at the port of entry

[caseyc]

My mother will be arriving from India on family based immigrant visa (green card) that she received recently. She cannot communicate in english. Does anyone know how the immigration formalities will be handled at the port of entry (finger printing, filling any forms, any questions by immigration officer during stamping of passport, etc.)? Does the immigration office have translation service? Has anyone gone through the same situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Davidrainey]

There would be an interpreter present there and help your mom to clear all the formalities. i think you have got all of her documents translated in English. or else she may face some unexpected issues.

[rayb]

There is no reason to expect an interpreter to be available at the Port of Entry for your mom's arrival. When Immigration staff who are bilingual in specific languages are available, they can be brought over, but Hindustani or whatever Indian-based language your mom speaks is not something that USCIS normally has staff available to translate.

If your mom has particular problems responding to instructions at the Port of Entry, she can rely on someone else arriving with her to assist or she can ask the staff person to contact a translation service by phone if no staff are available to translate in person.

Years ago I was at the INS (now USCIS) main office in Los Angeles and they could not locate a Spanish-speaking staff person for a particular client on short notice (Los Angeles). When entering one of the New York airports after a flight from Madrid a couple of years ago, one of the passengers attempted to speak Spanish while going through the Customs check and no staff were available to speak to her in Spanish (unusual for New York).

While U.S. Consulate posts will provide translators for local languages during visa interviews, that is not a service always available when dealing with immigration staff in the U.S. Applicants are allowed to bring relatives or paid translators with them to USCIS interviews.

--Ray B

My mother will be arriving from India on family based immigrant visa (green card) that she received recently. She cannot communicate in english. Does anyone know how the immigration formalities will be handled at the port of entry (finger printing, filling any forms, any questions by immigration officer during stamping of passport, etc.)? Does the immigration office have translation service? Has anyone gone through the same situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.