US Immigration Exit Tracking
#136
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
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Posts: 102,095
Exit checking and prevention of exiting the US aren't exactly one and the same, when it comes to free US citizens on the move. Unfortunately, more exit checks and even more exit controls would likely not be deemed unconstitutional by the Courts.
#137
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 817
http://www.texasobserver.org/border-...l-checkpoints/
#138
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Dulles, VA
Programs: UA Life Gold, Marriott Life Titanium
Posts: 2,757
Ah yes, the old "Constitution-free 50-mile inland checks". I always enjoyed the Youtube videos of people giving Border Patrol a hard time. A dozen ways that BP tries to get citizens to stop and answer questions on their own accord.
#139
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,347
Like the US, the UK does do exit passport checks on occasion. The US more at the flight gate, the UK has desks set up at some terminals (aka LHR) where they do actively do exit checks. I have had it happen 3 times in the last 18 months. Again, rare but it happens.
The desks at LHR T3 are rarely manned (happened to me in 8 or 9 years ago). It is more common for officers to stand at the gate and do checks - twice in past 2 years
#140
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Catania, Sicily/South Jersey (PHL)/Houston, Texas/Red Stick/airborne in-between
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Posts: 3,548
And as I noted, I have had the exit desks manned three times in less than two years, and heard from my employees it is happening to them even more often. It is fairly common.
#141
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Join Date: Jul 2001
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I've seen officers at the gates at T3, but that is rather rare to see for departing flights unless you are looking for it, your route network includes a flagged route, or someone else is flagged.
A lot of what we see (and don't see) as passengers relates to the flight patterns of the passengers making the observations.
I've seen both kinds of exit checks at LHR last year. I've not cared to try to have my flight records from T3 last year matched with my observations of exit checks from last year, but for me both kinds of checks still happen from time to time but are rare. What I've not seen on my flights is checks both at the gate and just after security screening at T3 when originating the trip at T3. But that has happened to some others.
Last edited by GUWonder; Apr 1, 2016 at 1:32 pm
#142
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 451
Do you hold an EU passport? EU passports are explicitly not to be stamped by any EU border officers. In fact, people some times ask and have it refused on the grounds that their code does not allow it. There is a thread on here in travelbuzz somewhere as well about this.
#143
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: FRA
Posts: 1,398
Passport control on exiting the U.S.?
We flew from IAD to LHR on Friday and went through what felt a lot like a formal passport control before entering security. The officers (two were working on our four passports) looked very carefully through every single page of our passports and seemed to do the same for other travellers. After that, they wrote numerical codes on the boarding passes.
On previous experiences, they just scanned the boarding passes, and maybe quickly mached them up with an ID to make sure the name was the same.
Is the U.S. in the process of setting up passport controls on exit, similar to what is done when exiting the Schengen zone?
On previous experiences, they just scanned the boarding passes, and maybe quickly mached them up with an ID to make sure the name was the same.
Is the U.S. in the process of setting up passport controls on exit, similar to what is done when exiting the Schengen zone?
#145
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,347
We flew from IAD to LHR on Friday and went through what felt a lot like a formal passport control before entering security. The officers (two were working on our four passports) looked very carefully through every single page of our passports and seemed to do the same for other travellers. After that, they wrote numerical codes on the boarding passes.
On previous experiences, they just scanned the boarding passes, and maybe quickly mached them up with an ID to make sure the name was the same.
Is the U.S. in the process of setting up passport controls on exit, similar to what is done when exiting the Schengen zone?
On previous experiences, they just scanned the boarding passes, and maybe quickly mached them up with an ID to make sure the name was the same.
Is the U.S. in the process of setting up passport controls on exit, similar to what is done when exiting the Schengen zone?
#146
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,863
I don't carry my passport when traveling strictly domestically but when we've been traveling Internationally I have used my passport at TSA checkpoints. I've never had a TSA thumb through my passport but I usually hand them my Passport with my boarding pass tucked into the ID page so no reason for them to look through the other pages. Other than a dozen or so hard to read Schengen entrance and exit stamps I'm not sure they'd get much info other than I've travelled overseas. Frankly they potentially get a whole lot less information from a passport than say a driver's license.
#148
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
#149
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,347
It's a chicken and egg: airports aren't designed to allow international transit, so all inbound pax must go through immigration; but the US wants all inbound pax to go through immigration, so they won't design airports to allow international transit.
#150
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 13
I've entered and exited the Schengen Zone many times where my passport was never scanned let alone stamped -- last couple times in and out of FCO my passport was never even scanned at entry or exit immigration. When I try to hand them the passport at immigration, they just politely push it back and waive me through.