Guide · Issuance and entry
Arriving At A U.S. Port Of Entry
An immigrant visa lets you travel to a U.S. port of entry and request admission as a permanent resident. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) decides admission. Follow your issuing embassy’s document instructions. This guide excludes K-1/K-2 entry.
For: Travelers with an issued immigrant visa. K-1/K-2 entry is not covered.
Written from official U.S. government sources. Last reviewed September 2026. Sources and limits.
At a glance
- CBP decides admission. An immigrant visa permits travel and a request for entry.
- Arrive and apply by the visa’s printed expiration date. Follow your embassy’s packet instructions.
- Check both fee instructions. State says before travel; USCIS also permits payment after arrival and requires payment before card issuance.
- Record the actual entry date. Check the relevant official instruction before calculating any later deadline.
Who decides admission
Origin: official source. Official sourceStated by a US government publisher on the page we cite.Sources
CBP may grant or deny admission at the port of entry. If admitted on an immigrant visa, the traveler becomes a lawful permanent resident. Arrive and apply for admission by the visa’s printed expiration date. State says to pay the immigrant fee before travel; USCIS also allows payment after arrival. This guide does not resolve that difference.
- The Department of State's entry, fee-timing, and visa-expiration instructions: After the interview.
- Why this guide excludes K-1/K-2 entry: the Department of State's K-1 visa instructions.
- USCIS's current fee and payment instructions: the live immigrant-fee payment page.
- For current embassy or consulate document instructions: the Department of State's embassy or consulate list.
Preparation and admission are separate
Origin: Togetherward explanation. Togetherward explanationOur reading of the official sources, not something an agency says.
You can organize documents and dates before travel. Those preparations do not determine CBP’s admission decision.
Where to check each instruction
Origin: official source. Official sourceStated by a US government publisher on the page we cite.Sources
Does the visa promise entry?
- Where the answer lives
- No. It allows travel and an application for admission; CBP decides entry.
Who makes the admission decision?
- Where the answer lives
- CBP may grant or deny admission. This guide cannot predict its decision.
What do we hand over?
- Where the answer lives
- The passport with the visa, plus any document or packet the issuing embassy or consulate told you to carry.
When must we pay the immigrant fee?
- Where the answer lives
- State says before travel; USCIS also permits payment after arrival. Check both agencies and your issuing embassy; this guide does not resolve the difference.
When does the visa expire?
- Where the answer lives
- Arrive and apply for admission by the visa’s printed expiration date.
Can derivative family members enter first?
- Where the answer lives
- State says the principal applicant must enter before or with derivative family members.
When does the card come?
- Where the answer lives
- USCIS requires fee payment before card issuance. This guide predicts no individual delivery date.
What if something in our history is complicated?
- Where the answer lives
- Ask an immigration attorney before travel about your individual history.
Arrival: the source for each question
| Question | Where the answer lives |
|---|---|
| Does the visa promise entry? | No. It allows travel and an application for admission; CBP decides entry. |
| Who makes the admission decision? | CBP may grant or deny admission. This guide cannot predict its decision. |
| What do we hand over? | The passport with the visa, plus any document or packet the issuing embassy or consulate told you to carry. |
| When must we pay the immigrant fee? | State says before travel; USCIS also permits payment after arrival. Check both agencies and your issuing embassy; this guide does not resolve the difference. |
| When does the visa expire? | Arrive and apply for admission by the visa’s printed expiration date. |
| Can derivative family members enter first? | State says the principal applicant must enter before or with derivative family members. |
| When does the card come? | USCIS requires fee payment before card issuance. This guide predicts no individual delivery date. |
| What if something in our history is complicated? | Ask an immigration attorney before travel about your individual history. |
What depends on your case or embassy
Origin: Togetherward explanation. Togetherward explanationOur reading of the official sources, not something an agency says.
Your issuing embassy’s packet and collection instructions may differ from another embassy or consulate’s. Use its current instructions. This guide cannot predict inspection time or questions and provides no inspection script.
- What your embassy or consulate published about collection and the packet: embassies.
- What issuance gave you, for the record: after a visa is issued.
Organize the documents you will carry
Origin: suggested action. Suggested actionA way to organise your own case. Optional, and required by nobody.
Both partners can agree where to keep documents and what to record after arrival.
1. Keep documents accessible
DocumentsThe traveler can keep the passport, visa, and documents requested by the issuing embassy in hand luggage.
2. Follow packet instructions
PacketThe traveler should keep a sealed packet closed if the issuing embassy instructed this.
3. Agree who carries the documents
Both of youBoth partners can decide who holds the folder and where to find it.
4. Record the actual entry date
RecordEither partner can save the date. Check the relevant official instruction before calculating a later deadline.
Ask about individual concerns before travel
Origin: Togetherward explanation. Togetherward explanationOur reading of the official sources, not something an agency says.
Ask an immigration attorney about prior immigration or criminal history, material changes since interview, or other individual concerns before travel. Ask the issuing embassy about visa errors, a near expiration date, or an opened or damaged packet.
What to read next
Origin: Togetherward explanation. Togetherward explanationOur reading of the official sources, not something an agency says.
- For card issuance, check USCIS's current fee instructions in the source list above.
- For the IR-1/CR-1 route: Social Security number after IR-1/CR-1 arrival.
