CBP Officer here...Ask me anything!

Old Jun 10, 2019, 12:21 pm
  #31  
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Originally Posted by mhy
How often do you think people (especially with Global Entry) get caught with undeclared items (i.e. carrying >$800 in bought goods or carrying food, but marked 'No' on the kiosk)?

Went through GE kiosk recently and answered 100% honestly (had well over $800 in shopping purchases, and some food) and the CBP officer thanked me for my honesty and charged me a very low tax rate rather than the 'true' rate. He said a lot of people with Global Entry don't do this properly and get caught.
This would be entirely accurate. Not declaring items, GE or not, is going to get you the "correct" rate. Declare that stuff, be kind, you'll get a lower rate, sometimes.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 10:00 am
  #32  
 
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Currency over $10k - what can you tell us?

I would like to know how officers approach currency situations: broadly, what are the procedures and considerations when a pax
1. has declared/filed Fincen 105 - what affects if the person is allowed to keep the cash/instruments or it will be seized?
2. has not declared/filed Fincen 105 and is discovered to have currency/instruments in excess of $10k? I know s/he is given an opportunity to declare - but frequently when they do the cash is seized anyway. What factors are considered in these situations?
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 11:04 am
  #33  
 
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(1) Have you ever worked at a pre-clearance POE? Asking because I am curious of the process.
(2) Do agents have to `clear' through CBP to enter the pre-clearance area?
(3) To my understanding, pre-clearance BSOs are on diplomatic passports?
(4) Let's say that you work at YYZ, YVR, YUL or any of the other Canadian Airports with pre-clearance: Do agents have to clear CBSA to get landside?
(5) Let's say that someone clears CBP, but then does not want to board the flight. What is the process to make sure the I-94 Arrival is corrected?
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 11:19 am
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Section 107
Currency over $10k - what can you tell us?

I would like to know how officers approach currency situations: broadly, what are the procedures and considerations when a pax
1. has declared/filed Fincen 105 - what affects if the person is allowed to keep the cash/instruments or it will be seized?
2. has not declared/filed Fincen 105 and is discovered to have currency/instruments in excess of $10k? I know s/he is given an opportunity to declare - but frequently when they do the cash is seized anyway. What factors are considered in these situations?
That I would love to know why people say it's illegal to carry more than $10,000. We have signs that say you must declare over $10,000. None of our Officers should ever say that there's a limit to how much you can bring in. Yet until the end of time, people will spread the myth or think that it's illegal to do so.

1) All. Assuming they're telling the truth and we verify it, why is a seizure even in question?
2) This is where we get into the fun times. It's hard to seize currency without proof that this person has had a prior warning. Say you get a couple from Iran that each have $5,000. Of course they are carrying a few dollars worth of Iranian Rials. Convert this to USD, and they're in excess of $10,000. 99.999% of the time, they will not declare it. Are they in violation? Yes. Are we going to seize it? No. And there's a whole lot of discretion in our jobs, where I can let this go down the road and it's on me. They have the chance for a written declaration (paper or kiosks) and a binding verbal declaration, where we ask them once in baggage secondary, "how much cash are you carrying?" This second time is where we hear the truth. If they say "30,000 total" but didn't declare it on paper, oh well, they just told us verbally. Now they'll be given a FINCEN105 form where they put it in writing, again.

After the FINCEN is where we as Officers can start seizing. But 99.999% of the people who don't declare it initially, tell the complete truth on that form.

It's when they lie on that form is when we can penalize or seize. It's rare.

We have rich businessmen come in every month and declare 80k. They know we don't check every time.

What baffles me is when they declare $30k on the FINCEN, and we find 50k. Like ... moron, you were already declaring and filling out the form for more than $10,000, and you know there's no limit...why hide it?

