Immigration at US: What to Do After You Land in America

What are the next steps before you arrive in the US?

Okay, so obviously, when you get approved at the embassy, the next step is you're going to book a plane flight for you. And if you're married, or you have kids or members of your family, and then you're going to fly into a particular airport in the US, and you're going to go through what you'll see a big line people, US citizens go to gate one, number one, green card holders go to gate number two temporary visas, go to gate number three, no. So you're gonna get in the proper line, you know, you're gonna, you're a potential green card holder. But remember, even though the Embassy has granted your case, you're not actually a green card holder until you get admitted into the US.

Okay, so the agency is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, it's called Customs and Border Protection. And again, that's my wife used to be one of those agents at the airport. Okay. And when you come through the line, most people you know, they're just out you have a green card. How long have you been out of the US? Where do you go, okay, stamp, and you're in in two minutes, right. But if you're somebody who just got approved at the embassy, it's not quite that easy.

So when you go through the line, they're going to say, Oh, you just got approved at the embassy, and they're going to send you to a room. And it's, you know, nothing for you to worry about this, just how the procedure works at the airport, it's called secondary inspection. And then they're going to open up the envelope that the embassy gave you. And they're gonna ask for your passport. And they're going to ask you a few questions. And you know, where you're coming to work, where you're gonna live, you know, the view, you have a Nurse License in this state, so on and so forth. And then, you know, it could be 15 minutes, but it could be two or three hours, just depending on their, their backlog there. So, you know, bring a book to read or whatever, because you, you may be sitting in a chair for a couple hours, and you're, you know, if your relatives picking you up at the airport, you better load, let them know, in advance that, you know, you're not going to come out right when the when the when your luggage comes out.

So they should just pick up your luggage and sit at the airport and wait for you to come out. But after they asked the questions, if everything goes right, they'll stamp your passport, that's the minute you'll become a green card holder. Moment. Exactly. And if it doesn't happen often, but if something is questionable, and they they can't make a decision there, they'll give you a temporary entry. And they'll refer you to something called deferred inspection. And I've been to quite a few of those deferred inspection interviews. And that means like in a week or two, whatever, whatever time they give you, you don't have to go to this local CBP office. And they'll ask you questions about, you know, didn't you? Didn't the employer say you had a job in Los Angeles? And you then you told them at the airport, you're going to Idaho? I mean, what's that all about? You know, so they will, they will clear that up. And then if you if you pass the deferred inspection, they'll they'll stamp you at the CBP office rather than at the airport.

Okay. Well, that's, that's interesting information. And I think it's good to kind of set your expectations. And that, you know, you might be at the airport for a few minutes, or it might be longer or you you know, you might have a deferred action. I have to tell you, I've been doing this for many, many years Connetics USA Nusing agency  have been bringing 1000s of nurses to the US, and we've never actually seen a nurse case go to this deferred action before. So hopefully, it wouldn't happen to anybody who's watching and but in our experience, it's really more. You know, it's the officer that you get when you come into the airport. Some people kind of go through in very quickly, a few minutes. And for some, some people, it depends on the officer they might take longer. So they are again, just important to be prepared, and to have that expectation.