Entering on the stamp - share please?

[spartakus]

Hi all,

Can somebody please share their experience when entering on I-551 stamp, what questions are asked at POE? How long is the wait? Any other experience you would like to share.

Thanks,
Spartakus

[pralay]

Originally Posted by spartakus

Hi all,

Can somebody please share their experience when entering on I-551 stamp, what questions are asked at POE? How long is the wait? Any other experience you would like to share.

Thanks,
Spartakus

I guess it depends on airport and also officer. I entered twice with my I-551 temp stamp in LAX and never was asked any question. They just checked my A# in computer and let me in. But I saw couple of cases in this forum where they had to go through secondary inspection. There they had to answer questions like "when you were approved", "where did you get stamped", "who is your employer" etc. If possible, take drivers license and a copy of your I-485 approval notice with you.

[SJOrl]

Originally Posted by spartakus

Hi all,

Can somebody please share their experience when entering on I-551 stamp, what questions are asked at POE? How long is the wait? Any other experience you would like to share.

Thanks,
Spartakus

I guess it depands on the airport and time. I flew back to JFK with my stamp in July. I went to the US citizen line (since my husband is US citizen). The immigration officer looked at my passport. He said since I don't have the physical card yet, he will need to process it differently. So he guided me to another immigration room. I believe it was where they process the passport with Advance Parole, I-551 stamp, and others. I only waited 5 mins, no question was asked and no one was there. The officer told me the previous flight was 4 hrs ago. I guess they finished processing all the passport.
But I had a very bad experience in LAX. That time I traveled with my advance parole. Same thing, waited in a room. No question was asked. But there were too many people waiting in the room. It took me 3 hrs to get through the immigration. You should not have to worry what they will ask. If you have connecting flight, make sure you have some gap in between so you won't miss the flight.

[wik]

Originally Posted by spartakus

Can somebody please share their experience when entering on I-551 stamp, what questions are asked at POE? How long is the wait?

SFO, Sept. 2004. No questions, just 'welcome home'. Officer even joked about how long it was taking the USCIS to issue actual cards! Entered throught the Citizens/LPR line.

[gin]

Doesn't matter whether you have a physical GC or a stamp or for that matter, a visa. They can stop people at random and send you to secondary inspection. While at secondary inspection, they just ask basic questions like "Where did you go? How long was the trip? Who sponsored the GC? Oh, when did you get the new card and it looks great, etc". Just basic questions and nothing to be alarmed of, as long as there is nothing to hide.

[desi74]

Originally Posted by gin

Doesn't matter whether you have a physical GC or a stamp or for that matter, a visa. They can stop people at random and send you to secondary inspection. While at secondary inspection, they just ask basic questions like "Where did you go? How long was the trip? Who sponsored the GC? Oh, when did you get the new card and it looks great, etc". Just basic questions and nothing to be alarmed of, as long as there is nothing to hide.

There you go. They can stop anyone. I dont know if you guys trust me or not but last time when I came to JFK in Feb 2005 (with stamp on my passport), 22 people were selected for random check from my flight and out of those 22, 9 were American citizens for many many years. The staff was very rude and they asked me a lot of qustions and asked me to wait. God knows what they were doing. Finally after 3 small interviews they let me go but they did ask me why did I go back every 6 months ( i go back to my country every 7 months or so for 2 weeks to see my parents), do i belong to any army, where do i work in USA blah blah.....