Last edited by maninblack; Jun 11, 2019 at 11:26 am
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 11:24 am
  #35  
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Originally Posted by OSSYULYYZ
(1) Have you ever worked at a pre-clearance POE? Asking because I am curious of the process.
(2) Do agents have to `clear' through CBP to enter the pre-clearance area?
(3) To my understanding, pre-clearance BSOs are on diplomatic passports?
(4) Let's say that you work at YYZ, YVR, YUL or any of the other Canadian Airports with pre-clearance: Do agents have to clear CBSA to get landside?
(5) Let's say that someone clears CBP, but then does not want to board the flight. What is the process to make sure the I-94 Arrival is corrected?
1) No. I've bounced around due to family issues, but never to pre-clearance. The process for us is just a simple application with a resume.
2) What "agents"?
3) What is a BSO? If you're talking about CBPOs, we're on Official passports. There's no reason for us to have a Diplomatic passport. We're not Diplomats.
4) Yes, we go through Canada's immigration. We can't just walk in.
5) We have a team for that. The airline would let us know.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 11:30 am
  #36  
 
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Originally Posted by maninblack
1) No. I've bounced around due to family issues, but never to pre-clearance. The process for us is just a simple application with a resume.
2) What "agents"?
3) What is a BSO? If you're talking about CBPOs, we're on Official passports. There's no reason for us to have a Diplomatic passport. We're not Diplomats.
4) Yes, we go through Canada's immigration. We can't just walk in.
5) We have a team for that. The airline would let us know.
(2) I was trying to reference every morning when going to work. Do CBP Agents have to be cleared through by other agents to come to work in the morning? I would assume no.
(3) CBSA refers to Agents as Border Services Officers (BSO). Sorry, I assumed because of NEXUS, pre-clearance and the close relationship that the terms used would be similar.
(4) So every evening after finishing, one has to go through CBSA? Sounds like a pain but cool at the same time.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 4:09 pm
  #37  
 
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I have three questions:

I'm a UK citizen with GE resident in Canada, and the lack of a Global Entry card (which isn't issued to us) causes problems. There are issues accessing the GE kiosks at Canadian airports (admittedly not a CBP problem) but I've also encountered situations where I've presented a current I-94 issued by a GE kiosk at YYZ at a land border (regular lane), only to be asked for my GE card as well. This has confused a lot of CBP officers when I say it's never been issued. Are there any plans to expand the issuance of physical cards to non-US citizens or LPRs?

I see many complaints about immigration officers on the internet, admittedly from less savvy travellers, who complain about rude immigration officers. In your experience, are there a significant CBP officers who are rude/unprofessional/vindictive/whatever or are the majority of these complaints arising from passengers who were less-than-cooperative to begin with? I've never had a negative CBP experience and I struggle to reconcile that with others who complain about them non-stop.

Similarly, to what extent (if any) would a traveller being transgender alter your perception when assessing admissibility or general risk profile, or is it a non-issue? I've heard many anecdotes from transgender women who claim they've been denied entry into the US/subjected to intensive screening just for being trans. I'm a trans woman (with matching documents) and I've noticed nothing like this to date, even though my previous name is on my ESTA/GE applications. Again I'm curious if the people I know who cite these issues are experiencing them due to other factors affecting their risk profile or whether trans status in isolation is a red flag for some reason.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 5:24 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Skatering
I have three questions:

I'm a UK citizen with GE resident in Canada, and the lack of a Global Entry card (which isn't issued to us) causes problems. There are issues accessing the GE kiosks at Canadian airports (admittedly not a CBP problem) but I've also encountered situations where I've presented a current I-94 issued by a GE kiosk at YYZ at a land border (regular lane), only to be asked for my GE card as well. This has confused a lot of CBP officers when I say it's never been issued. Are there any plans to expand the issuance of physical cards to non-US citizens or LPRs?
I haven't heard anything about non-USC GE members getting a GE card. Though to be fair, that kind of stuff doesn't come to us locally. We would find out when you do.

I see many complaints about immigration officers on the internet, admittedly from less savvy travellers, who complain about rude immigration officers. In your experience, are there a significant CBP officers who are rude/unprofessional/vindictive/whatever
No. There's a few power tripping weirdos that can be unprofessional.

or are the majority of these complaints arising from passengers who were less-than-cooperative to begin with?
Yes. Or tired. Or dramatic. Or self centered.

