Heading to Texas In November.....

Rockee

Well Ive never been to the States (IM 25) and am due to head out to Lewisville, Texas for Thanksgiving which is the 23rd of November. Basically what I want to know guys is what do I need??? As in special immigrant visas etc...how strict have the authorities become recently??? Any bit of help/advice is appreciated.

Thanks a lot everyone.

FlutterinBantam

Well if you are irish you don't need a visa.... stay of 90 days allowed.... best have a rtn ticket and means of support..... thats about it

Rockee

i thought i needed an immigrant visa from the embassy in dublin??? Then again I think too much lol...has fingerprinting aswell as showing your passport become the norm in the states now also???

andy1249

I go to the states all the time with work , Arizona , Vermont , Texas , etc.

You actually go through US customs in Dublin airport , you need to fill out two forms , one is a customs declaration form and the other is a temp access visa form which gives you 90 days in the country.
However , be warned , you will be asked you leaving date , and given a green card on your passport , even though the ticket says 90 days access , if for some reason you dont leave when you said you would you may have trouble getting back in to the US in future.

For example , I went in January for two weeks , had to extend for 1 week , then flew home ,
Had to go again in March , this time I was held up in customs cos they wanted to know why the extra week and what I was doing , the company sorted it , but you get the message ,

You will be fingerprinted and photographed at Dublin airport before you leave , fingerprinting is electronic , theres no messy ink involved or anything , its sort of like a scanner , when you get to the states they will just look at your passport and electronically pull up the fingerprint info and photo to verify and then you are through , so all the hassle happens this end and stateside its all very easy.

Have a good trip.

Ruu_Old

Rockee wrote:

i thought i needed an immigrant visa from the embassy in dublin??? Then again I think too much lol...has fingerprinting aswell as showing your passport become the norm in the states now also???

No visa required if you are staying for no more than 90 days(Visa Waiver Program).You will be finger printed and photographed in Dublin airport (if you are going direct from Dublin, if you are stopping over then you will be checked at your destination in the US airport in which you arrive).

You will have to fill out a white customs form and green immigration slip (I-94), bring them through immigration police, they will ask you a couple of simple questions and providing you aren't some kind of axe murderer.
Then part of the green slip will be attached to your passport and you're off.

When you arrive at your destination, you hand in your white customs form and enjoy your holiday. I'm not 100% sure but when you are departing for Dublin again at the end of your trip, there should be those exiting machines where you scan your passport before you hop on the plane back after going through security. An immigration official will be able to help you and make sure that your airline takes the part of the green slip off your passport as that is used as proof for immigration that you have left the country. Have fun now.

Rockee

Fair play, thanks very much for the information guys. Youve been brilliant help.

Rockee

FlutterinBantam wrote:

Well if you are irish you don't need a visa.... stay of 90 days allowed.... best have a rtn ticket and means of support..... thats about it

I am Irish yes, from Dublin.

Ruu_Old

Just don't make any jokes about bombs on airplanes or anything like that. Best of luck anyway, you'll be grand and enjoy it.