LilTMD

I just got back from a trip to England/Ireland (first time to either place), and I had an unusual experience with the UK border agency officer. I was wondering if this is a typical interaction, or if this person was just being nasty.

My husband and I arrived at the UK border agency after an 11 hour overnight flight during which neither one of us got any sleep (so, like most of the other passengers on our flight, we are very groggy and jetlagged) . The officer takes our (US) passports and curtly asks why we are traveling to London. We say "vacation". He asks where we are staying, and I answer with the name of the hotel and the address. He asks what we intend to do while in London, and I reply that we were planning to do some sightseeing during the day and a half we would be in London, and then we planned to fly to Ireland. "What sights are you planning on seeing in London?" I said I hadn't planned our small amount of time in London to that level of detail, and I wasn't sure what we would have the time to see, but that we would like to see Big Ben, and we had tickets for a dinner cruise on the Thames river. He said "What else?" and was beginning to get really peevish by this point. I said "I don't know yet, we were going to decide once we have had some rest and get a chance to consult our guidebooks." He says, "Well, if you say you are sightseeing, my test is to see if you can name three sights you plan to see. And you can't, so you failed." I replied that we are only in London for a short while and that we really didn't think we would have time to see a whole lot anyway prior to flying to Ireland. He says "So are you actually trying to tell me that you just flew 3,000 miles and you have NO IDEA what you want to see? I said, yes I suppose that is what I am telling you...(meanwhile, I am racking my jetlagged brain to think of names of landmarks so I can get this guy to back off, but I was still not thinking clearly enough). Then he says "I need to see your return ticket." I said we don't have those yet, because the return flight is more than 24 hours away, and the airline does not allow passengers to print out boarding passes that far in advance. "An e-ticket, then." I said, err, no you can't print out e-tickets either. "And where do you plan to stay in Ireland?" I was starting to get really frustrated, so I just thrust my itinerary (which I had printed out earlier) at him and told him that we were staying in a different bed and breakfast each night, and all the details were printed on the itinerary, if he cared to read through it. He just let our a huge irritated sigh and rolled his eyes as he took it from me, gave it a half second glance, and then asked "How much money do you have on you?" We each told him how much US money we had on us, which totaled about 200 USD. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Well that's not very much money. Do you really mean to tell me that you travel internationally with so little money?" I explained that we intended to stop at the ATM to withdraw whatever additional currency we needed in GBP and Euro, and also given that we have credit cards we don't really need a whole lot of cash. Then has asked "Well, then how much money do you have available?" My husband was somewhat taken aback by the question, and asked "I beg your pardon, but I don't really understand what you are asking." The officer repeated himself louder in a slow irratated voice "How..much..MONEY..do you have...AVAILABLE to you?!" My husband and I glanced at each other incredulously, and my husband replied with an imaginary arbitrary number (we weren't going to actually tell this guy how much we had in the bank). "What do you do for a living?" We said we are physicians. He looked at us suspiciously "You're physicians? BOTH of you?" Yes, we said, we really are.

Then the guy started repeating questions from earlier. "So where are you staying in London?" I repeated the information I had already told him. "And what are you planning on seeing?" Finally, my brain had started working, so I blurted out "Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. That's three." He thrust back our papers with a scowl, and told us to move on.

So here are my questions:

Although I have traveled abroad a couple of times times, it has up until this point been to countries where I didn't speak the language (or at least not well). So maybe this is why I was never interrogated like this in places like France or Italy. Was this interaction typical of a US visitor (or other non-UK passport holder) trying to enter the UK on vacation? In particular, is the hostile attitude typical?

Why on earth would someone need to be able to name three landmarks they plan to visit, especially if they are only planning on staying a couple days? Is it really that unusual for travelers to make plans as they go? Was this request to "name three places" some sort of standard question, or was this guy just going out of his way to be a bully? I mean, what if a couple is on their honeymoon or whatever, and planned to spend the entire trip doing "you know what " in bed in their hotel room? I wonder what would happen if we told him that?

Why on earth would he need to know how much money we have in the bank? I was particularly bothered by this question because it seemed to be incredibly intrusive, and not at all relevant.

I am curious to hear what others think of this rather unpleasant interaction.

Oh, and by the way, the rest of the trip was perfectly lovely, and I can't wait to go back to the UK, unpleasant border agency officers or not. I would just like to know if this is typical so that the next time I go back I will be prepared to rattle off a long list of 30 landmarks and every last detail of the planned itinerary from memory...they will regret they asked!

bluenotesro

Entering the UK use to be a pleasant experience but not anymore. They seem to have taken their cue from their American cousins. I try to avoid the UK now because of this. I did go to Dublin recently and it was simply,

"G'day"

STAMP

"Have a nice stay."

But not the UK!!!

Sad, but true.

Global_Hi_Flyer

I wrote off the UK for my trips this year for several reasons including... the kind of stuff you just mentioned, the exorbitant business class departure taxes, and the "no opt out" strip-search machine at Heathrow.

