Entering the US

[onetwobomb 0]

please move this and send me a pm if this isn't in the right forum.

 

My fiance and her child in Russia were recently granted visas. They plan to come here in March. What can she expect when she lands in New York? Her son is 6 and can be very unruly and difficult for her to handle especially after a 10 hour flight. She is concerned about dealing with customs and how long it will take, if they have someone who can speak with her in Russian, etc.

 

Also she wants me to fly from our home in Detroit to New York and meet her to help her with luggage and her son and fly back together. This is likely what I will do, but is there a service available in New York that can help her with luggage and getting her and her son to their connecting flight to Detroit? Or is it better I just meet her in NY? I have limited finances and time I can take off work so it would be a lot easier if I didn't have to fly to New York but of course I want to make the trip here as least stressful as possible for her

 

 

Any information will be very helpful, thanks.

[R&OC 371]

Hi,

 

just from the perspective of you all getting off to a good start, I would go and meet her if you can possibly make it happen. It is in March and about 3.5 months out. Perhaps it would be an option to get a second job and make that extra money you may need? Also, she is making a commitment of leaving everything behind to be with you.

 

I have a feeling you may be saving money by not going but end up paying a lot more in terms of "relationship troubles and making a great start happening".

 

And I am not aware of a service that would help you out.

[onetwobomb 0]

thank you. looks like thats what I'm doing. just trying to consider all options! 

[payxibka 10,045]

51 minutes ago, onetwobomb said:

please move this and send me a pm if this isn't in the right forum.

 

My fiance and her child in Russia were recently granted visas. They plan to come here in March. What can she expect when she lands in New York? Her son is 6 and can be very unruly and difficult for her to handle especially after a 10 hour flight. She is concerned about dealing with customs and how long it will take, if they have someone who can speak with her in Russian, etc.

 

Also she wants me to fly from our home in Detroit to New York and meet her to help her with luggage and her son and fly back together. This is likely what I will do, but is there a service available in New York that can help her with luggage and getting her and her son to their connecting flight to Detroit? Or is it better I just meet her in NY? I have limited finances and time I can take off work so it would be a lot easier if I didn't have to fly to New York but of course I want to make the trip here as least stressful as possible for her

 

 

Any information will be very helpful, thanks.

You won't be able to help her with the luggage as she will collect it after immigration and go through customs, and recheck the luggage before she clears the arrival facility and comes through the big door.  Luggage carts are everywhere. 

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

2 hours ago, onetwobomb said:

She is concerned about dealing with customs and how long it will take, if they have someone who can speak with her in Russian, etc.

That one part I have no worry about with the CBP. I mean, they are bad at a lot of things, but this is the one thing that they can do , and do it well. The CBP admits ten of thousands of people every day in the US, immigrants and non-immigrants, and I would guess a sizable amount of them may not speak a word of English. My point is, they are well well trained to deal with this (immigrants with limited or no English) and it is the one thing they do really really well. Your fiancee has nothing to worry about. There will be bilingual people on the same flight that go through customs at the same time that could help her. And I am sure they can find someone who speak Russian at a New York airport, if they need, 99.999% they won't need to. 

 

2 hours ago, onetwobomb said:

Also she wants me to fly from our home in Detroit to New York and meet her to help her with luggage and her son and fly back together.

As mentioned, you probably won't be able to help her with luggage as what usually happens is she gets off the flight, to through customs and immigration, then picks up the luggage to go through (my personal favorite) the agricultural checks (where they check for fruits, vegetables, live fish, alligator ... ) then she immediate drops off the luggage for her domestic connecting flight. All of that will happen before she is able to get out to see you. 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,092]

FWIW, I have no idea what fares are like from where your fiancee is coming from in Russia (though for most of Russia you end up having to fly out of Moscow for most international stuff) to Detroit, but you might want to see if you can find a route that connects somewhere in Europe and goes directly to Detroit from there rather than having to do the "get bags and recheck them" thing you have to do with connections from international flights in the US.

 

In our case, LA is close to San Diego enough that Anastasia just flew from Moscow to LAX (after taking an overnight train from her hometown to Moscow) and I picked her up there.

[SalishSea 17,836]

Have your fiancé and her son never flown before?

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from K1 Progress Reports to General Immigration-Related Discussion.

[Unlockable 7,314]

*** 1 hijack post removed

 

VJ Moderation 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

If she flies via New York you can be almost guaranteed there will be Russian speakers around if she needs them. But presumably if she speaks enough English to communicate with you she can get through CBP. 

 

From the perspective of two people arriving from the other side of the world to a foreign place with a foreign language, I’m sure it would be hugely appreciated for you to meet them at the airport and help them with the connection. Domestic flights typically don’t “expect” to have non-native speakers the way international flights do and just things like figuring out the food options etc might be difficult for them with very limited english. I’d consider the extra cost a worthy investment in a smoother start for them.