Traveling within the US

[drl 0]

Hi all,

I am probably just being overly cautious, but, if I arrived on a K-1 visa, got married and filed for AOS on Nov.5 ( now is still waiting for GC), am I able to travel within the US while waiting for my GC? Any trouble we may encounter in the airport?

drl

[alienlovechild 75]

There is no problem for as long as you will be within the US territory. You can only travel outside US while waiting for your green card once you already have your AP or Advance Parole document.

[I'm Gone 60]

Hi all,

Any trouble we may encounter in the airport?

Jehovah's Witnesses

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

Just be prepared to show your passport with the visa stamp if asked, even though you're traveling domestically. At some airports (Atlanta, Chicago O'Hare) there have been checks, either with ICE or TSA, to make sure nobody flying is present illegally. So just make sure to travel with that passport!

Edited December 21, 2008 by guatetaliana

[Laura+Tom 2]

Just make sure you have your passport and boarding pass ready to show. I flew from Detroit to Elmra-Corning and was suprised when they didn't want to see my passport or any other ID.

[drl 0]

Thank you for all of your replies. I have my Chinese passport with K1 fiance visa, and it will expire in Mar, is it okay to show at the airport. If this visa is already invalid since I have got married. (my I-94 is already expired)

[Krikit 1,164]

Thank you for all of your replies. I have my Chinese passport with K1 fiance visa, and it will expire in Mar, is it okay to show at the airport. If this visa is already invalid since I have got married. (my I-94 is already expired)

I always brought along my AOS NOA..... just in case. No one ever asked me for it, though.

[TBoneTX 45,304]

I always brought along my AOS NOA..... just in case.

Good idea. My fiancee-now-wife's I-94 is still good, but we just filed for AOS, and until the NOA arrives, I'm having her carry (everywhere she goes) a photocopy of the cover letter to USCIS that says that we have applied for AOS. (A copy of the $1,010 check is on the bottom of that photocopied letter.) One can never be too careful.

Here is a perhaps-unexpected caution about traveling within the U.S.: If, for example, one flies from anyplace in the U.S. to south Texas, and then rents a car and drives around, one will encounter CBP (Customs & Border Protection) checkpoints within 50 miles of the Mexican border. Everyone is stopped and is subjected to questioning. (While you're looking out the driver's-side window at the questioner, another agent will bring a sniff-drugging dog to the passenger's side of your car.) Any immigrant will draw MAJOR attention, so have ALL papers and passport with you.

These agents can be bored idiots, and they will ask you "where are you going?" Last time, I said, "Over the top of the hill ahead, sir." (This was true.) I nearly got into a Fourth & Fifth Amendment argument regarding the reality that I didn't have to answer, and unless I was being formally detained, I was free to go. A much better answer would be, "Sir, as fellow U.S. citizens, you and I both know -- without the need for one word of further discussion -- that each of us is free to go anywhere within the U.S. that we please. Isn't that the greatest thing about our country? [smile]."

The point of the above caution is that the area within 50 miles of the Mexican border, at least in Texas, is known as the "De-Constitutionalized Zone," and self-protective steps absolutely must be taken.

[himher 634]

Drinky fun: (noun) Leaving footprints all over freshly dragged South Texas roadsides to test either border patrol response time or investigative skills

I always brought along my AOS NOA..... just in case.

Good idea. My fiancee-now-wife's I-94 is still good, but we just filed for AOS, and until the NOA arrives, I'm having her carry (everywhere she goes) a photocopy of the cover letter to USCIS that says that we have applied for AOS. (A copy of the $1,010 check is on the bottom of that photocopied letter.) One can never be too careful.

Here is a perhaps-unexpected caution about traveling within the U.S.: If, for example, one flies from anyplace in the U.S. to south Texas, and then rents a car and drives around, one will encounter CBP (Customs & Border Protection) checkpoints within 50 miles of the Mexican border. Everyone is stopped and is subjected to questioning. (While you're looking out the driver's-side window at the questioner, another agent will bring a sniff-drugging dog to the passenger's side of your car.) Any immigrant will draw MAJOR attention, so have ALL papers and passport with you.

These agents can be bored idiots, and they will ask you "where are you going?" Last time, I said, "Over the top of the hill ahead, sir." (This was true.) I nearly got into a Fourth & Fifth Amendment argument regarding the reality that I didn't have to answer, and unless I was being formally detained, I was free to go. A much better answer would be, "Sir, as fellow U.S. citizens, you and I both know -- without the need for one word of further discussion -- that each of us is free to go anywhere within the U.S. that we please. Isn't that the greatest thing about our country? [smile]."

The point of the above caution is that the area within 50 miles of the Mexican border, at least in Texas, is known as the "De-Constitutionalized Zone," and self-protective steps absolutely must be taken.

[TBoneTX 45,304]

Drinky fun: (noun) Leaving footprints all over freshly dragged South Texas roadsides to test either border patrol response time or investigative skills

This would be REALLY funny if it were funny... actually, it IS pretty funny! One could also drop small Mexican flags every few yards.

[Carlos and Jocel 2]

Anywhere inside the lower 48 states in US and including Hawaii and Alaska is authorized. Other than that your visa is one time entrance.

When you travel to Hawaii and Alaska make sure you have direct route back to the lower 48... but if for some reasons you have to transfer plane outside those 50 states, don't leave the airport or you will not be authorize to come back.

Edited December 22, 2008 by Carlos and Jocel

[lostinNJ 3]

Usually any US government ID will work or your passport.. They just usually look at the identity, not the visa page. I travelled many times within the US and I only show my Driver's license, never had a problem

[himher 634]

See the "drinky" part. The funny-ness is directly proportional to the drinky-ness.

Drinky fun: (noun) Leaving footprints all over freshly dragged South Texas roadsides to test either border patrol response time or investigative skills

This would be REALLY funny if it were funny... actually, it IS pretty funny! One could also drop small Mexican flags every few yards.

[TBoneTX 45,304]

See the "drinky" part. The funny-ness is directly proportional to the drinky-ness.

Corona or Dos Equis, si man.

[himher 634]

Dos Equis, geeen bottle. It fuels the resentment against jack-booted agents shaking down innocent people well inside the border

See the "drinky" part. The funny-ness is directly proportional to the drinky-ness.

Corona or Dos Equis, si man.