adpucci

it was just tiring, but quite odd.

My stupid passport has a stupid crinkle in the plastic bit over the stupid photo. I haven't had time to change it because I need my passport due to constant business travel - and I have multiple entry/exit stamps and visas from just about anywhere in the world.

I was going to join some friends in Tbisili (who were playing at a rock festival) after a week's travel for business, so I took a flight from Istanbul on my way back from TLV, on a Friday evening.

I arrived at Tbilisi airport very late, I think it was gone 1 am, and at passport control the woman kept on looking at my passport, looking at all the visas, wanting to see my flight reservation (I was flying back to work in Turkey on the Monday, if I remember right).

She asked me if I had any other ID (Italian ID card, UK drivers licence duly shown), and even if I had any business cards (I did and she got one).

After about 25 minutes I began to get annoyed and I said "look, what IS the problem? Are you going to let me in or what?"

The reply was "well, your passport looks not right, and we are afraid you may be trying to enter Georgia illegally".

At that I stared at her and asked "to do what, exactly?"

and she said "to... to live here, to find a job here".

Well, at that I started laughing so loud and long I had tears streaming down my face. Gasping for breath I said "oh yeah of course, with all the countries to chose from... hahaha!".

ahem. I guess it was very rude of me.

she stamped my passport and waved me through.

I still chuckle at the thought, years later.

SpinnerDude

The only time I have been grilled was going through LHR to DUB. I think the border agent was most concerned about me having an Irish surname. Traveling through EDI I've never had a problem and they have also been friendlier.

CkCrunch

I know the US CBP has a bad rep, but my experience had been quite good. The lines are long, but the agents are very friendly and efficient given the pressure they are under.

My only brush with secondary was coming into ORD. It was completely my fault, I had just graduated from college, and gotten a job in the US. I am foreign so I had a student visa, and I was approved for a work visa. I went home after graduation and a few days before I start, I landed and after a 45 minute line, showed the agent my passport and the work visa approval form. Then he asked where is my stamp in the passport. That's when he told me I needed a new visa stamp as well (I had the old one from school) and he can't admit me, and might have to send me back home. Since I have to start work in a few days, I was clearly sh*tting my pants. I explained the situation and he said "let me see what we can do" and sent me to secondary.

I waited there for almost 2 hours but you could tell they were very understaffed with a lot of people to get through, but there was water and even a cookie tray. Eventually someone got to me, and he said technically he is supposed to send me back since I don't have a valid visa stamp, but he understood my situation, he tapped away at his computer for a long time and got the records from my visa application and eventually stamped my passport, crossed out my old (expired) visa stamp, and let me in. He then told me to take a day off soon and go to Canada and get a new visa stamp from the embassy there, and I was on my way. All very friendly & obviously trying to help someone out. I missed my connecting flight by about 4 hours but UA had my luggage waiting for me past customs and I got on the next flight out.

For what its worth I was also Asian and this was not long after 9/11 too! I have had much less friendly encounters in Europe and Asia than in the US.

I always find JFK agents very friendly as well. Earlier this year I had a long discussion with one about whether he should sell his emerging market ETFs (I do EM investments for a living), and I had to politely decline to give him investment advice over and over again (imagining my next visit if he lost money...)

quattro_formaggio

So what country or airport do you find the unfriendliest in Europe? My vote would go to FRA (and not just because of my post on page 3), but German and Swiss airports in general are pretty unfriendly.

And, what do you think of A-shares ETFs at this point?

roberino

In one trip I went from Aus to NZ twice in two weeks, both for one day. Both times I was flagged for having so much luggage for a one day visit. Both times I was delayed for half an hour while being questioned and my bags searched. It wasn't really a big deal as once I had said that it was a whistlestop business tour and shown them my flight itinerary they ran a few checks (presumably to make sure my itinerary was real) and let me go.

I also went from LHR to JNB for about 14 hours once. It wasn't problem until I tried to leave JNB and they pulled me aside at the gate to ask why I'd stayed such a short time. I assume they also checked through my hold luggage. I also had a raised eyebrow and a few questions when I returned to LHR.

Went to the US for two days earlier this year with just a shoulder bag and got hauled in while they checked what I was doing there. Again, about half an hour and a few phone calls. Was expecting them to ask me to unlock my PDA's but they didn't.

In every case, I was polite and honest and got processed quickly. It's easy to get exasperated when you get pulled to one side, but that's the worst thing you can do. Also, remember that, as much of a PITA as these guys are, they defending their borders. If your own country adopted a lax attitude to who is allowed in then you'd be outraged.

bluefive5

Seoul Korea. In 1985 I was serving there in the military. At the base exchange I purchased a Hustler magazine. Around Christmas I flew home to California. A week later I flew back to Korea and still had the magazine in my luggage. I was screened at customs, luggage searched and all kinds of trouble erupted when they found the skin mag. At first they were going to confiscate it, but being a stupid 22 year old male, I had to argue. Next I was issued a huge fine. After being questioned by five different uniformed officials I fianally was able to communicate to one that "I purchased the magazine in KOREA, so how can it be illegal to have in Korea??? Fine dismissed, magazine destroyed, and a waste of everyone's time.

