First GC entry to US through Canada

[yunnipie 6]

Hi all, we learned a little something relating to "the packet" for his CR-1 visa when my husband travelled through Canada.

As we all know, there is the special packet that only US immigration opens upon entry to the US.  We booked my husbands flight a couple of weeks after I got home due to a job offer for me.  He flew from Gatwick in London to Seattle, with a layover in Calgary Canada.  My sister, niece, and I drove up from southern Oregon to get him (about 7 hours). We made sure he had everything he needed for entry in his carry on.  On the drive up I get a message from him, while he was in Canada, that they took "the packet."  Naturally, this panicked me. He said they didn't give it back.  We were weirded out by it because our understanding was that it would be taken upon entry to the US, not Canada.  He said that when he went through the customs line in Canada they asked his purpose of travel, to which he responded that he is immigrating.  There they sent him to the side immigration line and opened the packet and went through it.  They asked random questions, like where he will be living, the address, etc., then waved him through.  Still, we were worried because all of our research said this would happen in the US, and this was in Canada.

Turns out it was a good thing.  When he got to Seattle he just went through straight through and didn't have to check in at customs or anything.  This was good because he had a four hour layover in Calgary, and we got to the airport in Seattle around the same time as his plane landed.

Anyway, just thought we would share his experience so that nobody else worries like we did

[TBoneTX 45,267]

Thread is moved from the Site Discussion forum to the CR-1 Case Progress subforum.

[SAJourney 16]

To be clear to others who choose to fly through Canada to the US, your husband cleared Canadian customs and immigration and then had to pre-clear through US customs and immigration in the Calgary airport.

 

When you fly from/through the major Canadian airports to the US, you pre-clear US immigration and customs on the Canadian side of the border.  I believe this was setup so that it makes flight arrivals and connections on the US side much easier and more efficient.

 

Procedures through the USCIS pre-clearance facility should be very similar to any POE at an airport in the US except in the pre-clearance case, your baggage gets loaded onto the US bound flight and you claim it when you land in your US destination.