fiancee comes next week

[Andrew83 0]

You'd think after the interview approval the stress would subside but that just isn't the case.

1) She'll arrive with a fairly short layover period (2.5 hours at JFK). She doesn't speak great English and will have no cell phone. I'm thinking of sending her a prepaid SIM for her unlocked cellphone but hopefully she can just buy one there.

JFK does NOT have free WiFi but maybe I could give her my CC number and she could get wifi to call me on Viber or text me with whatsapp?

2) Being a US citizen, I have no idea what immigration will be like for her. What happens with her baggage? By the time she's done with the customs and border patrol people, won't the bags from her flight already be off the carousel? I'm confused with the order of things. Depart plane, go to Border patrol, collect bags, go to security and then connecting flight? She arrives at 1:20 PM so hopefully that's before the huge rush of people coming from Europe and the lines are ridiculously long.

3) Just a general question about packing for her...anyone know of the cost of mailing a package from europe? An extra checked bag is $80, but maybe it'd be less hassle for her and not that much more expensive to just have her family mail her her winter clothes and heels and stuff when the time comes.

Thanks for any replies...wasn't sure where to post this really

[Darnell 8,478]

80 bucks is cheap, for 23 kilograms of stuff.

[duraaraa 203]

You'd think after the interview approval the stress would subside but that just isn't the case.

1) She'll arrive with a fairly short layover period (2.5 hours at JFK). She doesn't speak great English and will have no cell phone. I'm thinking of sending her a prepaid SIM for her unlocked cellphone but hopefully she can just buy one there.

JFK does NOT have free WiFi but maybe I could give her my CC number and she could get wifi to call me on Viber or text me with whatsapp?

2) Being a US citizen, I have no idea what immigration will be like for her. What happens with her baggage? By the time she's done with the customs and border patrol people, won't the bags from her flight already be off the carousel? I'm confused with the order of things. Depart plane, go to Border patrol, collect bags, go to security and then connecting flight? She arrives at 1:20 PM so hopefully that's before the huge rush of people coming from Europe and the lines are ridiculously long.

3) Just a general question about packing for her...anyone know of the cost of mailing a package from europe? An extra checked bag is $80, but maybe it'd be less hassle for her and not that much more expensive to just have her family mail her her winter clothes and heels and stuff when the time comes.

Thanks for any replies...wasn't sure where to post this really

If she is a Spanish speaker, I don't think she would have issues even if she couldn't speak a word of English. I actually called customs to ask about this situation with my own fiancee (she speaks only Mongolian) and they said that they have a phone number they can call to reach translators even for rare languages.

If she passed the interview and everything is in order, try not to worry! She will get through it and be with you very shortly!

[Azsara 110]

congrats! Thought I would help with the airport order for us non-us citizens is

1) get off plane

2) go through immigration and security

3) collect baggage

4) walk out of terminal

5) hug our american

[Darnell 8,478]

For those folk with layovers, it's:

1) get off plane

2) go through immigration and security

3) collect baggage

4) Go through Customs

5) exit international security area

6) drop baggage at the right baggage drop off point (this varies, based on what's on the bag tags)

7) go through next security checkpoint to get into the right terminal

8) get on the plane for the next jaunt.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Darnell

[Chris921 13]

1) Do you think she'll really need to contact you from JFK if there is an issue and she is at worse denied entry they'll have to give her the right to talk to you, and you'll need to keep in mind she isn't really gonna have much time in JFK, of that 2.5 hours in JFK she'll pend alot of that time in immigration clearing that, and then will have to be at her next gate pretty sharpish to ensure she's not late and they're boarded on time. But if you wanted to let her have the wifi there could get and make a boingo account and just give her in the sign in information, or sending the sim is a pretty good idea, because if she doesn't need it will come in handy for when they're in country

2) What happens with her baggage all depends on the airline, some airlines will automatically switch the baggage to the new plane for you some will have a special carousel for connecting flights, this is something that has been explained by the airline upon landing when i've had to do it. but the order i had to do connecting flights there was two different ways,

Toronto,

1)Depart Plane

2)Go through Immigration

3)Go onto next gate (already had next ticket due to great airline cooperation)

4)get on plane

Ottawa

1)Depart Plane

2)Go through Immigration

3)Go to special connecting flight baggage claim collect bag

4)Go through exit security

5)Go to Departure area

6)Check in at check in desk

7)Clear security again

8)Go to Gate Board Plane

thats from my experience, i do know that Chicago terminals are all connected so would have to clear security again or collect baggage i believe they transfer to the other plane for you but i've never experienced JFK

3) Excess baggage fees are always cheaper for things of weight then shipping, since shipping by the pound gets real expensive, unless you're talking containers full that is

[Andrew83 0]

hey thanks for the great info...

FYI, I'm not worried about her getting denied or anything like that, just in case she misses her connecting flight and needs to let me know, or needs me to book her a hotel or call delta or whatever. Poor girl is coming to a new place and if there is a hiccup, I want her to be able to reach me that's all

[TBoneTX 45,284]

The layover is pretty short. Call the CBP office at JFK (go to www.cbp.gov and search for "ports of entry"). Explain the pending K-1 arrival, the duration of the layover, and the expected flight-arrival time. The agent will be able to tell you approximately how busy things are at that time of day, and explain what will happen if the connecting flight is missed. They'll also be able to assure you that a Spanish-speaking agent will be on-site, or perhaps they can arrange for one by virtue of your advance call.

[Darnell 8,478]

hey ! where is yer lass today?

and please take a few moments to update yer timeline, over at http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=134714