Hi all,

Upon coming back from the DR, as well as traveling across the border via land, I have been asked the question "What do I do for a living?"

Now, this isn't a sensitive question, but upon swiping my passport, are they able to see my employment history at all? Or a current employer?

The reason I ask is because I am employed by the US Government, and both times, the travelers I was with were not questioned on their occupations.

Just something I was curious about, and possibly to see if there is any insight here.

Thanks!

its just one of the many questions the immigration agents use to assess whether or not to proceed with further questioning. I have been asked things like

what do I do
how much money do I have with me
do I carry food
how many bags do I have
why do you travel so much
why is your English so good (hispanic agent, I am hispanic too, I thought her accent was terrible.........)
what are all those papers???? (I put a bunch of confirmations, car rental reservations etc over the counter)
who do you know in xyz place
Houston HUH?? why dont you go to............Miami??? (answer , been there many times as you can see , doesnt even feel like the US, I dont like the place..........Johnson Space Center is not in Miami :P )

my favorite is

"are you seriously telling me you are traveling ALONE, to South Dakota???????????????? and you dont know anyone there???????????"

they can ask anything they feel like and depending on your response (and body language) figure out if you are being forthcoming or not

I was once asked "How did you get be an American citizen being born in the US Virgin Islands?" I replied "if you are being serious with that question then perhaps this is not the right job for you."

They are just sizing you up. If you fumble the answer or give some occupation that doesn't typically have the income to support recreational travel and you give no other plausible business or familial reason to have made the trip, perhaps they want to dig a little deeper into why you are there. But they 'probably' aren't fact checking it against something in their computer right at that moment.

I had a US Customs Agent ask me to give him a business card once at LAX after answering that question during a secondary inspection. I declined to and told him I didn't see what he needed one for so he gave up that line of questioning and let me go.

The purpose of questions is either to clear up something or simply to evaluate how rather than what people say. Most people, when answering simple questions, answer truthfully and without hesitation. When you have to think about an answer which should roll off the tip of your tongue, it's suspicious and a factor in directing people to a secondary.

Good example: you are an EVP Sales returning from an overseas marketing trip. Presumably you've got business cards because that's what people hand out when they are senior and traveling for sales purposes. So, when asked for one, you've got one to hand out. Absent an explanation, it's suspicious that you don't have one.

I tend to discount much of the snark which some on FT say they said or chalk it up to some of the rants from people who say they were denied for GE or "always" get pulled to secondary, but can't figure out why.

They are looking at all your travel data and thinking, "Gee, how do I get a job like this guy?"

Canadian Immigration asked me at Halifax that once. It was an experienced official with a trainee so they were giving it maximum hard@$$ .

They asked me to name all the businesses I was visiting and said "We WILL visit them and check on you"
I said, "Fine, sounds like a nice job you got"

They never showed up.

I nominate this for both Post and Retort of the Year. ^

I am a lawyer and, when I travel overseas for business, I hand out my business cards to my client, to opposing counsel, etc. And then, when I am done, I pack them away in my checked bag and don't expect to have to deal with a request for one.

I have, on very rare occasions, encountered extremely rude immigration people on return to the US (always immigration, never customs who, on the whole, I've found friendly and helpful). On one occasion, an immigration officer at SFO decided that my wife, who is an American citizen, was actually a sex slave I was importing from China (I assume) and was not only rude to me, but to her. I read him the riot act in response, lecturing him about the legal presumption resulting from presentation of a valid US passport (and, yes, I did play the lawyer card, though with my California State Bar card, not my business card) and demanded to see his superior, who was called and apologized to both of us profusely. On the whole, I find the immigration folks to be vastly superior to their non-LEO counterparts at TSA, but there are definitely a couple of bad apples in that barrel.

They are also looking at the full picture and not eager to lock-up upon a slip as I read in that thread about Canadian immigration horror.

Many years ago I recall I was asked once what I do. I spaced out and had to think for a couple of seconds. Nothing happened. The lady did not even make eye contact.

I was never asked for a business card, but it is not uncommon to run out of cards after an active trip. Happened to me thrice this year.

I am a US Passport holder with Global Entry and flew LHR-ORD last week. It'd been a long day already and I was tired after it taking 20 minutes to get to a GE kiosk.

The CPB officer checking GE print outs and passport exchange ...

CBP: Where are you coming from?
Me: London
CBP: Why were you in London?
Me: I live in the UK.
CBP: What do you do?
Me: I work for the government.
CBP: How long are you here for? Why are you here?
<by this point I was annoyed, as this was a first US CBP grilling for me>
Me: Is it any of your business? I'm a US Passport holder. I can stay in this country for as long as I like. I'm headed home to see my family.

At this point he just glared at me and handed my passport and receipt back to me.

Maybe it was jet lag or I was just feeling punchy, but I definitely did not appreciate it.

Is the GE experience more frequently turning out to be like the APC kiosk-using or non-kiosk-using POE experience for non-GE pax? It almost seems to have come to that.

While the last set of CBP questions can come across as annoying to US citizens with residence(s) abroad, the reason it may be relevant for US citizens too is because the duty-free customs allowances vary based on residence rather than on citizenship.

It's sort of unfortunate that the CBP plays a "gotcha" game with some of the questions it asks, but it may be faster to ask the questions that way than to it is to give an explanation each and every time about why a question is going to being asked and then asking the question.

In some ways, the CBP is stuck in a thankless, difficult position. While I too have been on the receiving end of some CBP games, it's rare that they've gone overboard on my entries to the US -- and I have a ridiculously large number of encounters with the CBP.

Several of the ORD GE machines were INOP, which I think caused part of the back up.

I cross the US border very frequently. As someone who has taught and served in the military for nearly 20 years, I'm well aware of thankless jobs.

As this was a first, I think it's why I was so surprised about being peppered with questions. Granted I was entering with my new passport (issued a few weeks ago), so my frequent travel was not as obvious.

Singapore passport but check-in desk clerk was suspicious when I was at SIN. For some reason, same questions at immigrations at Glasgow, though a million times more pleasant so maybe was flagged as suspicious (can they do that?). Simply showed print-outs of itinerary (in order) and was on my merry way. First and only time, so it was memorable.

+1

Canadian Immigration, a simple question such as 'business' or 'personal' purpose of travel question may show up on the records. My wife's mother EI (Employment Insurance) was affected as she travelled while unemployed.