# US citizen with non-US spouse entering US to visit, which line?



## Frank bcn (Nov 25, 2013)

When we go back to the states to visit, do her and I enter our respective customs lines? Or does she come with me in the US line?


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

Frank bcn said:


> When we go back to the states to visit, do her and I enter our respective customs lines? Or does she come with me in the US line?


This has come up before and apparently the answer depends on what airport you fly into. But I can tell you without a doubt that if you fly into Boston both of you must go together in the non-US citizen line. I just flew in with my Spanish husband in August, and I asked (yet again) if we couldn't both go in the US citizen line. They said absolutely not. We had to stay together as a family group, and if anyone in the family wasn't a US citizen or green card holder the entire family group had to go through the non-US citizen line.


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## Frank bcn (Nov 25, 2013)

kalohi said:


> This has come up before and apparently the answer depends on what airport you fly into. But I can tell you without a doubt that if you fly into Boston both of you must go together in the non-US citizen line. I just flew in with my Spanish husband in August, and I asked (yet again) if we couldn't both go in the US citizen line. They said absolutely not. We had to stay together as a family group, and if anyone in the family wasn't a US citizen or green card holder the entire family group had to go through the non-US citizen line.


Interesting. I am reading up on other travel forums and it seems to depend on the airport, as you mentioned. Also, some of the personnel that work the lines are contractors who might not know actual policy, and not official agents. 

You had to go to the non-US line in Boston? Bummer.


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## kimuyen (Aug 8, 2013)

*Residency permit application "archivado"*

Sorry, meant to post a new thread. It seems I can't delete this post in error.


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## Brangus (May 1, 2010)

Frank bcn said:


> Interesting. I am reading up on other travel forums and it seems to depend on the airport, as you mentioned. Also, some of the personnel that work the lines are contractors who might not know actual policy, and not official agents.


We had an incident in Houston within the past two years in which one person told us the U.S. line was fine, but then another came and screamed at us for being in the wrong line. He did let us stay, but he was super nasty.


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## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

Frank bcn said:


> Interesting. I am reading up on other travel forums and it seems to depend on the airport, as you mentioned. Also, some of the personnel that work the lines are contractors who might not know actual policy, and not official agents.
> 
> You had to go to the non-US line in Boston? Bummer.


I enter Boston as a non-citizen and Spain as a citizen. 
I'm a citizen of the US and just a lowly resident of Spain.











Every year I ask the helpful government employee who guards the end of the line. The first year after getting married I went through the citizens' line in Boston. They didn't get angry, but they did scold me, telling me I needed to go through the other line. 

Oh well. That's what we get for marrying foreigners.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

The way I understand it, for a "mixed" couple, if you want to go through the lines together, you both must go in the non-citizens line. I have done so a couple of times (particularly in Boston) and while they don't seem too wild about it, it seems to fly. Just be careful and let the non-citizen respond to questions on their own without trying to help them. (That always seems to get me in trouble.)

A few places really don't seem to be too happy with that solution. We've gone through separately before, but then you have to explain that you don't have the little landing card thingee because your spouse has it (only one card per family) and they are in the other line.

Of the airports I've flown through, I have to say that Boston generally is the most reasonable about these things. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## ddang (Jun 21, 2012)

I'm US and hubby is UK. My husband and I flew thru Atlanta and enter together the non US line and the IO told us we could have gone thru the U.S. Line and it would have been a lot quicker. He was very nice about it.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Experiences vary, obviously. U.S. CBP has given me permission to bring my non-citizen spouse with me to the line for U.S. citizens.

Note that non-citizen spouses are generally able to participate in the U.S. Global Entry program as long as their U.S. citizen-spouses do. That'd be a good solution to the double line problem.


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## Frank bcn (Nov 25, 2013)

For such an important issue, the airport policies seem a little arbitrary, right? My fiance asked me about this topic because she hated going through the non-US line. I think she is marrying me just to try to get in the US line when visiting the states. Quicker lines means more time shopping at the outlets for her. ;(
The Global Entry program looks good. I will have to check it out.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Another solution is to fly to the United States from an airport with U.S. Customs and Immigration preclearance. Then you don't particularly care which line you use -- and there may not even be separate lines anyway. In nearly all cases everybody hitting that line (or those lines) is getting on the same airplane together, and everybody leaves at the same time. (Well, OK, the First Class passengers take off slightly before the Economy Class passengers do. )


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Does it really matter? It is a formality at the end of a flight.


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## Frank bcn (Nov 25, 2013)

Yep, it matters to me, especially if we need to connect to another flight in time. If my wife and I chose to enter a customs line together then to find out that we did something wrong, it can become a headache to be escorted out of a line to go to the back of another line...due to formalities.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Just be aware that each of you will have to enroll individually in the Global Entry program - and based on what BBCWatcher said, I would check to see if the program is limited to spouses of US citizens. (I saw a couple who wanted to use the husband's GE pass to get through the lines more quickly and they were told that each family member had to have their own membership in order to both use the service.)

And I see it's only available for US citizens or permanent residents, so unless she lives in the States, she may be out of luck.
Cheers,
Bev


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Our experiences passing through MIA are both go together through the US citizen line.


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## koppazee (Mar 11, 2011)

The last time I returned to the States, the line for non US citizens had hundreds of people at JFK while there was no waiting on the citizens line. A couple just in front of me had a citizen and a non citizen. They asked and were told to pass through the citizens line. I suspect it depend upon the staff working at that time. Warm regards!


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

I agree with Frank, it matters. But (for us anyway) it doesn't matter as long as the slower person through passport control arrives at baggage claim when (or very soon after) the checked baggage does. If the baggage has hit the carousel but my wife hasn't, then we're actually delayed. If I'm waiting for _both_ our baggage and my wife, then it's no (additional) problem.

This cuts both ways. It just depends on what country we're entering, assuming we have to use separate lines. (Sometimes we don't.) The first person through waits at baggage claim, and if the second person through arrives just about when the bags do (or before), nobody has lost any time except the time that had to be lost.


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