Changnoi
Difficulty:  | Review Topic: Port of Entry Review
Our POE to the USA was LAX. As we entered the arrival hall I approached the first TSA Agent I saw and told them my wife was entering the country for the
first time and asked could we enter together. We were told yes and sent to the green card entry area. There we waited for the next available Officer.
I was praying that we would get the right person and that everything would go smoothly.Right as we were about to be called a new person started their shift
and called us over. She asked for our "DO NOT OPEN" packet and seemed new and unsure of what to do next so she turned to look for help and just as
she did her supervisor was there. Each word he spoke had a weight to it as he was helping her with our entry he was on the radio telling many others exactly
what to do.He had the officer take my wife's digital finger prints and photo and then she scanned my and my sons US passport. She stamped my wife's passport
with the arrival stamp and we were then handed the entire packet with her passport and sent to another area where we handed to packet and passport
to another officer who only handled certain visa entry's. We were told to put our carry on luggage against the wall and wait.
There were stacks of DO NOT OPEN arrival packets on His multiple fold out desks and as we sat he took apart our packet and pulled out a few key pages
then disappeared just out of sight. We could hear him stamping pages and entering data for about 5 minutes. He then emerged and asked my wife to come
over and he had her touch the ink pad and took her hard copy finger print as well. He went away again for just a moment and then returned.and handed us
my wife's passport and said welcome to America Mom. We left there got our luggage and went to customs where we were told all first time arrivals have to
have luggage scanned again. Ours was scanned and we were sent through right away and for the second time we heard "Welcome to America Mom"
Some others were having their bags opened and searched as we hurriedly looked for the finish line. Finally we crossed over the line into the general
airport area where we stopped and held hands on US soil for the first time as a family and thanked God for leading us step by step through this Visa Journey.
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Port of Entry Member Review #17127
Entry Date: 06/17/2014