Immigration Processing Times
 

Often I'm through the immigration less than a minute after approaching with the occasional chatty (agent-agent) agent taking longer. However I've noticed that China nationals tend to take much longer.

Anyone else noticing this as well? Are there other passports that also take an extended processing time?

Since I usually arrive smack in the middle of the AM rush on either CX or BR, I also get to see all the flights from Russia and the 'stans in line with me. In my observation, I do notice that U.S., Canada and Japanese passport holders get through the quickest, followed by Russia and then China.

In my experience, it always takes me a couple of extra minutes though since I have a visa, and the agent looks at all the pages except for the actual visa page that is marked with a paper clip for the visa itself. :rolleyes:

The other day my PG flight was late and the bus couldn't make the U turn at E1A until 3 buses full of a UN flight passed by. I normally don't use my FastTrack coupons on the inbound but I sure as hell did then. The line was snaking through the maze on both sides of the main hall.

Inbound I place my arrival form on the first available page. The agent takes out the arrival form and then proceeds to pour through looking for the first available page. Outbound I often place my BP on the page with the departure form/entry stamp. Without fail the immi agent takes the BP out and then searches the passport for this page. It's rather comical.

One of the problems is that many of the Chinese (and some other nationals) arrivals don't speak English and don't have the arrival card filled out when they are in the immigration line.
Therefore it takes a long time before they are processed by the immigration officer.

My experience is that the process for China nationals takes longer when the card is already filled out.