Ben&Ana
Difficulty:  | Review Topic: Port of Entry Review
Arrived in the evening on a flight that was only a quarter full. Therefore I was expecting to be processed quite quickly.
At the booth I gave my massive envelope to the officer, who was extremely nice and friendly. However, he didn't seem to know what to do with K-1 Visas - he even had to shout to his colleague in the next booth and ask whether K-1s needed secondary processing.
I was then taken into another room (basically a big waiting room). Here there were loads of people waiting as a few officers went through various passports and immigration forms. I was told that it wouldn't take long so I happily took a seat. Behind me was a drunken man and on the TV was Spin City. Yes it was a kind of depressing environment, but at least I was very close to being with my girl...
Unfortunately, I was not processed as quickly as I'd been hoping (reading other people's experiences, they never seemed to have to wait any length of time). I ended up waiting for a couple of hours. In this time I saw many people get processed, which was kind of fascinating to watch sometimes. Some people would be called up by the officer and then have to state their case, while others would just be handed their passport and told to go on their way. I even got to see the officers' reactions to passport photos - more than once photos were handed around and the results laughed at (not while the people were standing before them, though).
One of the most frustrating things was the amount of times I thought I was going to be called. Time after time I saw an officer looking at a British passport, and as the waiting room slowly emptied, I always thought it would be me that would be called. But it always seemed to be someone else.
However, eventually, I was called. And from a raised platform - the officers seem to want to make themselves look large and imposing - a female officer called me and smilingly asked me a couple of questions about my impending marriage. I answered the questions and she gave me my passport back and I was told that I could go.
So although I experienced no harassment, the experience was frustrating in how long it took...
And just to illustrate how many times I've been through Newark, I recognised the female officer that processed me. She once took my Customs form and was disbelieving when I told her that I was visiting for four days and only had the one (small) bag. The conversation went something like this:
Her: 'How long are you staying for?'
Me: 'Four days.'
Her: 'And you only have one bag?'
Me: 'Yes.'
Her: 'And you're staying for four days?'
Me: 'Yes.'
Her: 'And you only have one bag?'
Me: 'Yes.'
[disgusted look from her]
Her: 'Okay, go on.'
So it was nice that the grumpy officer I once encountered was nice and friendly to me when I arrived on my K-1.
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Port of Entry Member Review #14281
Entry Date: 2009-01-31