arrival in USA airport

[Dashinka 24,593]

6 hours ago, bakphx1 said:

I recently arrived with my husband in LAX and they made me go through the non citizen line with him.  It took three hours and that's with him having a green card and no questions.  I would just plan to leave the next day. 

That is the big issue with LAX.  So many international flights coming in that the CBP lines are generally very long. 

 

10 hours ago, speleopower said:

I was planning on going to Shenzhen for vacation this summer and fly back with her.  Unfortuantely my father had a major medical issue last week and I have cancelled all travel plans for the next 6 months/year. (agressive brain cancer)

She will have to find her way through the airport....;-)

I did find a set of tickets that would land her at Los Angles at about 5pm on a Monday.  With a 4 hour 40 minute layover before catching the flight to Orlando.  Plus there is many people speaking Mandarin at the LA airport.

  

Would 4 hours 40 minutes be enough time in LA?

You may want to consider Detroit (DTW) as there are daily flights from Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul, the CBP lines are generally fairly fast (my fiancé was processed in a little over 20 minutes), and if one is flying Delta, navigating the terminal to her next flight is pretty easy.

 

Just a thought, but I have no idea how much tickets are currently. 

[Andrea&Henry 311]

13 hours ago, speleopower said:

Ok.  Maybe I should make the drive to Atlanta.  Yes, she speaks and reads English quite well and has travelled overseas a few times.  The layover is about 2 hour 40 minutes with an arrival time of about 7:00pm.

a 2 hrs layover is nothing, she more likely will miss her connection. Atlanta is by far worse than Miami and it took me 3 hrs to be processed in Miami (no weekend or holidays so go figure)

[issea 43]

The longer layover time the better. But I don't think missing the domestic connection would be very much problematic. Give a proper reason, you probably will be assigned to the next available flight.

[killadocg23 88]

What about countries that have US pre clearance? Would her point of entry be when she was inspected in a foreign country

[geowrian 22,337]

1 minute ago, killadocg23 said:

What about countries that have US pre clearance? Would her point of entry be when she was inspected in a foreign country

Yes. Your POE can be outside the actual US if you go through immigration at one of the few preclearance inspection sites.

[Dashinka 24,593]

19 minutes ago, killadocg23 said:

What about countries that have US pre clearance? Would her point of entry be when she was inspected in a foreign country

I don't think there is an Asian airport following that program.  I had heard Incheon had reviewed it, but decided against it.

[geowrian 22,337]

23 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Yes. Your POE can be outside the actual US if you go through immigration at one of the few preclearance inspection sites.

US immigration*

Here's a list of the preclearance sites: https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry/operations/preclearance

[chi6488 94]

Here is what I did and do not know if it will help.

 

My fiance had a sim card to have cellular.   

 

That being said I googled cbp information  about dallas airport.  I advised her to go through the gray sign line for non citizens.  She rushed once off the plane.  She was done within immigration with 30 minutes.  Main question was when is marriage date set?  They wanted her to understand within 90 days.  

 

Fiance had 2 1/2 hours layover.  Unfortunately she won the "ssss" lotto on her booking.  That TSA scrutiny  took almost and hour but she still had 45 minutes before boarding.  

 

Another tip for you.  My fiance used a porter to get her luggage.  4 boxes.  The porter pushed through bypass lines through customs and dropped off her luggage to continue on with connecting flights.  Well worth the $20 to bypass lines and have him push stuff all for her

[TNJ17 1,329]

In America, all of America, it’s whatever your first US soil is. If that’s Hawaii, then it’s Hawaii. 

[Sunnyland 639]

When I did my arrival on K1, I was sent to secondary room for inspection of my documents packet and all that took 2 hours since there was a lot of people for secondary inspection. This was Miami POE which it's super busy airport. Do not freak out if you notice she is taking a while to get out.  While in secondary inspection room they won't allow her to use cellphone. At least that was my experience in Miami. Good luck to her.

[Alabamak1 688]

I used Toronto coming back from Zurich last year and having inspection there was a breeze, but i was flying Zurich - layover in Toronto - Nashville. I didnt miss my flight either. Once in Nashville just got out of my plane like a domestic flight

[Nitas_man 3,100]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 12:46 AM, speleopower said:

I am have been looking for an answer to an easy question but have not found a definitive answer.

 

My fiancee has her visa and unopened visa package.  We are buying airline tickets for her to arrive in the USA very soon.  This is a flight from China-Seoul-then first landing in USA is Atlanta for a short layover before the flight to Orlando.  Better make that a generous layover.

 

My question is will she go through the entry process at Atlanta during the short layover or will she go through the entry process at Orlando (i.e. final destination)?  Atlanta

 

I am assuming she will be going through the final entry process in Orlando since that is where she will actually enter into the United States (i.e. leave the airline terminal).  No, it will be like exiting a domestic flight.  No customs, no immigration

 

Thanks-Scott

Had the same problem with my wife's flight.  When she first entered, we discovered she had to deplane, go through immigration and customs at POE, collect her bags, then transfer to a domestic terminal.

 

SO:  I flew in to POE, booked a hotel, met her in the international terminal, and we flew back together a couple days later.  It was like a little vacation.  Terminal to terminal transfer wasn't something I really wanted to dump on her at first arrival.

 

Immigration (not the immigration line, the secondary line in the back where they process the envelope) takes an hour on a good day, longer on a bad day.  Atlanta is terrible.  I wouldn't book a layover under 4 hours there.  When your fiance arrives in Orlando she won't go through anything, she'll deplane off a domestic flight, grab her bags, and exit the airport.

[Jojo92122 1,924]

Atlanta is the busiest airport in the US.  It's huge.  I have not gone through customs there, so don't have any info for ya.

At LAX, your fiancee would need to go collect her checked bags, then go through immigration at the international terminal.  Then, she has to take her luggage outside and go the domestic terminal to check back in and go through security. 

Last year, it took my niece about 3.5 hours to get through immigration at LAX when she immigrated.

[dazed'nconfused 14]

On 5/18/2018 at 2:19 PM, bakphx1 said:

I recently arrived with my husband in LAX and they made me go through the non citizen line with him.  It took three hours and that's with him having a green card and no questions.  I would just plan to leave the next day. 

Yikes that long?  I've flown through LAX basically every time I've entered the US (10+ times in the last 4 years) and the longest I've ever waited was about 45 minutes.

On 5/19/2018 at 10:17 PM, Jojo92122 said:

Atlanta is the busiest airport in the US.  It's huge.  I have not gone through customs there, so don't have any info for ya.

At LAX, your fiancee would need to go collect her checked bags, then go through immigration at the international terminal.  Then, she has to take her luggage outside and go the domestic terminal to check back in and go through security. 

Last year, it took my niece about 3.5 hours to get through immigration at LAX when she immigrated.

Frequent LAX traveller here.

 

It's immigration first. Then checked bags. Then customs. Then exit for new terminal. 

[bakphx1 789]

5 minutes ago, dazed'nconfused said:

Yikes that long?  I've flown through LAX basically every time I've entered the US (10+ times in the last 4 years) and the longest I've ever waited was about 45 minutes.

Going through the USC line is fast  The other line was horrible.