Obviously entering the EU I have not been subjected to questions other than some personal chit chat at CDG. However, I went through passport control with my secondary 'clean' German passport last year at FRA and the police took it and said 'You don't travel much!' I had to laugh and pulled out my primary German one to show him the condition. :D

I'm not a fan of government agencies sharing information, but if it prevents people from scamming benefits....

I agree, safeguards should be set to prevent out of line activities.

Grandma just went through a knee replacement, and couldn't work after surgery. I was trying to provide a nice vacation to Disney World for her in which I paid for, so she can forget some of the pain. Her pension is only $600 per month, and she lives on the farm by herself. It was a challenging time for her.

Ah yes, I remember now that you posted the reason for bringing her elsewhere.

So in this case the system worked exactly as it should, as she was unavailable to work and ineligible for benefits. In this case I don't have an issue with government departments sharing data, so long as it is within one country.

The best one for me was this:

Officer: Why are you here?
Me: Visiting US factory of our business partner.
O: Who paid your trip, etc?
Me: I did.
O: How long have you been working for the US Co?
Me: I am not working for I am working with! I am not employed by them.
O: How much cash do you have?
Me: 3K USD.
O: (change of tone and gave me a real nasty look) That is a lot of money to carry around.
Me: Not really. What if CC wont work at a hotel, etc. The hotel immedialtey will call the cops on me, so I need that much cash. Anything can go wrong.
O: I will give you 2 weeks of stay, is it enough?
Me: Yeah, sure.

This was at MCO, btw.

They are some of the worst (and overall airport is one of the worst factoring in the TSA there) I once had an officer go through my wallet and when he found a business card from a hotel concierge in Las Vegas he was triumphant. Somehow he seemed to think that he could trip me up and asked how long I was there to visit my 'boyfriend'. :rolleyes:

That is true. I am avoiding them at all cost. Nowadays I usually go thru IAD or EWR. Had pleasent exeperiences at those airports and none of them were shcoked about my cash habit:) Some even were pleased and hoped I will spend that much in the US:)

I never said the system didn't work as it should. I posted that the passport information is shared amongst the departments. Grams is certainly not a scammer. For some reason she was unaware that this would affect her Employment Insurance. In the end, she was fine following the rules. I just don't think the scammer comment describes the person she is.

The only customs issue I have had was with Canadian Customs. I went regularly into this one particular city fly in on Sunday night, fly out on Monday night. A total of 12 trips. Since they didnt have Nexus terminals yet the Nexus line went to this one particular person who eventually recognized me. Every time he saw me he would ask for a copy of the contract for the work I was coming to Canada for. The first few times I just said that I didnt have it and pointed to all of the other Canadian stamps in my passport and just pointed out that despite all of my trips to Canada, I had never been asked for that. He usually just let me through. Then one day, after the 3rd time of him telling me this, I came prepared. I had gone to the CBP website and printed out all of their rules for travelling to Canada on business. Nowhere did it say that a copy of a contract was required. So I got to the kiosk showed my passport and he asked me for a copy of a contract which of course Im not going to show him as that is a private business arrangement. I declined and asked him under what authority he was asking for that. And his response was that it was under his discretion and he could ask for whatever he wanted. I then pulled out all of the paperwork I had printed out from the CBP website, including a list of requirements to travel to Canada on business. A contract was not one of them. Well, he gave me a lecture and then handed my passport back to me. So I opened it up, started counting all of the Canadian stamps in my passport and stated loudly (Pretty sure all 20 people in the room heard) : for the X number of times my passport has been stamped by a Canadian border patrol officer this year, Ive never had to deal with one that was a bigger ....... then you." And then turned around and walked down the hall to go be deported.

So I walked up to the first CBP officer I could find and talked to him. I said "Ive just been deported. This is my 7th trip to this town for business in this town and I keep getting asked for a contract by this one particular officer. I have these printouts from your website but I cannot find anywhere that it says that a contract or other documents MAY be required." He looked at the documents and about that time the other officer came up and was huffing and puffing. I took a step back and let them talk. I was then asked to go into the secondary inspection area. A couple minutes later the a-hole officer came back with a completely different tone. He just asked me to show him anything wih my local clients name on it. An email or something. I connected to the wifi, did a search for the name of the company I was working with in town and quickly pulled up a years worth of emails. That was enough. My passport was stamped.

Never had a problem since going back to that city multiple times.

Cliffs:
1. Travel to Canada A LOT.
2. Never been asked for contract.
3. Going to this one small town regularly I get asked for a copy of contract with local company. Dont have it.
4. Research this and cannot find any requirement for contract. Take printouts.
5. Go back to small Canadian town. Get asked for contract. Dont have it. Despite refusal to site authority to ask for contract other than his own authority and discretion I get rejected from Canada.
6. Call CBP officer an ....... to his face, in earshot of other officers and the public.
7. Few minutes later, pull up emails showing regular communication with local customer.
8. Passport is stamped and Im welcomed to Canada.

Never been treated so rudely by a border patrol officer in ANY country in the world, including a few not particularly kind to Americans.

Shortly after 9/11 when airport officials suddenly became over conscious of their promotion to the front line of national security, I was quizzed by an immigration officer in Perth, Western Australia.

She flipped back and fourth through my Australian passport, examined several visas and stamps, and looked at my birthplace on my passport, a town in eastern Australia with an aboriginal-derived name, and said suspiciously, "That doesn't sound very Australian"

It's not unusual for immigration officials in Australia to be immigrants themselves, and this was said in a Lancashire accent. It's also not unusual for British immigrants to Perth to be unfamiliar with the "eastern states" of Australia.

I replied huffily "It's a damn sight more Australian than Perrrrrrrth!" giving it my best Scottish accent.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I am not even very familiar with US law.

Why is the Riot Act relevant here? I thought it's only about handling of crowds.

In case your question is genuine, "Read the Riot Act" is an idiom:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/riot%20act

I'm glad it worked out for you in the end. The officer's supervisor was obviously not happy with the way the situation was handled, and adjusted the attitude of the officer.

However, the officer was right. They have the discretion of asking you about or for just about anything. Even though having a contract on your person is not a specifically-enumerated item required for entry, you still have the burden of proof to establish that your reason for entry is valid and that you're telling the truth. In your particular case, as an American with a strong record of coming and going without causing problems, it may be difficult for him to sustain an "entry denied" decision.

But in general, such situations are not those where you want to get snippy, or attempt to play lawyer by showing him printouts of some website. Rather than raising a fuss, it might have just been easier to tell the truth: "I don't travel with the contract." That's a perfectly reasonable response, and I'd imagine that a great many business travelers from the US to Canada don't travel with a contract on their person that supports their visit.

Thanks! Didn't know that...