POE together with the US petitioner

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

Visitor lines at passport control are often horrendously long. Since we are connecting to another flight, and would prefer not to miss it, has anyone, as a US Citizen, tried to bring a K-1 beneficiary through the US Citizen’s line or through the Mobile Passport line?

 

We plan on entering at Washington, DC (IAD).

[T_P 872]

3 minutes ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

Visitor lines at passport control are often horrendously long. Since we are connecting to another flight, and would prefer not to miss it, has anyone, as a US Citizen, tried to bring a K-1 beneficiary through the US Citizen’s line or through the Mobile Passport line?

 

We plan on entering at Washington, DC (IAD).

I have not tried, but my two cents is that it wont work. Once you enter US the immigration will collect the packet that the K1 Beneficiary is supposed to bring along, it will take a while since the security has to check all the K1 Beneficiary details. 

 

While connecting flights you should have taken this into consideration and booked a flight with at least 3 hours in between.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

10 minutes ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

Visitor lines at passport control are often horrendously long. Since we are connecting to another flight, and would prefer not to miss it, has anyone, as a US Citizen, tried to bring a K-1 beneficiary through the US Citizen’s line or through the Mobile Passport line?

 

We plan on entering at Washington, DC (IAD).

A lot of times the personnel will just actually tell you to both go the USC line to help move things along. I know that was the case for me and my now wife. I can say that a majority of the time that you fly together that happens at least from what people have said on here.

[usmsbow 802]

My wife didn't have a wait at all when she arrived at IAD on her K-1. Immigration at IAD is sometimes super quiet, sometimes super busy... If you have 2.5 hours or more between flights, I don't think you'll have any problems. 

 

But to partially answer your question: you won't be able to use the kiosks. 

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Make sure to have adequate time in between flights. 3+ hours just incase depending which airport/time or day and such you go through. Even getting through the immigration line, you may get held up at "Secondary" where they take the packet and all. Zian was stuck there for almost 2 hours after getting through immigration lines. Don't bet on getting lucky, just plan and prepare.

[Naes 12,205]

7 hours ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

Visitor lines at passport control are often horrendously long. Since we are connecting to another flight, and would prefer not to miss it, has anyone, as a US Citizen, tried to bring a K-1 beneficiary through the US Citizen’s line or through the Mobile Passport line?

 

We plan on entering at Washington, DC (IAD).

It is possible, just ask them which line to go together. You guys will either go through citizens line or immigration line together. 

[Naes 12,205]

7 hours ago, T_P said:

I have not tried, but my two cents is that it wont work. Once you enter US the immigration will collect the packet that the K1 Beneficiary is supposed to bring along, it will take a while since the security has to check all the K1 Beneficiary details. 

 

While connecting flights you should have taken this into consideration and booked a flight with at least 3 hours in between.

It is done a lot actually. For k1 they'll probably lead the us citizen to the immigration line.

 

I even go through us citizen line with the tourist visa.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

My wife, daughter, and I went through USC line but they pulled my wife into secondary to process the magical envelope.

 

So we amused ourselves by riding around the baggage area on the luggage carts for an hour or so.  It was a great experience after a Dubai-Houston flight.

 

Hope for the best, plan for 1-1.5 hours.

[bakphx1 789]

It's all a matter of the mood of the staff.  They may be accommodating or they may tell you tough luck about your connection.  They are sometimes friendly and other times surly. 

 

It's in the end your responsibility to allow enough time between flights and not their problem in any way.  You're asking to break the rules a bit from a law enforcement agency whose job it is to enforce those rules,  so start from that premise. 

[DrEllaNJ 288]

Having traveled many times on a student visa, I became a pro at making sure I was in the front of the visitors line... Sitting where you can get off easily, get off with one single goal in mind: be the first in line. So no bathroom stops (use the bathroom in-air right before descent), walk FAST without running, pass others who are walking slowly, and make sure you have your documents out. 

The last time I traveled on a visa, I was actually through customs faster than my USC boyfriend. All the USCs were confused about the machine they needed to use to scan their passports. 

Chances are though that your fiance will be taken to secondary in either line. Definitely don't book flights too closely together. 

[Soup Dragon 104]

I went through US citizen line with my husband at Chicago but had to go to secondary inspection for them to process the contents of the envelope

[Huckleberry&Koala 184]

21 hours ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

Visitor lines at passport control are often horrendously long. Since we are connecting to another flight, and would prefer not to miss it, has anyone, as a US Citizen, tried to bring a K-1 beneficiary through the US Citizen’s line or through the Mobile Passport line?

 

We plan on entering at Washington, DC (IAD).

I went through US citizen line with my fiance (now husband) with my K-1 visa, and I hadn't to go to secondary inspection, total inspection time was like 5-10 min. I think all cases are different and very dependent to mood of the officers.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Gravlax

[WandY 430]

2 hours ago, DrEllaNJ said:

Having traveled many times on a student visa, I became a pro at making sure I was in the front of the visitors line... Sitting where you can get off easily, get off with one single goal in mind: be the first in line. So no bathroom stops (use the bathroom in-air right before descent), walk FAST without running, pass others who are walking slowly, and make sure you have your documents out. 

The last time I traveled on a visa, I was actually through customs faster than my USC boyfriend. All the USCs were confused about the machine they needed to use to scan their passports. 

Chances are though that your fiance will be taken to secondary in either line. Definitely don't book flights too closely together. 

Excellent advice! And I'll add - quit trying to game the system or think that the U.S. officials will sympathize with you. They don't care if you miss a flight. Plan accordingly and you won't have to worry about it.

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

Wow, you are all very sweet about worrying for us not to miss the flight. We are actually not worried about missing the flight that much. We have the flights on the single ticket, so if we miss one flight the airline will put us on the next one. We prefer not to miss it, but it is not critical if we do.

 

Thank you.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

I think the line is called "residents" not "citizens line" because greencard holders use it as well (at my airport). 

We too used the residents line at K1 POE because I was travelling with a USC fiancé. Had I been alone, it would have been visitor's line. Heathrow in London basically allows the same thing...go to the short residents line together when travelling with a British citizen.