Traveling to the US as a mixed nationality family

Misku · Post by **Misku** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:12 pm

Hi there,

I hope someone will have the answer to this question! My husband and baby daughter are Finnish citizens and I am a US citizen. We'll be traveling to the US together in a few days, and I'm wondering if it's fine for us all to go through the US citizens' queue since we're traveling together as a family. A few years ago, my husband was told by an airport immigration official that he could have gone through the US citizens' queue with me, but these measures are changing so rapidly that I don't trust that this is still the case.

Do any of you have experience of this? Thanks in advance for your help!

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ajl · Post by **ajl** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:05 pm

In our experience immigration at each airport is different, but the trend has been they are getting fussier and less likely to be
family friendly. I think last time the spouse travelled alone with some of our kids, he went through the non US line with the US kids.
You might want to ask in some place like travel with children forum in flyertalk.com .

On the plus side, getting two kid's passport renewed (after visit to the embassy) is faster than any expedited service in the US, I think it took 6 days!
Hope it goes as fast for the other two when their passports are close to expiration.

JuliaB · Post by **JuliaB** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 4:14 pm

When traveling we always go through the US citizens lane. And on return go through the EU lane. We have never been questioned about this or told to go in different lanes, it has always been fine. Safe travels.

AldenG · Post by **AldenG** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 4:39 pm

Before my wife acquired US citizenship, we almost always went through the US line when traveling together. There was only one time we split up. I asked the inspector and he said we should have gone together because traveling as a family affected the allowances and notations they made for customs.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Whichever way you do it, they'll tell you that you should have done it the other way. But I'll bet you could find something about it on their website. The ICE agents won't know or even care what the website says, but at least you'll know you're doing it right.

Kristina2 · Post by **Kristina2** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 5:32 pm

We are a multinational family as well (and have had different resident permits/visas too) and it has always been our experience to go the citizenship or residents queue. Only once have we had problems (grouchy customs officer) and even in that case the supervisor said that we were correct. After long flights with kids we generally take whatever queue looks to be the fastest....plead ignorance if needed

Have a safe trip.

Misku · Post by **Misku** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 7:09 pm

Thanks so much everyone! We're going to go for the citizens line and just look desperate (which might not be far from the truth after 13 hours of travel with a small baby) if they stop us.

Niblet · Post by **Niblet** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:42 am

I'm a US citz and my other half and children are UK citz. We've done both. Gone through the separate lines and then the guy dealing with my family called me over to join them. We've also asked if we could go through together. It just depends on what mood their in, how busy, how stressed you look, how many kids you have. I'd definitely try going together, it's much easier.

Misku · Post by **Misku** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:04 am

They sent us through the line for US citizens and the whole process was much faster than usual! Thanks for your help.

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