Easy entry to US, now need to leave again!

[Back2Charleston 0]

Hi; after a relatively easy entry to the US, I'm going to need to go back to Europe for a short time and wanted to confirm that I can do that.

Information

Firstly, entering the US through JFK was a nice easy ride. We flew from Heathrow on a one way Virgin flight to JFK, arriving earlier than scheduled at around 11:45am last Tuesday (flight VS003). We were at the back of the plane, therefore I expected to be at the back of the immigration line but were pleasantly surprised to find no lines at all. My wife (the US citizen) and I went to the citizen line. The less than cheerful guy in the booth took my mysterious brown envelope, opened it and took a long look at all the contents, which appeared to be all my original handwritten forms and some pieces of paper from the Knightsbridge doctor. He asked me one question "what do you do for a living?" and that was pretty much it. He stamped my passport on the opposite page to where the visa had been stuck, wrote "IR-1" (upside down) over the stamp and hand wrote the visa registration number over the stamp.

We were directed to a side office, followed a corridor around to where an immigration agent was waiting - he took the contents of the envelope from me and sent us to an area with several desks. Another agent had a brief look at the papers, took my fingerprints and sent us off to collect our bags and go. Elapsed time from getting off the plane to clearing customs - 20 minutes only.

I'd anticipated a two hour+ waiting period and therefore we arrived at the Hertz car rental counter wayyy too early, therefore I have a feeling I'm going to have extra charges if I don't turn my car back equally early. However, that's a small price to pay ...

Questions

Now, here are my questions:

1) I've been offered some work back in Europe (Amsterdam). With the annotated visa in my passport, am I definitely free to leave the US and return again? I plan to fly out on Saturday 22nd November and return Friday 28th November.

2) Should I have received any other paperwork - like an employment authorisation - during my entry to the US? We've been married well over two years, therefore my visa is IR-1, not CR-1. Additionally, I lived and worked in the US from 1997 to 2002 on an H-1B and therefore have a social security number.

After all the stress of the visa process, it's kind of ironic that I need to go back to Europe so soon, especially since I have a job the prior week - for a US company - to teach a training class online to students in Europe. I'm going to be working from 2:00am through 10:00am - from my hotel room - which doesn't feel like fun, but at least I'm free during the days to go house hunting!

Good luck to everyone waiting for their visa, whatever statge you're in ... my own visa journey was relatively straightforward, although it didn't feel like it sometimes.

Thanks once again for all the help and advice I received ...

[Otto 83]

Questions

Now, here are my questions:

1) I've been offered some work back in Europe (Amsterdam). With the annotated visa in my passport, am I definitely free to leave the US and return again? I plan to fly out on Saturday 22nd November and return Friday 28th November.

2) Should I have received any other paperwork - like an employment authorisation - during my entry to the US? We've been married well over two years, therefore my visa is IR-1, not CR-1. Additionally, I lived and worked in the US from 1997 to 2002 on an H-1B and therefore have a social security number.

After all the stress of the visa process, it's kind of ironic that I need to go back to Europe so soon, especially since I have a job the prior week - for a US company - to teach a training class online to students in Europe. I'm going to be working from 2:00am through 10:00am - from my hotel room - which doesn't feel like fun, but at least I'm free during the days to go house hunting!

Good luck to everyone waiting for their visa, whatever statge you're in ... my own visa journey was relatively straightforward, although it didn't feel like it sometimes.

Thanks once again for all the help and advice I received ...

Your passport should contain an I-551 stamp - this will allow you to reenter the US.

[Back2Charleston 0]

Your passport should contain an I-551 stamp - this will allow you to reenter the US.

It doesn't - if I wanted to leave as I described, does that mean I'm going to have a problem getting back again?

[pushbrk 12,898]

Your passport should contain an I-551 stamp - this will allow you to reenter the US.

It doesn't - if I wanted to leave as I described, does that mean I'm going to have a problem getting back again?

Probably. You can go to a local USCIS office and get the stamp. Show them evidence of your imminent travel abroad.

[Back2Charleston 0]

Probably. You can go to a local USCIS office and get the stamp. Show them evidence of your imminent travel abroad.

I've been on the phone for like an hour, trying to get to speak to a real live person at USCIS. I finally managed it - although she did sound like a robot - and during the call I noticed the following printed on the actual visa in my passport:

"Upon endorsement serves as temporary I-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year"

I read that out and I think that the USCIS robot lady said that was sufficient to allow me to leave the US - provided it was for a period of less than one year - then re-enter.

My IR1 visa was overstamped when I entered, via JFK, last Tuesday 4th November. I presume that stamp is the "endorsement" and I can then go back to Europe for just ten days and return here without a problem.

Since I've been here less than a week, I've of course not received a real I-551 yet.

[MargotDarko 0]

You are good to go! There's no such thing as a "I-155 stamp". You don't have to receive anything in the mail and the dated entry stamp on your visa acts as endorsement, thereby turning the visa itself into the I-551. As long as you have your passport, you'll have no trouble leaving and returning after just a week.

[MargotDarko 0]

Now that I'm looking around, I see quite a few people mentioning the "I-551 stamp" as if it is different from dated entry stamp, so maybe some points of entry do have something different. If there's a dated entry stamp on your visa, you're still okay though.

[Jon&Lindsey 0]

I didn't enter on the spousal visa, but I got a temporary GC (I-551) stamp in my passport at my AOS interview recently. It says the same as yours 'Upon endorsement serves as temporary I-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year' and underneath has the issue date, officer, valid until date and 'employment authorized'. It sounds to me like you do have the temporary GC stamp, so should be fine to re-enter

[Otto 83]

[Back2Charleston 0]

I didn't enter on the spousal visa, but I got a temporary GC (I-551) stamp in my passport at my AOS interview recently. It says the same as yours 'Upon endorsement serves as temporary I-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year' and underneath has the issue date, officer, valid until date and 'employment authorized'. It sounds to me like you do have the temporary GC stamp, so should be fine to re-enter

I do hope so, 'cos I'm going anyways I also did a search on Google images and found the sort of picture that Karin and Otto posted. I'm gonna go with the common wisdom (or Delta ) and hope that the immigration guys see it the same way on my return.

If not, I'll figure it out whilst in London.

Again, thanks for all the advice.

Jeremy

[pushbrk 12,898]

You are good to go! There's no such thing as a "I-155 stamp". You don't have to receive anything in the mail and the dated entry stamp on your visa acts as endorsement, thereby turning the visa itself into the I-551. As long as you have your passport, you'll have no trouble leaving and returning after just a week.

He's good to go but there definitely is an I-551 stamp.

[Back2Charleston 0]

He's good to go but there definitely is an I-551 stamp.

Maybe they just don't do that in JFK? This does seem like a "YMMV" issue ...

[MargotDarko 0]

He's good to go but there definitely is an I-551 stamp.

Maybe they just don't do that in JFK? This does seem like a "YMMV" issue ...

They don't do in Detroit either. Just the dated entry stamp on the visa.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Same for Newark. Bruce doesn't have a special I-551 stamp in his passport, just the endorsement on the CR1 visa that says "upon endorsement etc." plus an entry stamp.

[*JG* 2]

Sounds to me like it will be fine.