sarahandbrian
Difficulty:  | Review Topic: Port of Entry Review
This was probably the easiest part of the whole process.
Our flight arrived only 10 mins late into Atlanta despite an hours delay at Gatwick, I got off the plane as quickly as I could and went and stood in line for the first immigration screening.
You just follow everyone else and stand in the queue for foreign visitors, same as you would if you were entering on a visa waiver for a visit.
I am not sure if this applies to all visas but with my IR-1 I did not have to fill out a form on the plane except the customs form, so I had that, my passport and my big brown/manilla envelope all ready to hand to the lady on the immigration desk.
She took a quick look at my passport, stamped the customs form and she gave me a green folder to put my envelope,passport and customs form in and told me to proceed around to lane 2 of the customs lanes where they would finish procesing my papers,
Now this next bit was a little confusing, I followed the only line I could see that wasnt leading directly out through regular customs checks, and came to a small lounge area where around 10 other people were sat waiting, in front of them were 3 desks where other immigration officers were handling paperwork.
I wasn't sure what to do, so I went up to the first desk and asked the very friendy man there what I should do. He told me to hand over my green folder and they would deal with me as quickly as they could.Also he tld me to go and collect my suitcases which were on a carousel directly behind us and to leave them on the carpeted area at the back of the lounge
He put my folder into a rack of other folders and I could see there were about 5-6 folders in front of mine.
I collected my checked in luggage and took a seat. This was when I started to feel a bit down, as it seemed to be taking each folder about half an hour to process, so I figured I was in for a long long wait, already tired and a bit dizzy from the flight.
However things seemed to speed up and I heard the friendly man call my name.
I stepped up to the desk and he apologised for the wait and told me that summer was a very busy time, he then took my signature and told me I had a pretty signature and my fingerprints and he told me he liked my nails.
The he told me to retake my seat while he finishes processing, which he said would take only 5 mins.
Again he calls me up to the desk and indictaes I can bring my suitcases with me.
He tells me "welcome to America" and I want to give him a big hug I'm so relieved, instead I opt to shake his hand and say thankyou.
I then raced through the secondary security checks and on to the north teminal to meet my husband.
All in all from stepping off the plane the process took around 1 and 3/4 hours, so a fairly long wait but I was treated respectfully and made to feel very welcome, so a big thumbs up to Atlanta. 
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Port of Entry Member Review #13799
Entry Date: 2007-07-26