POE review - Pearson airport Toronto

[mikey78 6]

Hi guys!

After my passport drama with Canada Post, all I wanted was a light POE experience. I was catching an early morning (6.30am) flight to NYC from Toronto Pearson. I figured that I need to be at the airport at least 3h before the flight which turned out to be too early because AA agents show up around 4am and the US immigration opens for business only at 4.30am...no reason really to be there before that.

The good thing about going thru POE in the very morning was that the US Border and Customs booths were fully staffed so there were turning around all the morning crowd real fast. First, I gave my envelope and my passport to the guy in a booth and he fingerprinted me, scanned my passport, put my docs in a folder and sent me to a secondary. When I walked in there, I saw 3 other people sitting there but none of them was there for immigration reasons. There were 2 officers at their respective counters, one of them accepted my docs, scanned my fingerprints again and asked me to sit down and wait until my name was called. About 10 mins later he called me in, asked to sign a form, dipped my index finger in ink and printed it on the form next to my signature. Amazing as it is, I was being fingerprinted for the third time this day! He asked me to take a sit again and probably after 5 mins he asked me to take my bags, gave me my passport back, asked if I had any food (of course I didn't) so he wrote something on my customs declaration and then said 'That's all, go straight ahead and make it left"...It all took maybe 20mins total. No questions asked. Formal courtesy and great efficiency. This is when I thought to myself, uneventful is good

I still had plenty of time to get some breakie, chill, pet myself on the back and welcome myself to the US

One things that I saw people asking all the time on VJ is whether you need to have your Xray with you at any point...my experience is that the consulate doesn't need it and no one at the border cares about it either. So, it's all yours to keep.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Congratulations Mikey78 - and welcome to the US!

Yes, you're right about the x-rays - they're a souvenir of the process. I gave mine to my new doctor in the US to have as a baseline.

[redmen99 1]

Welcome Mikey!

Kathryn, that's a great idea! I'll have to remember to do that for the hubbs.

[Arabella 4]

Welcome Mikey!

Kathryn, that's a great idea! I'll have to remember to do that for the hubbs.

Congrats on a smooth POE!

Welcome to the US!

[darkchilde794 5]

Congrats Mikey!!!

[mikey78 6]

Thank you thank you thank you

New York greeted me with fab weather, home made food and lotsa "how good it is over"...my mom was like: I would've gone mad if it took one more month...and it's not because of the wait...she was just sick listening to me going on and on how nerver wracking the whole experience is Luckily, you all here were much more patient!

What would I do without VJ?

[Rhiannercakes 14]

Oh Toronto Secondary.

Not very fond memories of that place for me

Thanks for the review though!

I'm flying out later at night from Pearson, I hope it's just like it was for you.

[antda 13]

Hi Mikey78,

Congratulations on a successful POE from Toronto to NYC!

Welcome to back home to America and welcome to New York State, Mikey78!...

It was definitely worth it after such a long wait, indeed! Still can't believe that you had to wait 7yrs to be an American!

Now you can travel easier, as you can be in the same line with your family too.

Lol..I still think they should have just automatically given you American Citizenship right away, despite your age, as your parent was an American...Doesn't seem fair that way..oh well..that's immigration for you...

Now that you have your green card, do you still have to apply for US Citizenship? Or do you directly become a US Citizen, since your parent is a US Citizen? Wonder how that works....Apply for N-600 or directly a US Passport? Hmm.....

Good luck with the rest of your journey too.

Ant

Hi guys!

After my passport drama with Canada Post, all I wanted was a light POE experience. I was catching an early morning (6.30am) flight to NYC from Toronto Pearson. I figured that I need to be at the airport at least 3h before the flight which turned out to be too early because AA agents show up around 4am and the US immigration opens for business only at 4.30am...no reason really to be there before that.

The good thing about going thru POE in the very morning was that the US Border and Customs booths were fully staffed so there were turning around all the morning crowd real fast. First, I gave my envelope and my passport to the guy in a booth and he fingerprinted me, scanned my passport, put my docs in a folder and sent me to a secondary. When I walked in there, I saw 3 other people sitting there but none of them was there for immigration reasons. There were 2 officers at their respective counters, one of them accepted my docs, scanned my fingerprints again and asked me to sit down and wait until my name was called. About 10 mins later he called me in, asked to sign a form, dipped my index finger in ink and printed it on the form next to my signature. Amazing as it is, I was being fingerprinted for the third time this day! He asked me to take a sit again and probably after 5 mins he asked me to take my bags, gave me my passport back, asked if I had any food (of course I didn't) so he wrote something on my customs declaration and then said 'That's all, go straight ahead and make it left"...It all took maybe 20mins total. No questions asked. Formal courtesy and great efficiency. This is when I thought to myself, uneventful is good

I still had plenty of time to get some breakie, chill, pet myself on the back and welcome myself to the US

One things that I saw people asking all the time on VJ is whether you need to have your Xray with you at any point...my experience is that the consulate doesn't need it and no one at the border cares about it either. So, it's all yours to keep.

Edited November 8, 2009 by Ant+D+A

[canadian_wife 1,822]

I went through Pearson as well, very cordial and professional!

Welcome to the US! Congrats on a smooth entry

Good luck.