Vancouver BC border. my passport had a Thailand stamp from 2 days prior which caused full inspection. They spent FOUR hours removing seats and panels from my Avis rental car.

Moscow Airport. Lost luggage and taken to small room and haned forms that were all in Russian. Kept requesting help, but nobody spoke English. After 2 hours (and the form filled with "guess entries") they found our luggage and let us leave.

Tel Aviv- I'm sure everyone has a story from that airport. I find i have more issues with departing then entering the country.

Number One: Philly. First time taken to secondary inspection. Shortly after 9\11. Somehow my common American name was on the "list". Dang do those custom officials know how to grill for information. I went from being slightly annoyed to being downright afraid that I would go to jail for misidentity. Guilty until you can proove your innocence. Come on, two hours locked in a room in my own beloved United States?

KimchiExpress

With the Canadian dollar depreciation I decided to buy my next vehicle (used) in Canada and drive it down to the US (huge savings). Another motivation was I hadn't seen a good Canadian buddy of mine in a while. So I got a one way ticket to Edmonton from MPLS.

I hadn't been to Canada since "old days" when you were greeted at the boarder with "Why are you visiting Canada?" "Going fishing." "Good luck."

Anyway, my passport has million stamps in it from all over the world. I get to to the customs officer and he asks why I am visiting Canada and say I am just visiting a friend. He looks through my passport extensively. He stamps my arrival card and I go to customs. Turns out I was flagged and told to go into another area. I waited there with some other "flaggers." Now it was obvious why they were flagged - world traveler arriving from India with tattoos, ear and nose an tongue this and that, red hair, traveling with foreign born boyfriend (Canadian girl), etc.

After 15 minutes a few officers came in. I ended up getting the same officer that initially processed me. Let me say that he was very polite and professional.

He grilled me as why I am visiting Canada. I said to visit a friend and possibly buy a vehicle. My friend is waiting outside.

He then went through everything in my bag. I mean everything. He read every single piece of paper. He asked for my phone password and read my text messages extensively. He first read the texts to my buddy talking about buying a vehicle, etc - but still read everything else.

He then took all of my cash and started counting it. I had wired most of the money to my buddy but had some more cash with me.

He grilled me with the same questions again and again. Again, he was polite.

I was there for an hour - 15 minutes waiting and 45 minutes grilling. Finally he let me in and I packed my bags and left. I was the last to leave.

I am a middle-aged white American - very generic looking. I have never been grilled in 500+ entries all over the world (even North Korea!)

The only other time I was questions about anything is when I hit Bangkok at 11 pm after being in 3 other countries that day. That only took 5 minutes to explain. And it wasn't a mileage run - I actually went to meetings.

I am about to head back to Canada to get another vehicle. Hmmmm....

GUWonder

The only countries where I've ended up in secondary areas for my own admissibility concerns has been in some of the countries which are part of the so-called Five Eyes. It just goes to show you how blind some of these countries really are.

Except for some hassles at primary for admissibility, I've generally had decent experiences and a very low fraction of a percent of my international trips hit with a secondary for admissibility or customs concerns where I personally didn't choose to flag myself.

eefor jfp

Helsinki and Budapest get my votes for the worst immigration in Europe.

I had a passport with one line very slightly out of sync with the rest (kind of like adpucci) and with dozens or hundreds of stamps and NO problems anywhere else in Europe, getting into Hungary was always a huge hassle. Land border, airport, anything was always an issue. They needed a second ID, or there were long waits, etc. And as the Hungarian stamps built up (I traveled there very regularly) it didn't seem to matter--every entry was a problem.

Helsinki (only once, this year) was a 10-15 minute grilling. Don't know why but all kinds of questions related to employment, purpose of trip (our annual city break), marital statuts, kids, etc. The guy seemed annoyed by the fact that my wife was an EU citizen and that we were living in Croatia. I think he though we were going to immigrate to Finland but I'm not sure why he thought that. Whatever.

Lots of problems with visa applications in Eastern Europe over the last 35 years but not at the border. But I think that when you're applying for a residence permit, they have a right to grill you.

GUWonder

Did your wife mentioned above give up her EU citizenship or are you divorced?

If your wife is an EU citizen from a country other than Finland, or if she was intending to move from another EU country to Finland with you, then you had a legal right to migrate to Finland if she decided to do so too and you guys became economically active in Finland within 90 days.

