<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Factotum:
I have a question for those of you who've taken advantage of periods of unemployment to get more travelling done. Visa application forms for many countries, and landing cards for many more countries even where visas are not required, ask visitors to list their occupation. What do you write in that space - "Unemployed"? Do you ever get the third degree from immigration officers when travelling without a job?
Of course, I'm even more afraid of what might happen if the USA authorities asked this question on the return trip...</font>
To give a more detailed answer, here is my experience. For the last eight years or so, I have been an independent contractor for a company I used to be employed by. I wanted to do this so I could take long vacations abroad -- as long as three or four months.
In one case, back in 1995 I was leaving France after two months there. In the UA check-in line, a French security guy (not sure what his official title was) started asking questions pertaining to the length of my trip, and the interview degenerated from there into a lot of leading questions. He looked at my passport and noticed I had been in Turkey the previous year, asked if I knew anyone in Turkey (no -- I was on a tour), asked if I was carrying any electronic devices -- yes, a cassette recorder -- asked to look at it, and so on. The look of disgust and exasperation on my face seemed to help end the nonsense. Maybe he thought I was trying to carry a concealed explosive on the plane, hidden inside the cassette recorder, planted there by my Turkish terrorist friend -- who knows?
In 1997, I went to the British Isles for 3-1/2 months. Upon entering the UK at Heathrow, I was grilled by the immigration official who behaved as if I was up to no good. My mistake was giving an honest answer to his first question: "Where will you be staying in London?" I replied that I would be staying with someone in their home. (I should've just given the name of a hotel.) He snapped, "Are they English or American?" In fact, they were neither, but seeing I had only two choices, I stammered, "English." He was also concerned about the planned length of my trip. Things went downhill from there. He finally asked to see my return plane ticket. I presented him that, and it (perhaps along with my facial expressions) convinced him to let me in. I suppose the UK immigration people are concerned about us Yanks entering on tourist visas and then illegally taking jobs.
On all other occasions, however, I have encountered no problems entering or leaving countries. Most of the time (especially in EU countries, with the exception of the UK), you are just waved through without even a stamp in your passport. And returning to the USA is entirely routine and uneventful.
On visa applications/landing cards, I would suggest that for "occupation" you put whatever your usual one is.
Kathy
[This message has been edited by KathyWdrf (edited 01-08-2003).]