- Whether residence starts conditional: CR-1, IR-1, and conditional residence.
- Everything else we publish: the guides hub.
Common questions
Does having the visa mean we will be let in?
Can we open the sealed packet before the flight?
Will the green card be handed to us at the airport?
When do we have to pay the USCIS immigrant fee?
Should the petitioning partner meet the applicant at the airport?
Related guides
How Togetherward helps
SuggestionKeep the actual entry date, carried documents, and card-delivery address in your shared Togetherward case.
- Look at the sample case — Opens Joe and Kat’s fictional sample workspace.
- See the other guides — Opens the guide library index.
- Apply for the private beta — Opens the beta page, where you can read what the beta covers and apply.
In Togetherward
Sign in to your case to continue where this leaves off.
Sign in to continueThis page describes official instructions for arriving with an immigrant visa. It is not legal advice, does not predict admission, and does not resolve the different fee-timing instructions currently shown by the Department of State and USCIS.
Sources and limits
Last reviewed and verification status
- Last reviewed
- Last recorded source review: . We aim to re-read it every 90 days.
- Review recorded.
- Verification status of the sources behind this page
- 4 of 4 sources are recorded as checked. Nothing is awaiting verification.
Verified (4)
- VerifiedDepartment of State — After the interview — checked .
- VerifiedDepartment of State — K-1 nonimmigrant visa — checked .
- VerifiedUSCIS — Immigrant Fee payment portal — checked .
- VerifiedDepartment of State — Immigrant visa posts — checked .
About this guide and its review
Guide scope
- Issuance and entry
- CR-1 / IR-1 (Form I-130)
- F2A (spouse of a permanent resident)
- After arrival: entry and first documents
- Who this is for
- Travelers with an issued immigrant visa. K-1/K-2 entry is not covered.
- Stage it covers
- Between visa issuance and U.S. admission.
- What it helps you do
- Know who decides admission and which documents and dates to check.
- What this page cannot tell you
- Whether CBP will admit you.
- Inspection duration or the questions you will be asked.
- An inspection script or answers.
- How complicated immigration, travel, or criminal history affects your case; ask an attorney before travel.
- Card delivery: USCIS requires fee payment before issuance; no personal delivery date is predicted.
- Which fee-timing instruction to follow: State and USCIS differ.
How we put this page together
Togetherward analysisThis page uses State’s after-interview, embassy or consulate, and K-1 instructions and USCIS’s immigrant-fee portal. It preserves differing fee-timing instructions, excludes K-1/K-2 entry, and makes no admission or card-delivery prediction.
What we did not include
- Any prediction, likelihood, or reassurance about the admission decision.
- Any script, sample answers, or coaching for questions at inspection.
- An inspection or airport-queue duration estimate.
- Advice on what to pack, ship, declare, or bring through customs.
- Anything about admission consequences of a complicated immigration or criminal history.
- K-1/K-2 entry and adjustment of status; those nonimmigrant visa routes are outside this guide's immigrant-visa scope.
Review record
- Author
- The Togetherward editorial team. The people who build Togetherward. We are not attorneys and we do not give legal advice.
- Review
- Reviewed by Togetherward Team
- Scope of review
Read the full review scope
Review scope: The source review completed the operator-authorized source review on 2026-09-28, covering the guide's immigrant-visa admission, visa-expiration, derivative-entry, fee, and document-handling claims. Department of State directs payment before travel; USCIS's current payment portal permits payment after arrival, so the guide preserves both instructions without resolving them. The review removed an address-at-entry claim supported only by an older USCIS page and makes no individual card-delivery prediction. This source review does not apply law to an individual case; consult a qualified immigration attorney about case-specific questions.
- Dates
- Last reviewed · Published .
- Review status: Review recorded.
- How this guide was prepared
- How we review guides.
- What the labels in this guide mean
- Official factStated by a U.S. government publisher on the source page we cite.
- Togetherward analysisOur reading of the official sources, not something an agency says.
- SuggestionA way to organise your own case. Optional, and not a requirement.
- Limitations
- This is an explanation of a published government process, not legal advice, and not a prediction about your case.
- Figures that move — processing ranges, Visa Bulletin dates, fees, form editions, interview availability — are described rather than reproduced here, so you read the current number at the source.
- USCIS, the National Visa Center, the embassy, or the consular officer may ask for something this page does not mention.
- This page covers immigrant-visa entry as a permanent resident. It does not cover K-1 or K-2 nonimmigrant visa entry and adjustment of status.
- The Department of State's after-interview page says to pay the immigrant fee before travel. USCIS's live payment page says it may also be paid after arrival. This guide records the conflict and does not choose a deadline.
- USCIS says it will not issue the card until the immigrant fee is paid. This guide makes no individual delivery prediction.
- No admission prediction, inspection script, or inspection-duration estimate appears here.
- Commercial independence
- Commercial independence: nobody pays to appear on this page. There are no sponsors, no advertising, no referral fees, no affiliate links, and no paid placement of any attorney, agency, or service. Togetherward makes money from couples who use the product, and a commercial relationship cannot change what this page says, when it was last reviewed, whether it is flagged as out of date, or whether it stays in search results.
- Corrections
- Report a correction using the form below, support@togetherward.app or use the support page.