Experience visiting US during K1 process

[elwintro 0]

On Tuesday, I flew from Dublin to visit my USC fiancee for a

couple of weeks. As our petition was approved by Nebraska

on Monday, I thought all you VJers might like to hear of

my immigration experience at Dublin.

The long and the short of it is that I got through without much

of a problem.

When the immigration officer called me up to the desk, his

first question was, "What's the purpose of your trip?". I replied

that I was going to visit my fiancee for a couple of weeks.

His second question was then, "When's the wedding?". I said

to him that I wasn't sure because we've applied for a K1 visa

but don't know when I'll get it, however, our petition had

been approved just the day before.

At this point, the guy started to get confused. I think he was

familiar with the idea of a K1 fiance(e) visa, but didn't know

much of the ins and outs. I attempted to explain things in a

bit more detail, but he just didn't seem to care, and asked

me to put my index fingers on the scanner, etc..

Then, he told me he was going to bring me through so that

another officer could ask me further questions.

I wasn't too worried at this point because I had with me a letter

from my university department stating that they knew I was

going away, and I was expected back in a couple of weeks to

sit my PhD thesis defence examination. If that wasn't satisfactory

for 'em, I also had a copy of my thesis with me that I was fully

prepared to bust out and rant about at length.

I waited for about five minutes before a chap came and called

me into an office. He seemed friendly enough, and told me he

wanted to clarify some things about the K1 visa because his

colleague to whom I first spoke had told him I'd said my K1

visa had been approved. Of course, I set him straight by

telling him no, I'd said the petition had been approved,

and then I went on to describe to him what happens from this

point on on the K1 track.

Fair play to him, he was genuinely interested in what I had to

say, and remarked that he'd just arrived in Dublin, so this was

kinda new to him. After that, he started asking me what I did,

and we spoke for a while about my PhD work (I'm an astronomer)

and we cracked a few jokes. After a couple of minutes, he stamped

my passport and sent me on my way.

All-in-all, a painless experience. Travel to the US during the K1

process is not verboten, but I was sure glad I had that letter

with me from my department incase things got awkward. Ah

well, this'll be the last time I'll have to do this. Next time I travel

to the US, it'll be on the K1.

Good luck to you all!

[Mand 1]

Glad to hear it was relatively pain-free and enjoy the time with your fiance

[raymaga 25]

Glad you had a pleasant experience.... I always did when I travelled by car from Canada into the US after my K-1 was pending too.

Have a great visit.

[irishgirl73 0]

Glad to know you didn't get hassled!

I am sure this will help many others planning on travelling through Dublin

[Peggy 1]

Have a great time

[Lottie 0]

Thanks for posting this, you've put my mind at rest a little. I'm flying to the States next week and I'm soooo nervous about PoE.