HEL's passage is closed to me? Oh, I'm crying. If I were stuck living in HEL, I'd be aiming to live it up in Croatia instead too.

HEL seems to have issues with my travel parties too -- just not as much as those old Warsaw Pact countries' airports now do in such a way that it reminds me that the more things change the more some things don't. Passport control in some places remind me of this, WAW for example. But HEL just seems more uptight formal than is common in the NPU countries.

vernonc

While 95% of my interactions with US CBP have been perfectly fine, there is the 5%. And this is one of the primary reasons I got GE/Nexus. One CBP officer asked me what I did for a living after ignoring my pleasant good morning at 7 am. I told him I worked for "xx' which was a fortune 100 US company. He said that that's not what he asked me, he wanted to know what job I did - did I clean toilets, did I mow the lawn. Not sure if he was just having a bad day or being racist. On the flip side when I had a medial procedure that required radiation, I would set off the detectors on the officers belts every week for 4 weeks in a row. Got quite expert at the process and seeing the same faces - go to secondary, sit on a designated bench, do not use your phone, wait for the CPB officer to show up with a measuring meter, wait for a result, have a nice day. Took 30 mins to 1 hour every single time. Another time had a US CBP send me to agricultural because I had home made roast beef sandwiches for the kids which they then threw out. Guess what they were selling on the plane - yes, roast beef sandwiches. Also had a friend who is of Indian origin who was told his Rodrigues name was suspicious because how come a Indian has a Mexican last name. I do not really mind as they are doing their job, i just wish that common courtesy and politeness was more common. I have had some very friendly US CBP staff too so I guess it balances out.

arlflyer

How much are you saving on these vehicles that it is worthwhile for you to fly to CA, go through the customs mess, the money wiring mess, the days of time, the driving back to San Diego, the registration/importing between countries (aren't there tax ramifications?), and then having the bottom fall out of the thing from being eaten through by nasty Canadian road salt for 9 months out of the year in its life to date??? Just genuinely curious...

GUWonder

Millions of Indians have names that sound like rather common Mexican names -- courtesy of Christian missionaries in India and the various European colonization of various parts of India. You should see what happens to Indian passport users with "Chinese"family names.. This just goes to show that passport control types aren't very well schooled in the ethno-cultural diversity that exists around the world and has even existed for more centuries in parts of the "Old Wolrd" than there has been an independent US -- let alone Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

bvb

Just for kicks, here's a story about a time when immigration shouldn't have let us in, but did because of our mistake.

We were on an exhausting 4 leg flight from JFK to Tainan, Taiwan. We'd already flown transcontinental US, then transocean to Tokyo, then a flight to Taipei, where we were supposed to connect to our last flight, a local hop to Tainan. We staggered off the plane in Taipei at about 10pm local, wandered in a daze through immigration and customs, and found ourselves out in the street. We tried to reenter the airport but all the doors were locked. We got someone's attention, and they explained that there were no more local flights that night, and the airport was closed. We hadn't realized that our local flight to Tainan was for connections only, and we should have waited in the transfer lounge, and gone through immigration in Tainan.

The airline staff couldn't have been more helpful. They found an immigration agent, who explained that if we returned to the secured area, it would be considered leaving the country, and we couldn't re-enter for 48 hours.

They huddled together for a while, and then finally located the chief inspector, who was the only one authorized to cancel an admission stamp. Then we were told we still couldn't wait in the transfer lounge, so were taken down mysterious back tunnels to an employee lounge, where an airline person politely but silently waited with us until our connecting flight was ready.

When we arrived in Tainan after midnight, a very tired immigration officer stared at our cancelled stamp, then stamped our passport again and waved us through without a word.

MojaveFlyer

Bad: early 70s, land crossing from Nigeria to Cameroun. I had a passport full of visas including two of the accordion add in pages. I dared to attempt to show the immigration guy which page had the Cameroun entry visa. Got told off "you don't tell me how to do my job" and made to sit on a bench in the heat for an hour to chill.

Good: a few months later, showed up by land into Uganda from Zaire, without a Ugandan visa (change of plans in travel plus some young traveler stupidity). It was the early days of the Idi Amin administration with lots of anti-European vibes but managed to smile and talk my way in. Good thing, it would have taken a couple of weeks to get back to Kinshasha on those awful jungle roads for a visa to anywhere else!

Funny: Had a 5 hour layover in early April at LHR. Not enough time to go into the city but I'd noticed a nice garden near the airport during final approach. I exited, took the tube a stop or two, and had a pleasant stroll through town and the garden. Upon re- entry I was starting to get grilled about why I was traveling with no checked baggage and had been in the UK for three hours, but as I explained where I'd been all went well when it turned out the immigration guy lived in Hounslow and was pleased that I found his local park worth a trip out of the transit area.