International stopover in San Francisco

[Rustyoznail]

I'm cobbling together another story where the MC has a stopover at SFO on the way from London to Australia. She's met a couple of US citizens on the plane who've offered to show her around town.

This is my understanding. Being a British citizen, she can leave the airport after going through Customs. Her companions obviously need to go through Customs as well, but do they go through a different queue?

Thanks

 

[Biker_Faerie]

Yes

Will have needed to have completed an on line visa to enter us also

 

[Rustyoznail]

Great. thanks for that.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm cobbling together another story where the MC has a stopover at SFO on the way from London to Australia. She's met a couple of US citizens on the plane who've offered to show her around town.

This is my understanding. Being a British citizen, she can leave the airport after going through Customs. Her companions obviously need to go through Customs as well, but do they go through a different queue?

Thanks

As a UK citizen entering the USA for a short-term visit she would normally obtain an ESTA. Technically this isn't a visa but for this purpose it might as well be. If she's planning a stopover, she'd probably want to apply for the ESTA in advance since they can take up to 72 hours to process, though from memory my partner's came through in a few hours last time.

 

[JGittes]

Biker's given good advice. I believe the program for entering the US is ESTA, and you might have a problem with your character in that the ESTA visa must be 48 hrs in advance. The lines are separate for US citizens and all others, so they would have to meet up at the luggage carousel.

I'm a US citizen living in England and have traveled often to Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles with either British friends or my German wife. I know you must go through customs in Oakland even if you are just transferring planes, but I don't remember if that is the case in San Francisco.

I'm going through this detail because your description sounded like her original plan was changing planes only. If she had planned a stopover, then she would have had the ESTA visa. They are valid for six months or a year.

 

[Javahead]

Biker's given good advice. I believe the program for entering the US is ESTA, and you might have a problem with your character in that the ESTA visa must be 48 hrs in advance. The lines are separate for US citizens and all others, so they would have to meet up at the luggage carousel.

I'm a US citizen living in England and have traveled often to Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles with either British friends or my German wife. I know you must go through customs in Oakland even if you are just transferring planes, but I don't remember if that is the case in San Francisco.

I'm going through this detail because your description sounded like her original plan was changing planes only. If she had planned a stopover, then she would have had the ESTA visa. They are valid for six months or a year.

 

[Javahead]

Something specific to SFO: you may not need to come through US customs if you’re transferring to another International flight, but if your continuing flight has a US domestic leg you’ll probably need to since the international terminal security areas are separate from the domestic terminals (and each other). You might (never had to, so not certain) even need to do that if changing carriers, since there are two separate international security areas at opposite ends of the terminal that require leaving security and re entering to switch; I’ve seen people choose the wrong line snd get sent over to do it again only after going through a long wait.

SFO was largely designed for pre 2001 security standards and had to retrofit - it definitely shows.

And yes, I’ve done a lot of international flights from SFO and have the scars.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Ok, thanks all. I'll amend it so she knows there's going to be a long stopover so she has an ESTA.

 

[PennameWombat]

I'm cobbling together another story where the MC has a stopover at SFO on the way from London to Australia. She's met a couple of US citizens on the plane who've offered to show her around town.

This is my understanding. Being a British citizen, she can leave the airport after going through Customs. Her companions obviously need to go through Customs as well, but do they go through a different queue?

Thanks

Per the other comments, the US entry program for countries such as the UK and Australian citizens is ESTA. If you’re familiar with the Australian Electronic Transit Authority (ETA), it’s very similar (I’m quite familiar with both of these, having travelled to Australia more than once using an ETA, prior to my residency, and my wife used an ESTA last time we went to the US.)

This might’ve been a problem for your character, but according to the ESTA FAQ (search for ‘transiting’), your character would’ve needed to get an ESTA even if she’d originally planned only to transit through the US. So that’s fine. She would’ve indicated ‘in transit’ on the application, so they assume she’s not staying.

As to ‘customs,’ for all US entries there are two steps. The first is immigration (or border) control. The second is customs. First step is separate sections, but everyone comes back together for the second.

For immigration, there are indeed separate lines for US citizens, permanent residents and certain other residency visa holders. Beyond that, at SFO, these travellers can use a mobile app that validates their passport, etc., which means they essentially bypass any immigration lines. If your US citizens are regular international travellers, they have this and/or are signed up for the Global Entry program. All this allows them to generally zip through to collect their checked luggage for the Customs check. But if not, they have to queue up and meet with a CBP agent, although it’s usually quick for citizens/PRs.

For visitors, they queue up and have to meet with a CBP (Customs & Border Patrol) agent, the passport check. They’ll also have to give fingerprints and have their picture taken.

