25

I will get married in March, and shortly after the wedding we will be traveling together to the US. She does not have US citizenship. So which rules do we follow?

  1. Do I pass through the US citizen lane, and her through the foreigner lane?
  2. Or do we pass together as a single family (and if so, through which lane)?
Flimzy
  • 20,437
  • 15
  • 89
  • 162

2 Answers2

27

The fact that you're newlywed is irrelevant. What is important is that you are one family travelling together.

I've been in exact this situation before. I am an American citizen and my wife is not. Whenever we fly to the USA, we'd go through the immigration together - through the lanes for "Non-US passports". We give two passports together - mine and hers (with the visa). The agent usually checks her details first, get her fingerprint scan, then quickly scans my passport, says something like "Welcome home" - and we're in.

That said, last time we flew to the USA was about a year ago. Furthermore, different airports may have different policies regarding this. We usually fly to BOS (Boston Logan) and once to New York (JFK).

I do think though that you should be fine going together, but make sure to go via the "non-US passports" lanes.

Aleks G
  • 14,402
  • 3
  • 51
  • 90
6

You can use either line. I've been repeatedly told to use the US citizens' line with my wife, who is not a US citizen. In the past, I was told to use the US citizens' line with my then girlfriend, who was not a US citizen and with whom I did not live. She didn't even live in the same country where I lived at the time.

Whichever line you choose, you should go together if you live together, since family members living at the same address are supposed to submit a joint customs declaration.

phoog
  • 143,317
  • 20
  • 298
  • 485