Can I travel back to the US after my spouse immigration is approved?

[TheImmigrationOne 0]

Hi all,

 

I was thinking to travel to the UK during the time of my wife's consulate interview and then once (God-wilingly) it gets approved, travel back with her to the US. I was wondering if that was possible and if we could have any possible mishaps? I read somewhere that the spouse needs to be in the US or arrive at the same time, but I'm not sure what "arrives at the same time" means exactly, i.e. do we walk through immigration together? Could that possibly cause problems? Thanks

[Just Paul 4,595]

6 minutes ago, TheImmigrationOne said:

do we walk through immigration together?

We walked thru immigration together.    No issues.

[TheImmigrationOne 0]

7 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

We walked thru immigration together.    No issues.

Thanks for the response! 

So when you walked through together, new immigrants must be taken to a separate room, file some paperwork, get their fingerprint, etc before they go through customs, correct? Was that the case for your spouse? I've heard that can take up to hours and so I'd imagine you (or if your spouse was the petitioner not sure) would have to waitna while?

[Just Paul 4,595]

1 minute ago, TheImmigrationOne said:

Thanks for the response! 

So when you walked through together, new immigrants must be taken to a separate room, file some paperwork, get their fingerprint, etc before they go through customs, correct? Was that the case for your spouse? I've heard that can take up to hours and so I'd imagine you (or if your spouse was the petitioner not sure) would have to waitna while?

Plan a 4 hour connection of you are not a preclearance location.  If you are at a preclearance show up about 5 hours before the flight just to be safe.

 

The procedure will vary by POE and time of day.  We just got pulled over to a booth.  Ours took about 15 minutes and I got to stay with her.   They open  and look thru the packet, take biometrics, stamp the passport and type on the computer.  It wasn't very intrusive.   They asked her where she was going to be living.  They asked if she paid the green card fee.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, TheImmigrationOne said:

Hi all,

 

I was thinking to travel to the UK during the time of my wife's consulate interview and then once (God-wilingly) it gets approved, travel back with her to the US. I was wondering if that was possible and if we could have any possible mishaps? I read somewhere that the spouse needs to be in the US or arrive at the same time, but I'm not sure what "arrives at the same time" means exactly, i.e. do we walk through immigration together? Could that possibly cause problems? Thanks

It means the British wife can’t head to the US and set up housekeeping while you remain in the UK. It applies more to couples who live abroad together. The American must be in the US when the foreign spouse enters on her visa or at least be traveling on the same plane to enter with her. 
 

We entered together. The airport immigration attendant said we could stay together and go through the same line. He sent us to the US residents line. Then I had to go into a secondary room (close by) for visa processing. My wife went downstairs to baggage claim and retrieved all our luggage. She came back upstairs with the luggage and waited near where I was processing for me to finish. Then we exited together through the customs station where you turn in the customs form.  (She remained in the airside area to wait and did not go out into the terminal lobby by herself). It depends on your airport, but most allow spouses to go through the immigration lines together, even if one is a US citizen and the other is just on a visa. Somebody will be directing traffic and you can ask where you should go.

 

It shouldn’t take hours for her visa processing. 

Edited January 16, 2020 by Wuozopo