I just went through immigration/customs in Dallas. There is nothing more terrifying to a foreigner than to go through immigration at the airport. Depending on who you get, you might be treated like the nice person you are, or the criminal they assume you might be.
Usually they take your information and ask you questions to try to trip you up. Before I had a greencard, I had a work visa provided by my employer. Questions at immigration ranged from “where do you work” to “how far is your work from where you live?” — just to see if you got your story straight. I was so nervous when I answered, that I was always surprised they never took me to the little room for questioning (as it has happened to other people I know).
This was my first time traveling as a greencard holder (aka Permanent Resident), so I got to get on the short line! The foreigners line was a mile long! Nice. This is how it went with the officer:
ina: (handing over passport, greencard and driver’s license) Hello
Officer: (takes my documents and starts scanning) Hello, how are you today?
ina: Good
Officer: How did you get your greencard?
ina: Through my husband
Officer: Where does he work?… or is he a citizen?
ina: He’s a citizen
Officer: How did you meet your husband?
ina: College. 7 years ago, now.
Officer: Fair enough. How long was your stay in Venezuela this time?
ina: One week
Officer: (handing over my documents) Thanks, have a good flight.
And that was it. I was nervous as hell that he would notice the different last names in my greencard versus the passport, but he didn’t say anything about it.
(singing tune from West Side Story) Tini nini ninAmerica… tini nini ninAmerica!
Good to be home. I got a few more blogs to post and it might take me all week to get to all of them, but stay tuned!
ina