arrival at sanford and immigration advice

[LeeBarlow]

Hi all

going through sanford aiport in a weeks time and its our first time to the states and was wondering what the process is for getting into the states.

Do they take fingerprints of all adults only ? and photos ?
do they ask where you are staying or do they just check your visa waiver ?
do they need to ask every member of your party where thye are staying ?
and do they question the kids ?

Was just getting a bit nervous last night.

thanks

Lee

 

[carolfoy]

its really quite straightforward, they fingerprint adults only and they do this quickly whilst they're inputting stuff on the computer, and the photo is just an eye scan thing through a mini webcam. the visa waiver form should state the full address (don't forget the zip code!) of the hotel you are staying in on THE FIRST NIGHT ONLY and his is all they need.
If any member of your party has a seperate home address they will have to fill out a white form seperately from the standard green ones every one fills out. Don't worry about it, its really straight forward, just make sure you get everything down correctly as they will send you to the back of the queue to do it again if its wrong and this is what takes up so much time

 

[LeeBarlow]

thanks for the advice

Just wondered, is the visa waiver only filled in by 1 member of party ?
or by all adults ?

also I have seen an example of the I-94 form and it says
city that visa was issued in ? what do you class as the city visa was issued ?
I presume its orlando ?

thanks

Lee

 

[bazzanoid]

thanks for the advice

Just wondered, is the visa waiver only filled in by 1 member of party ?
or by all adults ?

also I have seen an example of the I-94 form and it says
city that visa was issued in ? what do you class as the city visa was issued ?
I presume its orlando ?

thanks

Lee

The issuing city is London / Manchester / Glasgow - whichever airport you take off from. There are two forms - the standard visa waiver form which all members need to fill in, and an additional form (can't remember which colour, they will tell you in-flight) that needs to be filled in one per household address - i.e. four of you might live at one address, three at another, one at another, so you would need one form per address.

Sounds confusing, but they explain it in plain english on the plane!

 

[#1MMFan]

Visa Waiver form for each person in the party (I'm not sure about kids, but I would presume also). The white form is a customs form - one per group with the same surname living in the same household.

Dead easy to complete. Just make sure you don't make any mistakes and score through or I believe they'll make you do it again.... and you don't want to annoy the immigration officer!

We never needed to put a ZIP code when we write we are staying at Wilderness Lodge, Orlando FL. That seems to be enough info.

Oh and regards city that the visa was issued in.... that's not the same form... I know because someone gave me that form by mistake on my recent trip, and I had to request the waiver form.... The whole point of the Visa Waiver is that you HAVEN'T been issued a visa!!!!!!!!!!

 

[carolfoy]

1 green form per person (you sign on behalf of children) and one white form per home address.
to reiterate #1MMFAn, there is no 'city where visa was issued' question, there is a 'country where passport was issued' question, to which I always put UK. There is always a 'city where you embarked the plane' question which will be London/Manchester etc

 

[LeeBarlow]

Do middle names have to be filled in on the first name section ?

 

[carolfoy]

can't really remember but I'm sure its first name only and surname (family) name - please don't worry about it, its very easy and the cabin crew will help you if you get stuck, try and pick up a few extra forms at the check in desk in case of mistakes and keep your passports to hand for the numbers

 

[Lisash]

Please don't worry the immigration process is really not that bad. Just take care to fill the forms in correctly as it saves you being sent off to fill in more when you arrive. I always ask for a couple of spares at check in and the cabin crew generally have spares on board as well. You can get asked a lot of questions on arrival, it seems to depend on the immigration official you end up with. We always seem to get asked where we are staying and how long our trip is, a couple of times they have chatted to the children about what school year they are in do they like school etc (I suppose to check they are who their passports claim them to be) but it is always in a lighthearted chatty way really so you hardly notice. Have a great trip