US Immigration - Where not to meet it...

Cerenia

The green forms are still very much in place - we were told that our electronic ones replaced the green forms when we were on the plane - not true when we went to get in the queue, I asked someone just to be safe before we started queuing, we still needed the green form, the online ones are "Just to let you on the plane" as we were informed, which confused me, was there even a point in doing them?

dzug1

Cerenia wrote: »

The green forms are still very much in place - we were told that our electronic ones replaced the green forms when we were on the plane - not true when we went to get in the queue, I asked someone just to be safe before we started queuing, we still needed the green form, the online ones are "Just to let you on the plane" as we were informed, which confused me, was there even a point in doing them?

Yes there is a point.

The US are introducing a new system

They are doing it hyper-carefully, running the two systems in tandem until they are 100% sure the new one works perfectly everywhere.

They are not that good at telling the airlines what's going on though - or maybe the airlines are not that good at disseminating the info to their staff.

anguilla

Considering they are moving carefully they show no signs of going all electronic - just make it even more difficult for tourists - firstly you need the ESTA then you need a green waiver form then you need the US's finest immigration staff to hold you up for a long time then at the end of a long flight and perhaps drive, you find you can't fill your hire car up with fuel cause you don't have a US credit card with ZIP code - ah the joys of modern travel :beer:

gemmacarolyn

I totally agree with what's been said-I fly to the US 3 or 4 times a year, and have never had any real problems, but have been questioned at length at immigration. I go to see my boyfriend, so I suppose they're trying to determine whether I'll stay there or not. They always wind up asking what my job is, strangely, when I tell them I work in a prison, the questions stop and I'm wished a happy holiday! I have had a lot of questions at Minneapolis St Paul, and Phoenix, but seemed to get through ok in Dallas and San Francisco. I reguarly fly through LAX, and the situation various a lot. I find it's easiest to get through if you arrive with an Asian flight, as they check people from Asia a lot more closely (They have to get visas, so there's a lot more paperwork.) I really think it just depends on the time of day and the person you get-I've even had one not even look at me, and just push my passport through, as he was talking to a colleage. I've never been stopped and asked anything on my way out, but I do fly from a small airport.

duchy

I fly anything from 3 to 6 times a year to the US so have routed through several airports more than once over time. The bad experiences have been evenly spread with the good and some of the bad experiences have also been where some of the best have happened too.
I think it's down to your attitude and how busy it is far more so than location.

I fly often enough I *should* expect closer questioning-but it never happens -usually I'm just asked my final destination and what I'm planning to do-and they just wave me through.

I always pick seats as far forward as possible and walk quickly to immigration and rarely wait more than twenty minutes. Works for me.

stumpycat

Getting in to JFK (Delta, Terminal 3) was pretty quick and painless, it was getting out that the problems started!

There were some self check-in terminals and some luggage drop-off desks. To reach the check-ins you had to battle your way through the queue for luggage, get your boarding card, then battle your way back across to the end of the queue again.

The luggage drop desks were also being held up by people wanting to reschedule and re-book flights, so were moving incredibly slowly. Then they decided to move all the people whose flights were almost due to the front of the queue and that's when the police got called!

I would advise turning up early and doing some meditation beforehand - steel toe capped shoes may also be handy to protect yourself from numpties pushing trolleys over your toes...

Chorlton1_2

Flown into & out of several different airports in the US in the last 5 years & never had more than the routine 3 or 4 questions.
Earlier this year was stopped at Tampa (I went white as a sheet because I'd been done for speeding on my last visit and was worried the money order might have got lost enroute to the court)
Only Took 5 mins when stopped & I'll always remember the blokes face as he said :
"Mr" (me: "Yes") "have you always been a Mr"
Seems the info passed from British airways had me down as a lady!!
Flying KLM next time, lol

:rotfl:

Coolhandluke

Came through Dallas last year without a hitch.
People couldn't have been more pleasant or helpfull and plenty of desks were open.