YVR Airport Point of Entry - Vancouver Airport

[Hill.ary 54]

Hello Everyone!

Sunday my husband will be crossing the border for the first time with his Immigrant Visa. He will be traveling out of Vancouver airport. I was just curious what everyone's experiences were at their point of entry and specifically at YVR. How long before your flight did you arrive to the airport? How long did the processing take? What did you bring with you as far as documents go. This is not his official "move" yet. He is coming down for the holiday's and also has job interviews lined up to hopefully secure a job before we move all his stuff down here. Any tips and advice are greatly appreciated! We are paying the fee online for the Immigrant visa, and then I assume they just mail the actual green card and social security card to my house. Has anyone else crossed the border before making the official move?

[skyzee 182]

15 hours ago, Hill.ary said:

Hello Everyone!

Sunday my husband will be crossing the border for the first time with his Immigrant Visa. He will be traveling out of Vancouver airport. I was just curious what everyone's experiences were at their point of entry and specifically at YVR. How long before your flight did you arrive to the airport? How long did the processing take? What did you bring with you as far as documents go. This is not his official "move" yet. He is coming down for the holiday's and also has job interviews lined up to hopefully secure a job before we move all his stuff down here. Any tips and advice are greatly appreciated! We are paying the fee online for the Immigrant visa, and then I assume they just mail the actual green card and social security card to my house. Has anyone else crossed the border before making the official move?

Hello, and congrats again. I can't speak to YVR POE specifically, but I ended up crossing Blaine POE to activate my visa first with the intent of moving later. My experience wasn't particularly great as I had an officer who was unfamiliar with the new way of how IR1 visas are handled, and kept asking for my packet even after conferring with his colleagues several times until he found one that told him how to handle my case. It was making me very nervous.

 

Perhaps your husband may get a more experienced officer, but best to bring the entire envelope with him especially the Welcome to America letter, which clearly states the IR1 visa is done electronically at POE and which I pointed out to the officer several times. I did bring all my civil docs including medical x-ray cd, but the only thing I was asked was to confirm was my intended address in the US, which is where they send the green card and SSN (if you opted to automate the creation of the SSN during one of the forms). My process took about an hour in total, but about 40% of that was spent lining up, 40% of him trying to figure out how to activate my visa, and 20% actually activating it. At the end of it, they stamp the visa in the passport with a regular CBP Homeland Security stamp but with an IR1 class visa, remind you that you have to pay your taxes now, and off you go.

[Hill.ary 54]

7 hours ago, skyzee said:

Hello, and congrats again. I can't speak to YVR POE specifically, but I ended up crossing Blaine POE to activate my visa first with the intent of moving later. My experience wasn't particularly great as I had an officer who was unfamiliar with the new way of how IR1 visas are handled, and kept asking for my packet even after conferring with his colleagues several times until he found one that told him how to handle my case. It was making me very nervous.

 

Perhaps your husband may get a more experienced officer, but best to bring the entire envelope with him especially the Welcome to America letter, which clearly states the IR1 visa is done electronically at POE and which I pointed out to the officer several times. I did bring all my civil docs including medical x-ray cd, but the only thing I was asked was to confirm was my intended address in the US, which is where they send the green card and SSN (if you opted to automate the creation of the SSN during one of the forms). My process took about an hour in total, but about 40% of that was spent lining up, 40% of him trying to figure out how to activate my visa, and 20% actually activating it. At the end of it, they stamp the visa in the passport with a regular CBP Homeland Security stamp but with an IR1 class visa, remind you that you have to pay your taxes now, and off you go.

thanks! I really appreciate it, I will make sure he brings that stuff with him just in case.