GnBnL
Difficulty:  | Review Topic: Port of Entry Review
This is actually a review of VICTORIA BC pre clearance into Port Angeles/Seattle
Due to my unfortunate experience at Seatac, I decided to cross in pre-clearance in Victoria BC via the Victoria Clipper. I had done this once before since my previous border denial at Seatac, and it was relatively painless!
The crossing is very small, so there are not many officers, and its pretty routine as I believe the Clipper is used a lot for commuters.
I was very nervous, and thought I may take a while to process so I got there early so I could go to the front of the line. They called me up and I gave them my passport and said I was a K-1. after some minor confusion, they finally got me to the right person, and took me to secondary. Everyone was very friendly, and the woman officer I had, was great. There was another woman officer there that came in with us to secondary because she wanted to learn how to process K-1's. It was cool that way because then I could hear the officer explain everything in detail. When she was looking at my packet, she started to explain what to tell me lawyer to do next, and when I told her I had no lawyer, she was really surprised and said "you know what you're doing then!" so that was great!!! (Thanks VJ!!!) Anyway, it was very casual, which is exactly what I hoped for at this small crossing. I would recommend it. Also, the clipper staff are quite friendly, and coming through on the other side, the officers look at your passport again, and ask a few more questions. The officer there asked me about all my luggage, and I smiled and just said "I'm a K-1!" and he said "ah!" and sent me on my way! no problems, and I was on my way to SeaTac to fly home!
No matter what the paperwork, smiles and friendly hellos can go a long way, even if the officer does not seem to care either way. They are there to judge you, not you judge them! And every once in a while, you'll get a friendly officer  hope this is helpful!!
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Port of Entry Member Review #15034
Entry Date: 2011-09-12