Marocco

A few days ago I entered the US under the VWP. The immigration officer
in Las Vegas asked me if my passport was new. When I said it was (I had
obtained it six weeks earlier) she took me into a small room with about
15 other people sitting there, all of them Europeans. My wife was asked
to wait outside. At first I thought this was because my wife is American
and they regarded me as a potential immigrant. Later however an
immigration officer told us they had to interview everyone travelling on
a new passport. When my turn finally came the interview lasted about 15-
20 minutes. I was asked several questions about my background,
citizenship, current job, previous job, etc. My answers were entered
into a computer. The officer told me they'd had several problems with
the new biometric passports and they needed to do this in order to
prevent identity theft (I thought it better not to comment on the fact
that these new passports had been introduced at the US government's
request). I asked if my passport would still be considered "new" six
months from now and was told it might, but they didn't know for sure.
The whole process was not unfriendly but rather time consuming and I
almost missed my connecting flight. It sounded like this procedure is
official policy everywhere, but I don't know if it only applies to those
travelling under the VWP or to everyone else as well.

Spirited

> A few days ago I entered the US under the VWP. The immigration officer
> in Las Vegas asked me if my passport was new. When I said it was (I
> had obtained it six weeks earlier) she took me into a small room with
> about 15 other people sitting there, all of them Europeans. My wife
> was asked to wait outside. At first I thought this was because my wife
> is American and they regarded me as a potential immigrant. Later
> however an immigration officer told us they had to interview everyone
> travelling on a new passport. When my turn finally came the interview
> lasted about 15-20 minutes. I was asked several questions about my
> background, citizenship, current job, previous job, etc. My answers
> were entered into a computer. The officer told me they'd had several
> problems with the new biometric passports and they needed to do this
> in order to prevent identity theft (I thought it better not to comment
> on the fact that these new passports had been introduced at the US
> government's request). I asked if my passport would still be
> considered "new" six months from now and was told it might, but they
> didn't know for sure. The whole process was not unfriendly but rather
> time consuming and I almost missed my connecting flight. It sounded
> like this procedure is official policy everywhere, but I don't know if
> it only applies to those travelling under the VWP or to everyone else
> as well.

Im travelling next week on one of those new passports, i hope it isnt
like that then....

Sapphyre

Your experience isn't a whole lot different than mine. When I got my
new Canadian passport after I naturalized, my first use of it enter
the US I was asked a whole bunch of questions (what my nationality was
before, when I was last in my home country, where I travelled to in
the past ten years, what my parents did for a living in Canada, what
school I went to, where I work, how much money I earn, how many hours
a week I work, what my regular days off are, whether I rent or own my
house, who lives in the house with me), and I was searched as well at
secondary (which just meant the female officer went through my bag
with all my papers...)

I got the impression I was searched and questionned because I was a
new Canadian and it was the first time I had used that passport to
enter the US. I was asked to tell all the times I previously went to
the US under my former nationality and how long I stayed there, then
questioned about "what friends" I have on the US side. In Canada,
place of birth is mentioned on the passport, so it's very obvious
where I'm from, no hiding it. The passport office told me if I left my
place of birth off (which they will do if you request it in writing
with a reason), but I could be refused entry for hiding that fact (if
they wanted to know).

Sounds to me like they want to get a background on everyone who isn't
in their system. I don't mind most of the questioning, but some of it
is very intrusive. Canadians are now asking me every time I enter if I
went anywhere else other than the US, but other countries stamp a
foreign passport (the US doesn't do it to Canadians, but every other
country does). I figure they're asking because I could be using a
second passport to travel elsewhere and only transit the US. The US
never assumes I'm in transit only because I always have documents to
back up my intent to vacation or visit there for that period of time,
and I have proof of return for the date I tell them I'm leaving.

S.

On Aug 2, 5:51 pm, Marocco <member66...@nomx.britishexpats.com> wrote:
> A few days ago I entered the US under the VWP. The immigration officer
> in Las Vegas asked me if my passport was new. When I said it was (I had
> obtained it six weeks earlier) she took me into a small room with about
> 15 other people sitting there, all of them Europeans. My wife was asked
> to wait outside. At first I thought this was because my wife is American
> and they regarded me as a potential immigrant. Later however an
> immigration officer told us they had to interview everyone travelling on
> a new passport. When my turn finally came the interview lasted about 15-
> 20 minutes. I was asked several questions about my background,
> citizenship, current job, previous job, etc. My answers were entered
> into a computer. The officer told me they'd had several problems with
> the new biometric passports and they needed to do this in order to
> prevent identity theft (I thought it better not to comment on the fact
> that these new passports had been introduced at the US government's
> request). I asked if my passport would still be considered "new" six
> months from now and was told it might, but they didn't know for sure.
> The whole process was not unfriendly but rather time consuming and I
> almost missed my connecting flight. It sounded like this procedure is
> official policy everywhere, but I don't know if it only applies to those
> travelling under the VWP or to everyone else as well.
>
> --
> Posted viahttp://britishexpats.com

