Penny Lane
Difficulty:  | Review Topic: Port of Entry Review
I'll keep this short and to the point. My fiance and I rented a UHAUL and loaded it up (dog included) and drove across the Ambassador Bridge about 8am on a Monday morning. We should have gotten there earlier, as it was pretty backed up. The fact that it was pouring rain didn't make the experience any more pleasant.
We finally got up to the booth and told the officer we were activating a K1 visa. He asked for our passports as well as asked to see the sealed envelope from the consulate. He took it (which annoyed me, because it was getting SOAKED while he was holding it outside, lol) and asked what we had in the truck. We told him we had personal belongings and we had written a list if he was interested. He said no, gave us back our documents, and told us to pull up to the inspection area.
We pulled up, parked our UHAUL, and were told to go into the office. We were also told to leave everything but the necessary documents in the truck. I asked if they wanted the list of contents, they said no. I asked them what I should do with my dog (he's a golden retriever, 10 years old, not easy to get in and out of the truck) and they told me to go put him in the kennel. The "kennel" was a metal crate that was falling apart and was soaking wet with a big puddle in it from sitting out in the rain. I wasn't happy about putting him in there and having to leave him there, but I had no choice.
We went in, waited around for a bit before seeing someone. I was eventually told I could go get my dog out of the cage and put him back in the truck. A very nice officer helped me lift him into the truck. I was relieved he was somewhere warm and dry. I went back in, we were called up, and a very nice officer dealt with our paperwork. He seemed to know exactly what to do, told me the limitations of my Visa, and gave me my I-94 and we were good to go.
The whole process was about an hour and a half from pulling up to the border and getting to drive away. The only issue I had was with the treatment of my dog, but I guess there was nothing that could be done about that. All of the officers we dealt with were very nice and helpful.
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Port of Entry Member Review #15021
Entry Date: 2011-09-27