Immigration: Easy!

The last major hurdle we had to jump to get me to the USA was immigration at our port of entry: Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport.

There was nothing specific to worry about; we had done everything correctly up until this point, the visa was valid, I wasn’t bringing any restricted items into the country… yet in the queue at the border I would be lying if I said there weren’t a few butterflies.

I had looked a little at other people’s experiences, but it is dangerous to dwell too much on what others have been through as every situation is different. That said, it can be reassuring to know how easy it can be, which is why I will briefly outline what happened in my case.

For the first time in my trips to the States I used the electronic entry system, which scans your passport (I spoke to the person there and we tried my visa first, but it didn’t accept that), takes your photos and prints out a slip to take to the border officer. Mine had a big X on it which I assume meant further inspection was needed (most likely because I didn’t have an ESTA).

My fiancée went through before me; we decided it was easier to go through everything separately as we hadn’t booked our flights together, although I doubt it made a difference.

When I was called up to the window I stated that I was travelling on a K-1 visa and that I had all my documentation with me. I expected them to ask me to move into a side room to inspect everything, but the officer asked if he could see the packet, and opened the it right there (he had no interest in my x-rays and told me to keep them). He browsed through the packet and asked me a couple of very basic questions; how did we meet, when are we getting married.

The officer also asked when my medical was, however my mind was completely blank on that. I took a guess that was way off, but he didn’t seem to mind. I said that I had had so many appointments and deadlines it is hard to keep track of them all.

We did the normal fingerprints, he stamped a couple of documents in the packet (which he kept) and also stamped my passport, and that was it. I would estimate I was stood there for all of 5 minutes in total, and then I went to meet up with my fiancée, collect our bags, and go home.

As I mentioned, everyone’s experiences will be different, but mine was barely any different to a normal entry into the USA, and certainly nothing to worry about.

(Photo by startribune.com)