Immigration- how long will we wait, anything we should know?

[Lisbon]

Originally Posted by dreamisawish

no problem, hope someone can answer your question for you!

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I'm not 100% but I think its same surname and address and you can all go forward, there is normally someone walking along the queue telling people to turn their phones off who will be able to tell you for sure.
As for time - it is down to lots of things, how many desks are open, how many planes have recently landed
Good luck
Rob

[alanda]

We have always gone up as a family group even though me and DH have different surnames

[mick]

Originally Posted by scouse_minx

Ohhhh but I met one that was auditioning Mick!

Last visit in 2016... immigration officer asked where I was staying and I told him Disney’s Polynesian Resort...he asked what for? So I said..’Family holiday...’

He said...’Are you sure? Because they have convention centres at Disney and are you sure you’re not attending a bomb convention?’ Then he bursts out laughing... and I’m just in shock... like do I laugh or deny it or laugh?

I went for a nervous giggle and was waved through

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Strange sense of humour I'm sure that he wouldn't have been amused had it been you who said it.

Mick

[IBEX23]

Originally Posted by mick

Strange sense of humour I'm sure that he wouldn't have been amused had it been you who said it.

Mick

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Exactly! I’d never been so shocked... he’d actually said the word bomb at an airport! I was thinking if a tourist had of made the same joke they would’ve been hauled off. Myself and my ex DH had commented on how odd it was for months after!

[Trusty ian]

We all go up together , a right mixture we are , my 2 kids, now grown ups have my surname but live at there mums address. Then me and my partner same address but different surnames. Then partners daughter lives at same address but different surname to her mum( her dad's surname) . And to top it off not only she got her dad's surname , her first name she never liked ( Michelle ) and is known as Ellie. .
Was I bit awkward when she was young when officer asked her name!
So any combo they accept in one group

[winterphoenix]

Wait time really does depend on when your flight arrives and if another flight has arrived just before yours. We were 90 minutes last time but my friend who went 2 weeks later was 2.5 hours.

[CavySlave]

US Customs and Border Patrol actually post average wait times on their website for clearing Immigration along with the number of planes landing in the same hour and the number of booths open. Although the rest of the CBP website is not being update this data is being uploaded still.

So although you cannot tell for definite what the queue times will be like, it does give you a rough timescale for clearing customs.

[dreamisawish]

Originally Posted by CavySlave

US Customs and Border Patrol actually post average wait times on their website for clearing Immigration along with the number of planes landing in the same hour and the number of booths open. Although the rest of the CBP website is not being update this data is being uploaded still.

So although you cannot tell for definite what the queue times will be like, it does give you a rough timescale for clearing customs.

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Thanks for this, just looked at last Monday- as we also fly in on a Monday- and it looks like average wait time for international citizens from 16-17:00 was only 19 minutes so fingers crossed we have that kind of luck!

[captbnut]

We got asked about food. We had a couple of the small squash bottles so said 'squash'. We had an extra scan because they wanted to make sure it wasn't a pumpkin.

We're going to say 'cordial' next time.

[dreamisawish]

Originally Posted by captbnut

We got asked about food. We had a couple of the small squash bottles so said 'squash'. We had an extra scan because they wanted to make sure it wasn't a pumpkin.

We're going to say 'cordial' next time.

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that’s a great story though!

We are also thinking of bringing one of those extra concentrated mini bottles of squash, as I’ve heard the theme park tap water they have available doesn’t taste great. We will make sure to write concentrated juice 15ml or something to be clear.