Meauxna

> A few days ago I entered the US under the VWP. The immigration officer
> in Las Vegas asked me if my passport was new. When I said it was (I
> had obtained it six weeks earlier) she took me into a small room with
> about 15 other people sitting there, all of them Europeans. My wife
> was asked to wait outside. At first I thought this was because my wife
> is American and they regarded me as a potential immigrant. Later
> however an immigration officer told us they had to interview everyone
> travelling on a new passport. When my turn finally came the interview
> lasted about 15-20 minutes. I was asked several questions about my
> background, citizenship, current job, previous job, etc. My answers
> were entered into a computer. The officer told me they'd had several
> problems with the new biometric passports and they needed to do this
> in order to prevent identity theft (I thought it better not to comment
> on the fact that these new passports had been introduced at the US
> government's request). I asked if my passport would still be
> considered "new" six months from now and was told it might, but they
> didn't know for sure. The whole process was not unfriendly but rather
> time consuming and I almost missed my connecting flight. It sounded
> like this procedure is official policy everywhere, but I don't know if
> it only applies to those travelling under the VWP or to everyone else
> as well.

New story to me. My newly minted US citizen spouse (UKC) used his brand
new emergency-issued passport one week after his oath ceremony last
summer.
Scanned on return, where've you been chit chat and not even a Welcome
Home (until I dug the officer to say so).

Sorry you got the run around, and hope it doesn't happen in the future.

Welcome Home!

Boiler

> New story to me. My newly minted US citizen spouse (UKC) used his
> brand new emergency-issued passport one week after his oath ceremony
> last summer.
> Scanned on return, where've you been chit chat and not even a Welcome
> Home (until I dug the officer to say so).
>
> Sorry you got the run around, and hope it doesn't happen in the
> future.
>
> Welcome Home!

Mine was a few weeks old, also no prob.

Ray

> Mine was a few weeks old, also no prob.

Sound like a story to appease you ....
they most probably checkig something else ...

English Muffin

> Sound like a story to appease you ....
> they most probably checkig something else ...

I entered via Boston in January of this year with a new biometric
passport and had no problems. The IO did ask if it was new and if I'd
ever travelled to the US previously and when I answer 'yes' to both
questions he just waved me through. I'm going again in September so
it'll be interesting to see what happens then.

Gillian

Marocco

> New story to me. My newly minted US citizen spouse (UKC) used his
> brand new emergency-issued passport one week after his oath ceremony
> last summer.
> Scanned on return, where've you been chit chat and not even a Welcome
> Home (until I dug the officer to say so).
>
> Sorry you got the run around, and hope it doesn't happen in the
> future.
>
> Welcome Home!

Just to clarify, I was referring to people who come to the US with a
brand new foreign passport under the Visa Waiver Program (I also meant
new passport in the sense of new travel document, not new
citizenship). From what I could see everyone else in the waiting room
was trying to use the VWP, since they all had green forms sticking out
of their passports. Apart from one person with an Italian passport and
one with a Spanish passport, they all seemed to be northern Europeans.
From what the officer told us it sounded like this was a new general
policy, not just something they had decided to do in Las Vegas. What
annoyed me a bit was that I had an older, perfectly valid, non-
biometric passport with me, and if I had used that I would probably
have had no trouble at all.

Marocco

> New story to me. My newly minted US citizen spouse (UKC) used his
> brand new emergency-issued passport one week after his oath ceremony
> last summer.
> Scanned on return, where've you been chit chat and not even a Welcome
> Home (until I dug the officer to say so).
>
> Sorry you got the run around, and hope it doesn't happen in the
> future.
>
> Welcome Home!

Thanks , but unfortunately home for me is on the other side of the
pond... Although I would love to live here someday.

L D Jones

meauxna wrote:
>> A few days ago I entered the US under the VWP. The immigration officer
>> in Las Vegas asked me if my passport was new. When I said it was (I
>> had obtained it six weeks earlier) she took me into a small room with
>> about 15 other people sitting there, all of them Europeans. My wife
>> was asked to wait outside. At first I thought this was because my wife
>> is American and they regarded me as a potential immigrant. Later
>> however an immigration officer told us they had to interview everyone
>> travelling on a new passport. When my turn finally came the interview
>> lasted about 15-20 minutes. I was asked several questions about my
>> background, citizenship, current job, previous job, etc. My answers
>> were entered into a computer. The officer told me they'd had several
>> problems with the new biometric passports and they needed to do this
>> in order to prevent identity theft (I thought it better not to comment
>> on the fact that these new passports had been introduced at the US
>> government's request). I asked if my passport would still be
>> considered "new" six months from now and was told it might, but they
>> didn't know for sure. The whole process was not unfriendly but rather
>> time consuming and I almost missed my connecting flight. It sounded
>> like this procedure is official policy everywhere, but I don't know if
>> it only applies to those travelling under the VWP or to everyone else
>> as well.
>
> New story to me. My newly minted US citizen spouse (UKC) used his brand
> new emergency-issued passport one week after his oath ceremony last
> summer.
> Scanned on return, where've you been chit chat and not even a Welcome
> Home (until I dug the officer to say so).
>
> Sorry you got the run around, and hope it doesn't happen in the future.
>
> Welcome Home!
>

it appears the OP didn't enter the US with a US passport but a new
'foreign' passport