Customs in the US

makluse

Going to America Saturday for a week. Its the first time going over since I got married to my American wife.

Going through London so will hit customs in JFK. Up till now we have always gone through customs separately in our appropriate queues, but she is now insisting we go together through the US queue.

Is this wise or will I just annoy the customs officials and as we only have 2 hours for the connecting flight could do without the hassle but if I can use the wife thing to skip the long queues would be nice. Just going on a VWP on the Irish passport. Any advice would be good

Cheers all

coylemj

makluse wrote: »

Going through London so will hit customs in JFK. Up till now we have always gone through customs separately in our appropriate queues, but she is now insisting we go together through the US queue.

Are you talking about customs or immigration? Everyone typically goes through the same customs lane but people are normally separated by passport type when dealing with immigration officials.

I would not present myself with an Irish passport at an immigration desk designated for US citizens - you'd be asking for trouble. You might end up dealing with a person who is not trained in the ins and outs of ESTA and the visa waiver program and they may not take too kindly to you attempting to take a short cut through their line.

If you want to have a smooth passage through US officialdom, obey the signs and address officials as 'sir' and 'ma'am'.

makluse

Yeah immigration is what I was on about, I was thinking sticking by the correct queues was the way to go but she is being insistent that we are married now and I am going with her

silja

We used to go together to the citizen line, but we had small kids (US citizens also) with us.
I don't think they will give you hassle- worst that would happen is they tell you to get to the back of the non-USC queue.

ProudDUB

makluse wrote: »

Yeah immigration is what I was on about, I was thinking sticking by the correct queues was the way to go but she is being insistent that we are married now and I am going with her

If you are not the holder of a US passport or a Permanent Residency Card (aka a green card) you go to the queue for non UN nationals. Your wife will go into the queue for US nationals. Now that you are married to a US citizen, you can apply for the legal residency/citizen status that you are entitled to petition for by virtue of being her spouse. But until, you are actually awarded it, you should stay in the queue for non US nationals.

There are usually plenty of official personnel in the immigration area directing people into the correct queues. If your wife still keeps on insisting that you go with her, I'd run it by one of those folks first. If they tell you to go with her, go with her. If they tell you to go into your own line, do it with no questions asked.

As a US citizen, your wife may take for granted her ability to breeze on thru Immigration, without a thought or care in the world. She maybe be ignorant of the additional security and checks that non nationals have to face as they proceed thru Immigration. You as yet, do not have that luxury, so do whatever the official folk tell you to do.

Gatica

ProudDUB wrote: »

If you are not the holder of a US passport or a Permanent Residency Card (aka a green card) you go to the queue for non UN nationals. Your wife will go into the queue for US nationals. Now that you are married to a US citizen, you can apply for the legal residency/citizen status that you are entitled to petition for by virtue of being her spouse. But until, you are actually awarded it, you should stay in the queue for non US nationals.

There are usually plenty of official personnel in the immigration area directing people into the correct queues. If your wife still keeps on insisting that you go with her, I'd run it by one of those folks first. If they tell you to go with her, go with her. If they tell you to go into your own line, do it with no questions asked.

As a US citizen, your wife may take for granted her ability to breeze on thru Immigration, without a thought or care in the world. She maybe be ignorant of the additional security and checks that non nationals have to face as they proceed thru Immigration. You as yet, do not have that luxury, so do whatever the official folk tell you to do.

+1

She's not the one who'll get the hassle for going into the wrong queue so I wouldn't be "doing as told", rather do as suggested above...

ResearchWill

makluse wrote: »

Yeah immigration is what I was on about, I was thinking sticking by the correct queues was the way to go but she is being insistent that we are married now and I am going with her

A the joys of married life, I see that marriage has given you wife not only the power to order you about but the whole of the United States of America. I would give it a go but only for the rights it will give you for ever more to say I told you so, that would be worth diamonds.

P.S. no wonder I'm single.

InTheTrees

For Customs go through together, for Immigration go separately?

Once you have your greencard you can go through the "US Citizens and Residents" line.

InTheTrees

The green card is great because you get to use the US Citizens and Residents line when you arrive in the US and the EU line when you arrive in Ireland.

:cool:

MadsL

You do not have any more rights than the average VWP Joe by being married to an American citizen. If you have been approved to emigrate and take up residency as the spouse of a US Citizen you can present yourself and your documents for permanent residency in that line - otherwise you will be sent out of it.

iusedtoknow

i have found there are no hard and fast rules.

A friend of mine is married to a US citizen, and they go through together all the time, they are in the process of getting the immigration stuff sorted and live in Ireland, but they always make their entry to the US in America (not Ireland).

The best thing you can do is when you get there....ask....There are always people there to assist, they would probably know. The last time i came back into San Francisco, the "US citizen line" was empty and i was given the sign to go over to one of them - they knew all the process with my visa type and just did the formalities as if they were working the foreigners line.

InTheTrees

iusedtoknow wrote: »

the "US citizen line" was empty

It's generally marked "US Citizens and Residents", if you're a resident foreigner its the correct line to use.

iusedtoknow

InTheTrees wrote: »

It's generally marked "US Citizens and Residents", if you're a resident foreigner its the correct line to use.

yep that is correct, not though if you are certain types of visa. Usually it is for people that are on Greencards etc

I am on an L1 so am non-resident (for now )

InTheTrees

iusedtoknow wrote: »

I am on an L1 so am non-resident (for now )

Impending spouse visa huh?

Best of Luck!

rockonollie

Yeah.....even though you're married to a US citizen, you don't have a choice for immigration......there's lines for US Citizens/Legal Residents and lines for Non-residents

makluse

Cheers all for the input, just an update, I went as told with the wife to the American line and both the guy organizing the lines and immigration official both said there was no problem. Sailed on through and had a good holiday. Thanks