This might also be where things need to be massaged. The CBP agent will see on her ESTA that she’s ‘in transit,’ the agent will likely ask about the connecting flight. If it’s a long layover, it’s possible the agent would ask her if she plans to leave the airport. Note that if she says “yes,” they could technically detain her, as she’s supposed to only be in transit, but leaving the airport she could go anywhere. But likely if she’d explain her situation, the agent wouldn’t care. Also, she’s from the UK, so less ’suspicious.’ Trust me, some of these agents are very tightly-strung. Years back, I was headed back to the US from Europe, going through JFK. Two women in front of me were permanent residents (green card holders.) The rules for PRs is they cannot leave the US for longer than six months at a time, unless they get ‘advance parole’ before leaving. They’d apparently been gone a couple of weeks too long. The agent half-yelled at them while holding their green cards “these aren’t bus passes!” He summoned more agents and the women were escorted away.

After immigration, everyone goes a common baggage carousel to collect their checked luggage. There will be customs agents with sniffer dogs wandering around and they’ll have to pass through a checkpoint. If they’re not bringing food through, usually pro-forma.

After that, desks to recheck luggage. Depending on her schedule, she may or may not be able to drop her bags there. From there, everyone is directed out of the secure area into the public area of the International Terminal. Just outside the secured area entrance there is a left luggage office. I’ve used it at SFO when I had strange layover timings, so she could easily leave her luggage there.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Gee the last time I came back from overseas... not military... I went through the same customs lines as the everyone else. So No, everyone coming into the US goes through the same process.

So, I have to ask, when is her connecting flight? Usually, they are within an hour of when she landed.

If it's a "stopover" then she will already have a visa as SFO doesn't have a hotel on site.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Ok, thanks all. I'll amend it so she knows there's going to be a long stopover so she has an ESTA.

Yeah, it probably works better if she was already planning to leave the airport.

If she has some reason for stopping in SFO, that also avoids the question of why she's travelling the longer and probably more expensive way around; I haven't been overseas since the pandemic, but travelling via e.g. Dubai would usually be faster and cheaper.

 

[Rustyoznail]

United Airlines London - Melbourne via SFO. The flight I looked at had a seven hour stopover there. I looked at the various options, and this was the best flight for the story. Book long enough in advance and the price is reasonable compared to the alternatives.

 

[JGittes]

United Airlines London - Melbourne via SFO. The flight I looked at had a seven hour stopover there. I looked at the various options, and this was the best flight for the story. Book long enough in advance and the price is reasonable compared to the alternatives.

I was thinking of suggesting not worrying about being too detailed but realized that is exactly how I write (complex) and end up with 35k-word stories.

Then I thought up an example where that detail changed my mind about a story. The film 'Inception' is a fun load of hooey until the very end, where Cobb (DiCaprio's character) lands at LAX and has his US passport stamped at immigration. A US passport holder never gets their passport stamped entering the country. At least I've never had it stamped the 50 or 60 times I've arrived. It still bugs me.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I was thinking of suggesting not worrying about being too detailed but realized that is exactly how I write (complex) and end up with 35k-word stories.

Then I thought up an example where that detail changed my mind about a story. The film 'Inception' is a fun load of hooey until the very end, where Cobb (DiCaprio's character) lands at LAX and has his US passport stamped at immigration. A US passport holder never gets their passport stamped entering the country. At least I've never had it stamped the 50 or 60 times I've arrived. It still bugs me.

Lol... For exactly that reason, I heavily research items where I think readers will get pissed off if I get it wrong. I may not use all the details, but just the referral of ESTA and the US residents going off a different way should be enough to avoid people dropping the story.

 

[PennameWombat]

I was thinking of suggesting not worrying about being too detailed but realized that is exactly how I write (complex) and end up with 35k-word stories.

Then I thought up an example where that detail changed my mind about a story. The film 'Inception' is a fun load of hooey until the very end, where Cobb (DiCaprio's character) lands at LAX and has his US passport stamped at immigration. A US passport holder never gets their passport stamped entering the country. At least I've never had it stamped the 50 or 60 times I've arrived. It still bugs me.

Never seen that movie, but that would've been a major groaner for me, too.

In the last twenty-five years I've travelled internationally a significant amount. I don't think anyone, US or foreign country, has stamped my passport since the 1990s. The last time anything went into my passport was back in 2013 when I went to Nairobi, Kenya. Essentially you buy a short-stay visa at immigration and they put a visa sticker into your passport when you arrive. But back in the 1980s/1990s, the US agents usually stamped my (US citizen) passport when I returned to the US. But it's been long gone.

I used to enjoy gazing back over the stamped locations and dates, way back when.

So it would depend on the time period setting of your story.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Stamping passports (both on exit and entry) is general in African countries (this apart from any kind of short term visas that some countries might allow you to pay for and that might or might not take the form of a large stamp in your passport).