Dfyjkt

I'm a US citizen. Every time I use the automated passport kiosks, regardless of the airport or who I'm travelling with, they always give me an X. This means I get to stand in yet another line and get all-but-waved-through when I eventually get to the officer.

In the interest of not having to stand in the first line for the kiosks, am I allowed to just go to the visitors line instead? Or will I get sent back and told to use the kiosks? Or is there some other way to opt out of their use?

When I flew from Guangzhou to LAX in June, I stood in the kiosk line a full 45 minutes, only to receive an X and get sent to the visitors line for another 35 minutes. This is what I'm trying to avoid. Clearly it doesn't matter when flying into, say, BWI where there are no kiosks (and you're going to wait 2 hours for your luggage anyway), but rather for the airports that do have the kiosks. At LAX, everyone in the US citizen line was directed to kiosks.

If the Automated Passport Control kiosk rejects you, the reason for the rejection may be displayed on screen and/or printed on your X receipt as a "referral code." The code tells officers what the specific problem was.

A list of these codes is available in the Automated Passport Control specifications:

Enforcement Referral

ER

Traveler has enforcement type issues

Random Referral

RR

Traveler is selected for random compliance

Declaration Referral

DR

Traveler answers Yes to any general declaration question

APIS Problem

AP

Traveler is not found on a manifest

Entry Authorization

EA

Visa Waiver traveler does not have an approved ESTA status

Biometric Failure

BF

Traveler has no Enrollment Record on file or biometrics cannot be verified (applicable to Visa Waiver travelers).

Check Documentation

CD

Referral based on

• Foreign national traveler’s passport expiration date is less than 6 months


• USC or US LPR traveler’s document query results in a mismatch or not “Issued” status

Technical Referral

TR

Referral based on

• Traveler has attempted use the kiosk during the configurable enforcement lockout


• Biometric pre-verify check returned a fault response


• The return code from a vetting query was other than normal completion


• A cancellation command from the kiosk that the traveler processing has been terminated.

Passage Granted

PG

Traveler receives Passage Granted

You can use the regular lines, but in the interest of saving your own time and possibly sanity, there are a couple of other things you can try:

• If Mobile Passport Control is available at your destination terminal, do passport control from your smartphone. Unfortunately it's not yet available at LAX.


• If APC kiosks continually reject you, the thing to do is to file with the Traveler Redress Inquiry Program. This program is designed to resolve issues with repeatedly being delayed entry or referred to secondary. You'll be assigned a redress control number which you can add to your airline bookings. If you decide to do this, keep your kiosk receipts as you will need to submit them.

My wife is a US citizen; I'm not. As a matter of solidarity, whenever and wherever we travel, we go through immigration together. So I can say with certainty that as recently as last Christmas, entering at Boston (where they have a lovely set of automated kiosks), US citizens can queue up with the hoi polloi and have their passport looked at by a human. No suggestion has ever been made (in my earshot) that she should not have done this.

The kiosks are optional, though neither the signs nor employees tell you that. I've used the non-US line tho I'm a US citizen. No hassle from the CBP inspector, a couple of times a curious question as to why I used that line, once the standard " what is the purpose of your trip to the US?" because he hadn't noticed I had a US PP.

Bottom line, it's unusual but OK.