guitar in it's flight case. We managed to get away with paying over weight fees on the 26kg bag so it must have been my lucky day only having to pay $50, I was expecting to pay at least $100 for both the heavy bags. So we said our goodbyes and wished everyone well and then passed though the security at Bristol Airport. We sat down for a little while in the departure lounge and then boarded our flight 20 minutes later to Newark Airport.

The flight was pretty smooth, I don't like flying that much but it's mainly due to turbulence and some of the very harsh landings. Once in Newark me and shawna went though the security and immigration lines and had our passports scanned and checked. Once I had had my passport scanned the officer at the desk took my visa packet with passport and took me and shawna to a lift hidden being immigration and told us to give the visa packet to the officer on the lower level. Got out of the lift and handed over all the info but he didn't want the x-rays which I had been trying not to damage then we followed the office and sat down in a line up of chairs where the visa packet and my passport were handed over to another officer at the desk. We sat in the immigration checkpoint for around 5 minutes and then the officer called us up to the desk asked when we are getting married and "you know you have 3 months to get married" which we said we knew about. The office then handed over my passport and said enjoy your stay, at this point we made our way out to baggage claim to hunt down our bags and then carried on our flight to houston.

The passport had my K1 I-94 stapled in the back with K1 written within the dated stamp of expiration. be sure to check this to make sure the stamp says K1 as there have been a few incidents so i've heard where they have written the wrong visa type in the stamp.

The 2nd flight took forever, or seemed forever, I guess that's because I was sick of traveling and wanted to rest but now I'm here with shawna in this lovely humid but warm part of the country and we have plans to be married mid june. I hope this is of use to someone who is interested to what is coming up and what there is to expect when arriving in the US.

Good luck to everyone who hasn't had their interviews yet.

- Chris

Congrats! My POE was Newark and I had a great experience there as well, was all very quick and easy. I had to get a connecting flight to T.F.Green airport in Rhode Island. Was so relieving to land in Rhode Island and think, this was the last flight by myself, thank god! it can get very lonely on a plane by yourself. Every time we go away now, I will have my husband with me.

Congrats again!

Good to know Newark is relatively painless. That is where Kris will be going through. He has in the past when visiting and never had issues. He 'should' have a 2hr layover which will be enough time.. or should be

[lilysintrigue 0]

We had a 4 hour lay over which was plenty time to get some food while we waiting for a 2nd flight. It was fairly painless for me but i'm sure there are people who have gone though and had a hard time. Depends I guess, thanks for all the good words

- Chris