Landing at POE not closest to work location

[rajMarch212011]

Dear All,

I have H1B stamped and genuine work as a FTE with a mid-size firm in Sacramanto, CA. This information is consistent across my LCA, company letters, letter to USCIS and I-129.

So if I land at a POE say in Chicago or NY which are far away from my work location can this be grounds for deportation and visa cancellation.

Kindly advice. JoeF, Pontevichio, t75 would appreciate your response on this.

Thanks,

Rajat

[rahul412]

So if I land at a POE say in Chicago or NY which are far away from my work location can this be grounds for deportation and visa cancellation.

You can land at any airport.

[rajMarch212011]

You can land at any airport.

Thanks.

So do i need to have tickets for onward journey upto my work place. I mean if my trip terminates at Chicago and I work in California that is fine by CBP. Or I would need to explain why i want to go to Chicago. Meet a friend/relative and tell their address and phone number etc.

[rahul412]

Thanks.

So do i need to have tickets for onward journey upto my work place. I mean if my trip terminates at Chicago and I work in California that is fine by CBP. Or I would need to explain why i want to go to Chicago. Meet a friend/relative and tell their address and phone number etc.

Don't make things complicated, just do what you want to. You can land at any POE.

[designflaw]

You should be able to land anywhere; however there have been cases where immigration officials would cross check ur employment and in doing so they find out sometimes that job that h1b applicant is coming to US for; is invalid. In these cases they have asked people to go back.

While it is highly unlikely that anything will happen if u land at a POE that is not close to ur work location, I would suggest that u get a flight to Sacramento from your POE so there are no chances. It just makes things simple and clear for everyone.

[metroguy]

Show the POE your onward journey ticket. If you dont want to use it cancel it later

[xfitter]

Show the POE your onward journey ticket. If you dont want to use it cancel it later

huh?? what a duh advice that was...

OP..you can land at any POE...not an issue.

You can land at any port, however, it probably helps to have an onward journey ticket. My bro-in-law was specifically asked to show his onward journey documents at Chicago ORD airport, since he was first flying to GA, and not his employment/employer location in CA.

[rahul412]

You can land at any port, however, it probably helps to have an onward journey ticket. My bro-in-law was specifically asked to show his onward journey documents at Chicago ORD airport, since he was first flying to GA, and not his employment/employer location in CA.

If his visit to US is a short visit then obviously he should be having the return ticket.

But if the visit is for like couple of years, how can person in this wold will reserve a air ticket, years earlier??

[catx]

If arriving in the U.S. on a H-1B, F-1, or similar visa, then you can be asked to show how you are getting from the port-of-entry (PoE) to your work or school location if it is not local to the PoE. You would not be asked to show your return travel to your home country.

[xfitter]

But if the visit is for like couple of years, how can person in this wold will reserve a air ticket, years earlier??

I was not talking about return ticket, if that's what you meant. I probably should have said my brother in law's situation was similar to OP's question. He had his H1B stamped, FTE in a small company, employer location was in CA, POE was Chicago ORD, and his first flight from ORD was to GA. He spent a week in GA, and then flew to CA to work for the employer. At ORD, he was specifically asked to show his travel tickets from GA to CA.

[rajMarch212011]

I was not talking about return ticket, if that's what you meant. I probably should have said my brother in law's situation was similar to OP's question. He had his H1B stamped, FTE in a small company, employer location was in CA, POE was Chicago ORD, and his first flight from ORD was to GA. He spent a week in GA, and then flew to CA to work for the employer. At ORD, he was specifically asked to show his travel tickets from GA to CA.

Thanks Xfitter and others,

Incidentally Chicago figures in my scheme of things as well. I lived there for almost 2 and half years before getting stuck in 221G in India. So I have some documents and things that I need to collect and was thinking about visiting there first.

But now I think I will just go straight to CA and visit Chi town later on in a couple of months to avoid any issues.

Thanks,

Rajat