Non English speaking mother in law to visit..help!

[judnnc 0]

My wife's mother will be visiting us in the USA in 4 weeks, from Russia.

She already has her visa, and plane tickets.

The problem is, she doesn't speak any English, so I am worried about a few things during her travel. We already have requested wheelchair assistance

for her layover in London, so that should get her to her gate to change planes.

My main concerns are with the U.S. customs form she needs to fill out on the flight over from London to America, and how she will manage to complete

this form considering she doesnt speak or write or read English.

Also, her point of entry airport in the states is not a major airport (its RDU), so worried about her navigating through customs there as well.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

[Laure&Colin 558]

My wife's mother will be visiting us in the USA in 4 weeks, from Russia.

She already has her visa, and plane tickets.

The problem is, she doesn't speak any English, so I am worried about a few things during her travel. We already have requested wheelchair assistance

for her layover in London, so that should get her to her gate to change planes.

My main concerns are with the U.S. customs form she needs to fill out on the flight over from London to America, and how she will manage to complete

this form considering she doesnt speak or write or read English.

Also, her point of entry airport in the states is not a major airport (its RDU), so worried about her navigating through customs there as well.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

For POE, it might be good to teach her a few words to explain the reason for her visit, like "short stay", "vacation", "visit my daughter", "leaving in XX days to go back home"...

Last time I went to the US, I waited over an hour in line, because the CBP officer insisted on questionning all the people who didn't speak a word of English about their stay. There was a middle-aged French woman who spent about 15 min at the desk having a non-conversation with the officer, which could have been hilarious for me as I understood both of them, if I hadn't just been out of an 11-hour flight. He kept asking why she was coming, she kept describing the content of her suitcase... I would have helped, but they wouldn't let me go up the line for that.

So at least, make sure she can basically say why she's coming and how long she stays. It's gonna save time.

You could even send her a message describing the reason of her stay and have her print it/write it down.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

My wife's mother will be visiting us in the USA in 4 weeks, from Russia.

She already has her visa, and plane tickets.

The problem is, she doesn't speak any English, so I am worried about a few things during her travel. We already have requested wheelchair assistance

for her layover in London, so that should get her to her gate to change planes.

My main concerns are with the U.S. customs form she needs to fill out on the flight over from London to America, and how she will manage to complete

this form considering she doesnt speak or write or read English.

Also, her point of entry airport in the states is not a major airport (its RDU), so worried about her navigating through customs there as well.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

The information she'll need for the I-94 is here:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/i-94_instructions/filling_out_i94.xml

The information she'll need for the customs declaration form is here:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/clearing/traveler_entry_form/traveler_entry_form.xml

Help her collect that information and write it down. You can also download examples of the forms. She can copy the information to the forms they give her on the plane. Consider this as a last resort, just in case there is nobody on plane who speaks English and Russian, and who can help her with the forms.

I'm not familiar with that airport, so I have no advice about clearing customs there.

[shaka 11]

What airline is she flying?From my experience there is gotta be a russian flight attendant,at least one.On our like 20 flights there was one always.So your mother-in -law can ask her fill in the papers.I mean it is a 10 hrs flight,she ll find the time to get it done.The lay over is in London,right.It is not like you got the ticket Moscow-London,and London -wherever you are...?

I hope it is Russia-States through London...then she ll definately won`t be the only Russian on the plane. Also as mentioned above I would have her daughter go through the forms and show her samples(does she have skype?)...if she doesn`t ,it makes it harder.

As far as POE-again,have her right down like a little text -introduction.Like "i am from russsia,here to visit my daughter ,she is a GC holder.I am on tourist visa.I am flying back on such and such.Here is my ticket to get back.I am sorry,I do not speak any English."-this she ll present to the officer. And few more may be...like "please take me to the right lane,I am a visitor,no english" and so on. teach her at what "stage" to show what piece of paper...I mean,have her daughter dictate that to her with translation and instructions in russian on the other side...

She will be fine!!!She is not the first one,nor the last one!!!Good luck and enjoy her visit!

[judnnc 0]

thanks!

[sofya 10]

What airline is she flying?From my experience there is gotta be a russian flight attendant,at least one.On our like 20 flights there was one always.So your mother-in -law can ask her fill in the papers.I mean it is a 10 hrs flight,she ll find the time to get it done.The lay over is in London,right.It is not like you got the ticket Moscow-London,and London -wherever you are...?

I hope it is Russia-States through London...then she ll definately won`t be the only Russian on the plane. Also as mentioned above I would have her daughter go through the forms and show her samples(does she have skype?)...if she doesn`t ,it makes it harder.

As far as POE-again,have her right down like a little text -introduction.Like "i am from russsia,here to visit my daughter ,she is a GC holder.I am on tourist visa.I am flying back on such and such.Here is my ticket to get back.I am sorry,I do not speak any English."-this she ll present to the officer. And few more may be...like "please take me to the right lane,I am a visitor,no english" and so on. teach her at what "stage" to show what piece of paper...I mean,have her daughter dictate that to her with translation and instructions in russian on the other side...

She will be fine!!!She is not the first one,nor the last one!!!Good luck and enjoy her visit!

That's pretty much what I did to prepare my parents for their trip. I also wrote very detailed instructions for them identifying signs and what they mean, telling them how to behave with the customs officers, what to do and NOT to do. Essentially, I'd suggest writing down a step-by-step process for her (yes, go online and get the maps of the airport, translate labels on them if necessary and instruct the MIL to print it out and have it with her). It would be helpful if you guys prepared a list of documents/papers/maps/phrase sheet she should have on her. If the woman has instructions for every major juncture on her way, she'll be fine. And come on, she's an adult, she'll get through it Make sure she has your names, relationship, full addresses and phone numbers printed out with her.

[heo luoi 206]

Im awaiting interview and just trying to be prepared. It would be very difficult for me to go and accompany her at this time and aside from POE which some people assert shouldn't be too bad, how hard is navigating the aviation system. I've flown through Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong. By far Hong Kong is the WORST and not easy for even the most experience to navigate casually / ontime...let alone a first time flyer. Chicago is no picnic either. Curious how you guys prepared for that?