Arrival at Chicago

[milwaukeegirl 0]

Hello- my British husband arrived on the 4th of October with me at O'hare airport. At his interview (we did DCF in London) the embassy employee told my husband what to expect at passport control. He was told to make his brown envelope paperwork "noticable" to the passport control employees who would be walking around the nonresident que. At some point, an employee would pull my husband out of the que and send him into a tiny office to be questioned and fill out paperwork for his SSN.

Well that never happened! My husband waited in the nonresident que for 20 minutes. The officer at the desk went through his paperwork and arranged it in a folder. Then he was sent to another desk next to the xray machine where luggage with fruits and veggies etc. are scanned. There wasn't anyone waiting at this area, so my husband's paperwork was looked at immediately and his fingerprints were taken. Easy! My husband asked about the removal of conditions, and the guy at the desk told him that he could apply to remove conditions immediately after our 2 year wedding anniversary. We both questioned the officer, because we thought the removal of conditions application had to be done a few months before his 2 year residency anniversary of living in America.

I'm going to assume that this officer is confused, and follow what I've learned on VJ, unless told otherwise by other posters!! Anyone going through Chicago as a POE from England should expect a fast and easy experience!

Waiting for the SSN now,

Natalie

[pj1959us 0]

Welcome back to you and Welcome to the USA to hubby! Glad everything went smoothly for you and best wishes.

Has he experienced a Milwaukee winter before? David and Chris were a bit shocked at their first Illinois winter.

PJ

[YuAndDan 153]

Hello- my British husband arrived on the 4th of October with me at O'hare airport. At his interview (we did DCF in London) the embassy employee told my husband what to expect at passport control. He was told to make his brown envelope paperwork "noticable" to the passport control employees who would be walking around the nonresident que. At some point, an employee would pull my husband out of the que and send him into a tiny office to be questioned and fill out paperwork for his SSN.

Well that never happened! My husband waited in the nonresident que for 20 minutes. The officer at the desk went through his paperwork and arranged it in a folder. Then he was sent to another desk next to the xray machine where luggage with fruits and veggies etc. are scanned. There wasn't anyone waiting at this area, so my husband's paperwork was looked at immediately and his fingerprints were taken. Easy! My husband asked about the removal of conditions, and the guy at the desk told him that he could apply to remove conditions immediately after our 2 year wedding anniversary. We both questioned the officer, because we thought the removal of conditions application had to be done a few months before his 2 year residency anniversary of living in America.

I'm going to assume that this officer is confused, and follow what I've learned on VJ, unless told otherwise by other posters!! Anyone going through Chicago as a POE from England should expect a fast and easy experience!

Waiting for the SSN now,

Natalie

Only thing, your timeline shows entry about 3 weeks before second wedding anniversary, you should have waited until after 2nd wedding anniversary to use the visa, if you entered the USA After 2nd wedding anniversary and showed the officer at the POE this fact, by showing marriage cert, the officer would have coded your green-card as 10 year permanent unconditional, and saved you from paying USCIS $545 to file I-751 2 years from now.

We have been through Chicago POE on K-1 and it is much like what you described.

[milwaukeegirl 0]

While it would have been nice to save money by arriving in America 3 weeks later, I would have had to make some very big sacrifices. I had two weddings to go to in Milwaukee, one the first saturday of the month and one the second saturday of the month. By coming back early my husband and I were able to go to their weddings. I wouldn't have missed that for the world, they are very dear friends to me. Also, I would have had to live with my inlaws for 3 extra weeks. So for me, even though it's a shame that we'll have more paperwork and fees still to come, it was worth it!

Hello- my British husband arrived on the 4th of October with me at O'hare airport. At his interview (we did DCF in London) the embassy employee told my husband what to expect at passport control. He was told to make his brown envelope paperwork "noticable" to the passport control employees who would be walking around the nonresident que. At some point, an employee would pull my husband out of the que and send him into a tiny office to be questioned and fill out paperwork for his SSN.

Well that never happened! My husband waited in the nonresident que for 20 minutes. The officer at the desk went through his paperwork and arranged it in a folder. Then he was sent to another desk next to the xray machine where luggage with fruits and veggies etc. are scanned. There wasn't anyone waiting at this area, so my husband's paperwork was looked at immediately and his fingerprints were taken. Easy! My husband asked about the removal of conditions, and the guy at the desk told him that he could apply to remove conditions immediately after our 2 year wedding anniversary. We both questioned the officer, because we thought the removal of conditions application had to be done a few months before his 2 year residency anniversary of living in America.

I'm going to assume that this officer is confused, and follow what I've learned on VJ, unless told otherwise by other posters!! Anyone going through Chicago as a POE from England should expect a fast and easy experience!

Waiting for the SSN now,

Natalie

Only thing, your timeline shows entry about 3 weeks before second wedding anniversary, you should have waited until after 2nd wedding anniversary to use the visa, if you entered the USA After 2nd wedding anniversary and showed the officer at the POE this fact, by showing marriage cert, the officer would have coded your green-card as 10 year permanent unconditional, and saved you from paying USCIS $545 to file I-751 2 years from now.

We have been through Chicago POE on K-1 and it is much like what you described.

[Jigi 0]

Hi

Thanks Natalie for sharing the Info on POE of Chicago, will be of great help for me

Jigi

[Thijs 0]

So tell me...

What's in that mysterious brown envelope? I've been holding on to it like it's the Holy Grail, and I am kinda curious.

[milwaukeegirl 0]

The information that you took to your interview will be in the brown envelope. Not very exciting! I thought it would be more interesting. The arrival at the POE was incredibly anticlimactic. My husband never even received a "welcome to America!" Will have to wait for the welcome to America letter to arrive in the post, I suppose.

So tell me...

What's in that mysterious brown envelope? I've been holding on to it like it's the Holy Grail, and I am kinda curious.