I did note that return flights from BRU seem to be much, much fuller in business class than the inbounds, so I suspect I'm not the only one avoiding the departure taxes. Spain & Italy are on my list for later this year.

Pity, too, as the UK was always fun.

mre5765

American, Australian, Canadian, New Zealander, and UK border agencies can all be nasty.

Well it is his country, he has the right to ask, and you shouldn't be getting angry.

In situations where my primary purpose in coming to LHR was to stopover for a flight a day or two later, I just tell the UK border people I'm just stopping over for a few days enroute to another destination in order to save money. Has worked every time.

He wants to see your printed itinerary. Not having one is a really bad idea for any international travel.
What you should have done is told him you have X tens of thousands of UK pounds in credit available to you via credit cards. He wants to know how much money you have in order to be sure you won't become a burden on UK social services while you are in the UK.

You are fortunate he did not put you back on the plane then and there.

I suspect because you told him your physicians, that convinced him you weren't in the UK to immigrate illegally ... why would physicians want to work for the NHS?

Had you presented such an attitude to a US CBP officer, you'd have ended up in lock up.

LilTMD

princessyoga

Yeah, that sounds about right. The UKBA has gotten increasingly pointed in recent years. I am remember being quizzed in LHR when flying on my Irish passport from BWI-LHR-DUB about where in Ireland lived, why if I lived in Belfast was I travelling to Dublin (a few hundred pound cheaper), where in Belfast I lived and what I thought about the conflict. Come on now. That was at one a the wee security checkpoint where you go to the flights to Ireland.

I almost forgot before I had my Irish passport (I had just my American one and travelling with Irish husband) I was stopped coming off the ferry in Scotland from Belfast while on honeymoon and asked in broken English where my passport was. "...hhhm at home". You don't need a passport to travel between the north of Ireland and Scotland. I offered a driver's license and to show him our wedding cards. That was about profiling (I am mixed race. I hate that excuse but as soon as saw my husband they changed tack congratulated me on my marriage and let me go. I was the only person stopped.

polonius

This IS, unfortunately, a typical UK/US/Canada/Australia border experience. These people are lower than pond scum, and you should remind them of that by taking your holidays elsewhere in the future -- they do not deserve your money.

B747-437B

That was actually the most relevant question you were asked. A UKBA inspector must be satisfied that you are entering the UK without intent to study, work or have "recourse to public funds". To that end, he must be satisfied that you have the means to support yourself during your stay in the UK.

I've read through your narrative multiple times and do not see anything extraordinary about the interaction. This is pretty identical to the interaction tens of thousands of tourists have entering virtually every country in the world every day.

tgsh2006

[QUOTE=LilTMD;14575321]I just got back from a trip to England/Ireland (first time to either place), and I had an unusual experience with the UK border agency officer. I was wondering if this is a typical interaction, or if this person was just being nasty.

Now you know just a little of what many 'aliens' have to endure when attempting to enter the USA! The UKBA officer was within his rights to ask you those questions. As a non EU citizen 'or alien if you prefer' the immigration officer needs to determine your admissibility to the UK. The questions may seem tedious and repetitive; however, asking someone what sights they plan to see is a common method of attempting to determine the veracity of someone claiming to be tourists. It could probably be done a whole lot better quite frankly and with less 'sarcasm'; however, I repeat, some of the 'nonsense' endured from USA CBP makes your episode look like the height of 'politeness'. I assume you were not carted off somewhere in chains?

WillR

The experience of having to provide details of financial position, itinerary, and tickets is not at all uncommon, although for the vast majority of entrances there will be no, or very few, questions asked.

Whilst personally I have never experienced an attitude like you describe, I would not be surprised if some UKBA officers acted provocatively with the intention of rattling the pax and revealing more information.

I would not be shocked to experience treatment like that, anywhere in the world.

FWIW, don't you get emailed an e-ticket for your entire itinerary as soon as the ticketing process is completed?

Saltine

Sounds almost friendly compared to what you go through with US Border Control. At least we don't have border patrol agents roaming our streets, ready to harass anyone within 100 miles of the sea who might have the remotest chance of being an illegal immigrant The guy doesn't sound particularly friendly, but that's not his job, his job is to make sure you're not coming here to leech off social security and it's not really his fault if you didn't convince him of that. Not having a printed itinerary is a mistake for travelling anywhere in the world.

colmc

I think you're taking it entirely too personally and making a mountain out of a molehill. It's the kind of questioning you *should* expect and be prepared for when entering any country, andbe pleasantly surprised when you do not recieve it. As said above it's quite mild compared to some, and it's part of parcel of the BA agent's duty.

alanR

Guy asks you questions, you answer, you are let in the country.

mattm199

I agre with our observation that it's hard to be at your best after a long haul flight, let alone when put on the spot with unexpected questions!

alanR

Virtually everybody trying to legally enter a country as a tourist knows something about the country they are trying to visit

Well personally I'd think you were a pair of nutcases - travelling at vast expense, for 11 hours, all to spend time in bed. Just get the best room at home instead and save yourself thousands of dollars. But even honeymooners do leave the bedroom sometime and so would have done some research about the place they are visiting