I have worked directly with a Supervisor who handles complaints at my last port. 99.9% would make you roll your eyes. Complaints that the Officer "didn't welcome me home" to "they sent me to secondary without telling me why." Officers "speaking in a different language" to "the Officer demanded my passport without saying 'please." These are all complaints that I've seen in writing. They're fascinating.

I recently dealt with a guy who had his GE status revoked. I guess he tried to bring a family member through on previous trip. Due to his attitude, they revoked his GE status. I speak to him, he's confused, and not rude. I read the reason for the revocation. It says that he was rude, demanding, and threatened him team of lawyers on CBP. With me, he's being chill. Doesn't make sense. I tell him it has indeed been revoked and the option he has to try to appeal it. He's very cooperative.

I ask what happened on the previous trip. This sets him off. I ask if he has a lawyer. He used the same line, "No, but I have a team of them ready to sue!" He goes into a rant, and all of a sudden, the remarks from the previous Officers make sense. It got bad enough that a couple other Officers came over to call the guy down. We were about to go hands on.

Some people just have a short fuse. They're tired, they're traveling, they don't know what they don't know.

I've never had a negative CBP experience and I struggle to reconcile that with others who complain about them non-stop.
And you likely won't. We deal with thousands of passengers every day. Maybe a few have complaints. Maybe they were having a bad day. Maybe the Officer was having a bad day.

Play the game, get out the door hassle free.


Similarly, to what extent (if any) would a traveller being transgender alter your perception when assessing admissibility or general risk profile, or is it a non-issue? I've heard many anecdotes from transgender women who claim they've been denied entry into the US/subjected to intensive screening just for being trans. I'm a trans woman (with matching documents) and I've noticed nothing like this to date, even though my previous name is on my ESTA/GE applications. Again I'm curious if the people I know who cite these issues are experiencing them due to other factors affecting their risk profile or whether trans status in isolation is a red flag for some reason.
Male, female, trans, etc it's all the same to me.

We're not denying entry based on being trans. That's impossible. The INA doesn't allow it. There's literally no legal way to deny entry to someone for being trans. We may send them home based on some other charge, like drug use or something they lied about on their visa/ESTA application.

Extra screening?

This would entail me calling another Officer over to see their opinion on your passport photo vs what we see in person. If I think it's still you, and they do too, down the road. Trans people raise no red flags for being trans. Maybe a childish comment to my booth mate afterwards...(we've all been fooled more than once)

Those anecdotes you read are just that. And I might even argue that half of them are made up. We of course can't release the true information as to why someone is being denied entry, so the subject and the media get to write a word or two about how we denied someone from seeing their dying mother. When in reality, we caught them lying about something.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 8:29 pm
  #39  
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Is CBP moving to install the automated passport kiosks in more airports or for more travellers? Do you think that we will eventually get to a system where primary screening for citizens/residents is done mostly by a machine (as in Australia) or is this more of a gimmick?
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 9:21 pm
  #40  
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Originally Posted by cbn42
Is CBP moving to install the automated passport kiosks in more airports or for more travellers? Do you think that we will eventually get to a system where primary screening for citizens/residents is done mostly by a machine (as in Australia) or is this more of a gimmick?
Yes and no. Future kiosks will have facial recognition. I really don't know why we have a line for US citizens. Once we get a system that verifies their identity, we will generally have no reason to inspect them for immigration purposes. All we really do now is just verify the passport matches the person in front of us. The U.S. citizen line is the easiest job we have on the line, but my God is it boring. It's pointless. Bring on the kiosks, but get rid of the crap we have now.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 9:40 pm
  #41  
 
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Whats your take on:

1) Flying while Muslim ... do you agree that Muslim citizens tend to get selected for secondary more than others?

2) Muslim citizens being unjustly questioned by CBP about their personal beliefs (ie: how many times a day do you pray, what mosque do you go to, etc)?
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 9:52 pm
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by maninblack
The U.S. citizen line is the easiest job we have on the line, but my God is it boring. It's pointless. Bring on the kiosks, but get rid of the crap we have now.
Why do some many CBP officers have trouble accepting that U.S. citizens have no obligation to answer their questions about "What were you doing outside the USA" and "What do you do for a living in the USA?"

