wife arriving soon, need some advice

[dave61]

hi all, my wife had her interview in moscow the last of july and was approved, she will be arriving in atlanta on september 2. and will fly from there to pittsburg where i will meet her. i allowed her 2 hours and 20 minutes in atlanta before her plane leaves for pittsburg. she is very nervous and thinks she will not have enough time to clear sustoms and make her flight to pittsburg. before we were married she had a tourist visa and flew this same route to visit me here, but she thinks now that she is imigrating here it will be a much longer process getting thru customs. should i change her ticket to allow for more time. you guys that have already brung your wifes here i would appreciate your advice.   thanks

[ECOCKS]

Hmmm.

Mine will be coming in September also. She's been in and out before twice on her tourist visa, but this time will be coming in as an immigrant rather than a simple tourist.

She'll hit NY or Seattle and my understanding is there will be a couple of extra steps involved after the simple stamping of the passport. I'm driving over to Seattle to pick her up (about a 9 hour drive). I am hoping to avoid NY (if possible) but may end up flying there to meet her before returning home together.

Easy for me to say but how feasible is it to bring her in, meet her in ATL and drive her home for a 2-day road trip or take a vacation on the way back up?

[Turboguy]

Dave, I would strongly suggest you change your return to Pittsburgh to a later time.  When a lady arrives on a K-1 she gets extra processing.  When my wife arrived she was about an hour and a half behind the people who arrived on the same flight with a tourist visa.   Sometimes it may go faster or slower so I won't say it is impossible but you are cutting it closer than I would suggest.

By the way it is nice to see another Pittsburgher here.

[daveyj]

If it is a connecting flight, then wouldn't they do the immigration processing in Pittsburgh?  Wouldn't she be remaining in the secured area in Atlanta, and simply walking to her connecting flight?

If it's not a connecting flight, then she certainly wouldn't have enough time to clear customs, pick up luggage, and check in again.

[dave61]

hey ecocks, congradgulations on getting your wife here also. hope all goes well for you. i would love a little vacation right now but i am in the the construction buisness and now is the busy season,  so that not really possible at this time

[dave61]

turbo. you are probably right, i think i will try to change her flight,  by the way i am a big steeler fan, but i live near morgantown wv about 70 miles from pittsburg

[ECOCKS]

Incoming flight will come in the INTL terminal a connector to Pittsburgh will be from the terminals out of the INTL/Customs area. Still secured but no Immigration control are.

[Gtex]

D61:  2:20 is too close for comfort; doable, but no guarantee... not the venue for a crap shoot.

E: If you can show in Atlanta, do not miss it!  Total point value astronomical, and it never ages out.

[viking]

EC

If she comes into JFK, there are only two steps. Get into the non US citizen lanes, give them the brown envelope, have your fingerprints taken electronically and then go straight down a small hall and wait. Sometimes only 5 minutes. Sometimes a little longer. They call your name, give you back your passport and wish you good luck. Then get your bags. The only words my wife said were thank you. BTW. The people at JFK were very nice.

Also, a 2-3 day road trip after a long flight and maybe a 6-7 hour time difference, she will most likely just be alseep for most of the ride?

[ECOCKS]

EC

If she comes into JFK, there are only two steps. Get into the non US citizen lanes, give them the brown envelope, have your fingerprints taken electronically and then go straight down a small hall and wait. Sometimes only 5 minutes. Sometimes a little longer. They call your name, give you back your passport and wish you good luck. Then get your bags. The only words my wife said were thank you. BTW. The people at JFK were very nice.

Also, a 2-3 day road trip after a long flight and maybe a 6-7 hour time difference, she will most likely just be asleep for most of the ride?

Yeah but if he was trying to time air tix just offering an alternative. I know there's a little more to do than walk to the booth and go but everything depends on the time of day, workload and staff at CIS.

I'm meeting mine anyway, we have things to do in the week or so after arrival.

[Vaughn]

should i change her ticket to allow for more time.

YES - absolutely. Heed the "crap shoot" advice offered above by Gtex. If you cannot be there to meet her,
don't dare allow her to fiddle with such a risky window. Go for a later flight to Steelertown, OR, check out
her JFK options via Delta/Aeroflot with a connector. JFK (so long as you're not driving a car through its maze)
is EASY for those having to switch terminals, with a free (and frequent) constant shuttle train that circles
the airport, stopping at every terminal. JFK will not only reduce her flight time on both legs of the journey, it
might save both of you some money.

Regardless, I strongly suggest you ditch the current plan. It's too tight, period. Good luck.

[Faux Pas]

FWIW

My wife came through Houston. I met her there and we traveled together to my hometown. Our connector flight was 2.5 hours from our arrival which ironically was at the same time. After her getting through customs, they sent her to her departing gate a completely different way. I never got to see her until we boarded our connector. From this experience I would not recommend a 2.5 hour window to catch a connector. They were literally closing the hatch when I got there. 2.5 was cutting it wayyy too close for Houston. I expect Atlanta might be worse although I have no experience with customs in Atlanta, I've been to Hartsfield more than I care to recall. 2.5 hours just isn't enough time. If it were me doing it all over again, 4-5 hours at least

[GregfromGa]

If you can change it I would. thats just too close. If you can be in Atlanta then that would be better. Even if you both have to fly out the next day.

