DocW

After a long struggle with mountains of paperwork, I am now officially in possession of an O1 visa! I had a question which you folks might know the answer to. Normally when I get to Logan I go in the right hand queue (red is it?) which is for all visitors to the US. The other queue is for "citizens and permanent residents" I think.

Do you know if I still have to go in the "visitors" queue now I have the visa?

Thanks

DocW

bernardd

Sorry, yes - the other line is for Citizens & Permanent Residents, ie Green (actually pink) Card Holders.

LeisureFirst

Well done. The immigration agent may well be quite impressed that you have an O visa - the most prestigious sort there is. But you still have to queue up with all the tourists in the queue for grubby foreigners I'm afraid.

stevenshev

Yes, well done on the O visa. Logan? Heading to Cambridge, I presume?

Though I don't think the folks at ICE will be all too impressed - I'm sure they see plenty of every category of visa.

CaptainMiles

The ICE folks will treat you well. Once time when I entered on an O1 the inspector even showed me how to fill out the back side of the white I-94, the side "for government use only" . There are quite a few boxes they fill in. He said it would expedite things if next time I filled these out myself. I filled it out many times, and inspectors were always thankful.

But watch out for the airlines. I had two problems, back in the days when O visas were new.

1. One airline, I forget which but may have been Lufthansa, claimed the visa was void because it was a ZERO (not Oh, because Oh was not on their list yet). Took some convincing.

2. Swissair (rip) had in their computers that O visas were for members of the clergy. At check-in they asked what religion I was preaching for, I said none, and they insisted there must have been a mistake with my visa, it had to be wrong, and I would surely be turned away, so they refused to board me. I had a bunch of supporting documentation, but they insisted it was all wrong. Eventually a supervisor left me board after I signed some form accepting liability in case the visa was bad.

I think these were all early problems in the early days of O visas. You're probably okay now. Enjoy your trip and the visitors line.

bizclassboy

does not matter what line you are in they are trained to deal with all foriegners and talk to them like s"#*

sunrisegirl

No they don't. They've never treated me with anything but the utmost of courtesy and friendliness. Give me the US over the UK any day.

Still you reap what you sow, so perhaps that's why you're treated in the way you are. Perhaps they don't warm to your constant negativity

NoTiersForMe

OT: my cockles were warmed to see OP refer to that particular airport by name and not three letter code. Nostalgia of native New England. Have nothing to contribute on lines/queues though except for fact that when I arrive [after 20 years resident in UK] they always say "welcome home" but I think that's what they do with US citizens who live abroad, or have been abroad?

Phrantic

Canadians can still use the 'Citizens and PR's' line right?

SeeBuyFly

Since it is must be reasonably obvious to the OP that he/she is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident, I am not sure why this thread exists, unless it is merely a way to mention the O1 visa.

seanp7

I don't know about that. When I first got my visa, I was moving to 'reside' in the US and did think twice about which queue to go in. Fair question, and FT can be a friendly place to ask these sorts of things.

It does seem a bit odd if you've been here for years, own property, consider it your home, etc that you are still very much a 'visitor' to immigration! Those are the rules...

I've also had the lecture (it wasn't a nice one) about how I'M responsible for filling in 3-4 fields on the 'Government Use Only' side. I said "I've never been told to do that in 5 years", and he said "well others aren't doing their job".

SeeBuyFly

It's true that 'visitor' is an imprecise term. But I don't think any of your listed activities and thoughts by themselves make you either a 'citizen' or a 'permanent resident', both of which are quite precise terms. So you join the other line, whatever it may be called.

I do realize that the other line is staffed such that it is usually slower; such explicit discrimination is legal, but as someone who has been in both lines, I wish they wouldn't do that.

And even when it does not take longer, there is still a certain something about being in the 'elite' line, which FTers are particularly attuned to.

squeeler

Well said! The US immigration and security staff (TSA) are mostly a real breath of fresh air compared with the miserable unmentionables at LHR. The people at GSO and RDU are truly lovely - but that is the south.

LHR is really a national disgrace; even the woman in IRIS sounds fairly stroppy!

squeeler

Surely it is right that a country should give some advantage (in terms of queuing time) to its own citizens returning home? And why us the word 'discrimination' in such a pejorative way (as is so often done these days, as if there is the chance of a government-funded law suit and 'compo' round the corner'). Without discrimination society would fall to bits; it is a good job that BA discriminate when deciding who they will allow to fly aircraft (qualified pilots) and those who will not be permitted (everyone else).

Roger

No, at least not at EWR on Thursday where we had a delightful discussion in the queue with a Canadian lady who had heard all about George Galloway MP and how right it was that he be banned from Canada. She had been directed to the furriners line by a TSA person.