Shouldn't "None of your business" be a perfectly acceptable answer from a US citizen that doesn't trigger secondary inspection?
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 9:59 pm
  #43  
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Originally Posted by CodeAdam10
What’s your take on:

1) “Flying while Muslim” ... do you agree that Muslim citizens tend to get ‘selected’ for secondary more than others?

2) Muslim citizens being unjustly questioned by CBP about their personal beliefs (ie: how many times a day do you pray, what mosque do you go to, etc)?

​​​​​​​1) We at CBP scrutinize and inspect every member of the traveling public both fairly and equally.

ha.

We have anti terrorism teams. They're not selecting Muslims. They're selecting people from certain countries, that happen to be Muslim. Per Wikipedia, Indonesia and India have 2 of the top 3 Muslim populations, but those dudes aren't being selected.

Saudi F1s however. All those are bad dudes.

2) The .gov doesn't see many things as "unjust" when it comes to national security. Your threshold is probably a bit lower as to what's deemed acceptable. Ours is not.

On a related note, the majority of questions that we ask, we know the answer to already.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 10:04 pm
  #44  
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Originally Posted by jphripjah
Why do some many CBP officers have trouble accepting that U.S. citizens have no obligation to answer their questions about "What were you doing outside the USA" and "What do you do for a living in the USA?"

Shouldn't "None of your business" be a perfectly acceptable answer from a US citizen that doesn't trigger secondary inspection?
It goes back to training, where you question everyone the same.

In theory, it goes back to the basics, of seeing how a traveler can afford this trip, and if not, what shady organization is funding it, and what are they really up to.

Occasionally this will lead to something bigger. I've seen a few USCs referred to our anti-terrorism, narco, and baggage teams based off their answers on Primary; these have led to seizures, penalties, and arrests.

And just human decency.

I generally don't ask much of USCs returning from vacation. But hey, you make my job hard, I'll mix it up and see where I can send you. Play the game, it's not all that hard. Or don't, we don't really care.
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Old Jun 12, 2019, 7:36 am
  #45  
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Originally Posted by maninblack
It goes back to training, where you question everyone the same.

In theory, it goes back to the basics, of seeing how a traveler can afford this trip, and if not, what shady organization is funding it, and what are they really up to.

Occasionally this will lead to something bigger. I've seen a few USCs referred to our anti-terrorism, narco, and baggage teams based off their answers on Primary; these have led to seizures, penalties, and arrests.

And just human decency.

I generally don't ask much of USCs returning from vacation. But hey, you make my job hard, I'll mix it up and see where I can send you. Play the game, it's not all that hard. Or don't, we don't really care.
(bolding mine)

You seem very quick to minimize the number of unprofessional agents and to suggest that the blame is always with tired, uncooperative pax who don't grovel. You act like anyone who gets upset is a whiner.

I think it's a lost cause, but I will try to make you see it one more time.

I read the rules. I do my absolute best to follow the rules. I am polite to the point of groveling, even on occasions when health issues have kicked in and I'm standing there gritting my teeth in pain. I admit to being intimidated by people with the absolute and virtually unchallengeable authority to make my future travels miserable.

The rules say declare every food stuff. "Foods" have been defined repeatedly, including face-to-face in GE interviews, as 'anything that goes in your mouth'.

Do you know the effect it has on someone who is exhausted, stressed, not feeling good, just trying to follow the rules to the letter, when he declares 'cookies' and the agent loudly and aggressively demands 'Why are you wasting my time with this? Get out of here"? Do you know the effect it has when the pax knows that his/her travel can be a complete hassle in the future if this agent decides to submit a report claiming the pax was showing 'attitude' by following the rules?

If I'm having a bad day and did something I would never do, took it out on a CBP agent, at worst, I have had a negative effect on one or a very few agents.

If a CBP agent is having a bad day, s/he may give wrong advice (like saying declaring cookies is wasting his time) or be abusive to dozens of pax.

If I follow the rules and am groveling and polite, there is ZERO excuse for any professional to ever trash me.

Does CBP ever find in favor of the passenger when there's a complaint about mistreatment? Does CBP keep track of complaints submitted per agent?
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