[chicagosenso]

Dave61,

When my wife arrived from Moscow in December 2008 she had a 3.5 hour window to get processed before her flight left JFK for San Diego and she barely made the flight.  It all depends on how many people need to be processed at the airport and how efficient the airport staff is.  Some days are quicker or slower than others. 

As others mentioned before me it is better for both of you if you meet her at the terminal and escort her back to Pittsburg.  You could have her fly into JFK and meet her with your car and drive back to PA.  The weather will be good and you will not have to worry about connecting flights.

Good luck.  The fun is just beginning, but it is worth it.

[BC]

Wasn't there a work authorization stamp that you could only get at few airports like JFK and saved a bit of hassle in the long run?

[viking]

Yes, you can get this stamp at JFK. My wife got hers without asking. But I still filed for an EAD as part of the AOS processs since it was included in the price. Not really sure if it was necessary but what the heck.

[DKMM]

I had the same question to myself years ago.  I took the "safe" route and flew there to meet her in the terminal.  Stayed overnight and took a flight the next morning.

Another thing to consider is when is the next flight?  If she misses one, Delta will rebook her for the next flight automatically (assuming its all on Delta).  so she would wait for the next flight in any case.  If her english skills are up to it, i'd say no big deal to "try" for the close connection. 

[viking]

Just be aware that Delta may charge between $150-250 to rebook a flight if it was not their fault.

[Turboguy]

I don't know if it changed but JFK used to be one of the few POE's that stamped work authorization in the Visa at the time of entry.  Of course if the plan does not include her working ASAP that may not be too important and actually all K-1's are work authorized even if they don't have the stamp (of course convincing someone of that without the stamp isn't easy). 

The safest thing is to allow more time between flights.  If Dave does decide to fly to Atlanta to meet her it does help that flying in he will also be on the good side of security which will let him wait where she comes out of customs.  When my first Fiancee arrived she flew in through Atlanta and I flew there to meet her.  The processing time in Atlanta was faster than when my wife arrived on her K-1 to JFK but I am sure just because one exerience was a little faster doesn't mean that is the rule.

Dave, a few things in general.  About 2-3 weeks after she arrives I strongly suggest you apply for a social security number for her.  If you wait it gets much harder.  Once the K-1 gets close to the expiration date you can no longer apply until after she gets her AOS/EAD/AP.  Since when you apply for the AOS they like to see things like a joint checking account that you can't get without a SS# not doing the number as soon as possible will create problems for you later.

One other thing not dealing with the K-1 aspect.  If she gets a yen for Russian cooking there is a pretty nice Russian Restaurant in Pittsburgh.  It is called Alexanders and you can find info on the internet.  There is also a couple of small shops where you can get some Russian Groceries in the same block.  I have been to Alexanders once and it is only open on weekends.  The stores are open on limited hours and not when the restaurant is open.  I have just seen them and have not been in the stores.

[Vaughn]

and actually all K-1's are work authorized even if they don't have the stamp (of course convincing someone of that without the stamp isn't easy).

Be careful here. Full authorization to work only results when the Social Security Administration recognizes
the stamp - and then matches it with a read-only "Save" screen served up by USCIS. In our case, a clerical
oversight by a then-INS employee in Texas spelled trouble. My wife was forced to wait for GC issuance
until she could boast of her "right to work"....  

Our case was not unique - yet it was considered the exception. One possibility of negative fallout for the
sponsor is that his/her K-1 partner may begin to question that sponsor's ability to navigate the complex
Immigration paper trail - a breakdown of trust that their transition process hardly needs, ie " But Bob's Natasha
and Jim's Sveta got theirs - - BLIN !! - - why not US ??? "

[Turboguy]

Vaughn,  I can agree with what you said.  That was a little of why I added that proving work authorization without the stamp would be a problem.  Most employers would want to "see" something that authorizes work.   

As I recall from when I researched this a few years ago there is a letter ruling from the SSA that says that all K-1's are work authorized.  I had printed that ruling out long ago.  If that were not the case I believe they would not issue the SS # until after AOS/EAD.  Still from a practical standpoint it would be hard for someone here on a K-1 who has not completed AOS, and didn't get the work authorization stamp in the passport to find an employer willing to hire them.

[DKMM]

Just be aware that Delta may charge between $150-250 to rebook a flight if it was not their fault.

And a misconnect because of not enough time to get through customs is "their fault" in this case.  Been there done that.

[groovlstk]

My wife went through JFK almost 4 years ago and received her work authorization stamp. It's almost useless due to the time restriction and confusion among employers who've never seen such a stamp before.

FWIW, here's my advice to the OP: Get lots of this stuff. I buy it now by the case from Amazon.