Holly2234
Difficulty:  | Review Topic: Port of Entry Review
When we landed at Philadelphia, we went up a long corridor after going up some stairs (there are elevators for strollers and wheelchairs etc) and continued right to the end. There are toilets just before you reach the customs desks so no need to all rush for the plain toilet during landing like 50 people decided to do on my plane!
We asked two officers who were directing passengers which line to join. I (UKC with CR-1) travelled with my husband (USC) and daughter (dual UKC and USC) and since we were married, they said we could all join the citizens and permanent resident queue which was a lot shorter. We got to the front of the line in 5-10 minutes and were met by a frosty female officer. She asked me to put my fingers on the scanner and have a photo taken. Then she asked how much money we had and advised that the candy i had declared on the customs form was fine to take through. She put my passport and my daughters (somebody had not scanned her boarding pass but scanned my husbands twice so there was no record of her being on the plane) into a folder and we went to secondary inspection where we went straight up to the desk and they opened my envelope and told me to sit down. He shuffled through the papers and checked everything was in order then called me back up. We went over to a table and he told me to stand in front of him with my right arm by the table. He dipped my finger in ink and then he put it down on the paper instructing me not to press down. He did this twice. Then he asked me to sign my name twice. Both the finger print and signature would appear on my green card. He then told me where i could wash the ink off or offered me a paper towel but i had baby wipes in my bag. He gave back the passports and advised that my green card would arrive within 6 months. If it did not, call USCIS. I asked about my SSN since i ticked the box on my visa application to receive one but he did not know anything about it.
He then said "Welcome home guys" and off we went. All in all it was a pleasant experience and everybody was friendly apart from the first woman at the desk who was simply very blunt and refused to make herself clear when we said we did not understand one of her questions.
We then had to collect our bags and take them to be scanned and put on the next plane. It was $4 for a luggage trolley so make sure you have a card or some cash if you will be needing one!
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Port of Entry Member Review #15312
Entry Date: 2012-10-22