I have family coming from abroad in a few months and will be flying into JFK. They had asked me if I can give them a quick overview of the process since they are obviously unfamiliar with US airports and can’t speak any English.
I, of course, have never had to worry about the non-citizens line. I am also reasonably certain that your average immigration officer doesn’t speak 200+ languages.
Has anyone had a non-English speaking friend visit them in the states? Are people supposed to grunt at each other or do you just show your passport with visa and they wave you through? Do the airlines provide any support if there is a genuine communications barrier?
I thought about faxing a letter to my father in law just saying “My name is X and I am visiting my son-in-law Neptunian Slug for two weeks”. Do I need to?
Where are they from? Obviously they won’t be the first people in that line with the same concerns. The customs area at JFK will have people that can speak many common languages as well as signs in several languages plus plain symbols.
I’m sure that at JFK they’ve dealt with Russian speakers before. Heck, in NYC many ATMs and the Transit Authority subway pass vending machines are in Russian.
Fingerprint and photo thing? Last month I flew down in Washington, D.C. and Virginia landing at Dulles. My flight was via Toronto and I cleared there. I actually did the birth certificate and driver’s licence thing, and answered a few questions about: where was I going (Washington); why was I going (business - meetings); where did I work and what did I do (recite info from business card); who was I meeting (insert name here); and how long was I staying (4 days). My id was checked, I was given the “stamp of approval” and I moved on.
As of yesterday, if I were flying down to the States I’d be required to show my passport. Driving down, it’s not required.
I assume from this that not all foreign visitors are required to do the photo and fingerprint thing. Though I understood that there were tighter restrictions flying into Logan and Reagan.
If communications really break down, they will be sent to “the little room” where an interpreter will take care of them. Chances are, it won’t come to that.
PastAllReason for some reason Canadians are treated differently than all people when it comes to entering the US. This canuck loophole may have been closed with the recent changes.
From some random website about JFK airport.
Immigration Procedures
* Flight attendants will distribute an Immigration Arrival/Departure record form.
* Every non-U.S. citizen except permanent residents in possession of a green card or Canadian citizens, must complete an Immigration form.
* Visitors with visas fill out the white Immigration forms.
* Visitors without visas fill out green visa-waiver forms.
Also the entry forms ( the one which asks ‘Are you or have you ever been a Terrorist [y]/[n]’ ) are available in a huge number of languages certainly including Russian. Do tell them not to bring any food with them, as food can require being asked questions by customs officials, and avoid any alchohol that is not from a big name supplier and not bought from duty free shops. That should reduce the number of questions that they need to answer.
Also make sure they have the address they will be staying at and a pen on hand so they can fill out the forms easily.
My girlfriend, who was born in Russia, related the following story to me just now: about three years ago, she arrived back from a trip to Russia without her green card (it had been stolen a couple of months prior). While this was being straightened out, she got to sit in the room in back with a few other Russian folks who had just arrived with questionable credentials of their own. While she knew English, the other Russian folks didn’t; but the customs & passport people didn’t speak any Russian to them, and my girlfriend had to translate a question or two for them.
It’s possible that there was an interpreter somewhere else, but you might want to keep this cautionary tale in mind.
Not yet, but it’s closing. As of last Tuesday, Canadian citizens flying to the States must show passports. Those driving or sailing may still use other ID (birth certificate and driver’s license are the most common, I think), until some time in 2008. I understand that this was always technically a ‘courtesy’ on the part of US Immigration, and they could reject non-passport ID at any time.
Non-Canadian citizens need to show their passports and abide by visa rules when crossing from Canada, as when arriving from anywhere else.
Now, an interesting question is, do countries select the immigration officers on duty depending on when flights are arriving, so that they will have the appropriate languages on hand? I am beginning to wonder about this. When I went to Europe, I changed planes at Schiphol airport, but passed through Customs and Immigration at Helsinki. The Finnish Immigration agent spoke English. (I was extremely relieved.)
I’m going to Japan in August (cross fingers), nonstop Toronto to Tokyo. I presume the Japanese authorities will have English-speaking and possibly French-speaking agents on hand for that flight…?