ROG100

Well I for one am not suprised at all.
Most of the border US customs officials are very lacking in their knowledge of the rules and totally inept at applying them.
Having spent my life traveling the World and experiancing all the rules you never want to see again one Country that can never get it right is the USA.
This year I traveled to the UK and used my UK passport to exit the US (makes entry into the UK easier). They could not scan the bar code through their machine (old worn passport) so I produced my second passport which is newer. Within 30 seconds I was surrounded by TSA and a couple of Police officers.
Took about 30 mins for them to sort out that it is quite legal for Brits to have two passports unlike US citizens.
I spent 9 months going through the hoops to get my green card and then a further 9 months to become a citizen. Prior to becoming a citizen you are treated with distain by the immigration officials. I will never forget standing in line on the sidewalk outside the US embassy in London in December in a blizzard and below freezing point. In front of me was a lady with twins in a pushchair. I and others pleaded with the officials to allow her inside with her kids but to no avail.
On the other hand I love this country so much that I would go through all that **** again to be here.

Stan.Shaw@Excell.Net

Very nice to hear
I just hope we live up to our end of the bargain and keep it a great nation.

ROG100

Stan,
This is THE greatest nation - period.
Lets try and keep it that way.
Roger

Imo000

That would only work if he was not denied to enter for the entire day.

I hate US border crossings, most officers have lousy attitudes and they can deny entry even if they don't have a reason. The rookies are the worse.

ROG100

The point is - US immigration needs to stop wasting the time of bona fida travelers and concentrate on the criminals.
Criminals do not present themselves at border crossings they come in somewhere else.

Why the F***K do they insult travelers by calling them Aliens???
Last time I looked I did not have green ears 8>)

Most Americans will never see or experiance the pleasure of entry into the US. If they did they would be embarrassed.

Most Americans do not have a passport or have traveled outside their home state.

At customs in Gatwick I heard a number of Americans complaining loudly that they were having to que for about 20 mins to clear customs.
Try arriving at JFK as a non American and wait for up to 6 hours. They will have 20 officers clearing Americans and 2 dealing with visitors.

ew928

Ah, those lovely immigration lines at JFK.

Fond memories. NOT!
Get off a loooong flight, then get presented with those immigration lines from hell as the 1st thing one sees visiting the United States.
But I think they used to have 'Welcome' in all sorts of language printed on the walls.
Nice welcome.

When will someone make the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang pontoon attachment for the 928 to avoid having to fly overseas?

ROG100

On a lighter note I will never forget this : -
I was in the immigration offices here in DFW on the last set of hurdles before becoing a US citizen - a very proud moment for me.
I was escorted to the office of a very nice gentleman who had a very very strong Latino accent that I found hard to understand. I had to ask him to repeat himself more than once.
His job was to check that I could speak English!!!!!!!!! I rest my case 8>)

ew928

You had Charo as your Immigration ossifer?


And did he ask why you spelled colour, honour and aluminium funny?

hacker-pschorr

While conduction a job interview with someone from India, the interviewer was determined to shake this guy up because of hit accent.
The interviewer asked the job applicant to simply come up with a sentence that is related to the job he's applying for using the following words:
Pink, Green, and Yellow.

The job applicant thought for a minute and said:
"The phone goes green green green, I pinked it up and said Yellow!

/sorry.....

dr bob

If my aging memory is correct, I went through US customs and immigration clearance at the airport in Calgary before being allowed to get on the plane. Spent ten minutes in rather casual conversation while the determined from my speach that I was in fact qualified to rejoin my countrypeople at home. It took them that long because I didn't have "I Mean" and "You Know" peppering every sentence, and was able to finish sentences in the alloted time period. Otherwise they would have neede to actually LOOK at the picture in the passport. I can share also that it really helps to keep a good attitude on display through the whole process. It only takes one wrong word or aggressive/antagonistic nuance to stretch a casual meeting into an all-night ordeal. "Yes Sir" and "No Ma'am" go a very long way towards easing the transition back into the country.

I'll share my support for Roger's perception of traffic management at US airports. But there are in fact about the same amount of inspectors or more for non-resident or non-citizen admissions, at least at LAX. The big difference is the time spent per applicant. I can usually get through in minutes since I've done it so many times before. Someone with a different native language is at a very severe disadvantage. I've had money extorted from me at foreign immigration stations, and it's the way their systems work. Ours is slower but misses that custom. All that said, I'm always happy to come back here no matter where I happen to have been. And I share that with the immigration folks at the airport. It helps.

droy3

Agreed. The times I've had problems it's been with rookies.

sendarius

Well, US immigration can't be all bad - they let ME in for OCIC.

On the other hand, they think I am still in the US because what with flight delays and rushing to make the international connection at LAX, I never saw a US immigration officer on the homeward trip.

I have been to the US a number of times, and the worst experience was at the Canadian border (Windsor into Detroit in 1995) - the agent obviously thought we were on a mission to subvert the whole nation, destroy US industry, and kidnap his family.

Three hours of hostile questioning - "Where are you going? How much money do you have? Is this woman your wife? Is she a prostitute? What's in your bags? Why are you crossing from Windsor instead of at Niagara Falls? Are you a ****? Are you a drug addict?" over and over and over.

For us, it has actually been EASIER since the WTC attack.

S4ordie

ROG100 ....Why the F***K do they insult travelers by calling them Aliens??? Last time I looked I did not have green ears 8>)

Well Roger, tell us, as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?

Why in the search for intelligent life are all of the telescopes pointed towards outer space?

Alien or no, Roger you are still welcome to any party I have.

SteveG

[QUOTE=S4ordie;6840627
Well Roger, tell us, as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?

[/QUOTE]


LOL. Also, Do you mean, Roger, that you didn't wait 27 years to get your citizenship?

ROG100

When I first moved over here on a green card I was not prepared at that time to give up my UK citizen ship - a requirement to becoming a US citizen.
After three years they dropped that requirement and I am now a very very proud American and would not have it any other way 8>)

My stories were meant as informational for my American countrymen as most are not aware what hoops those of us who are not legal aliens have to go through to be a visitor in this country.

I stated JFK as being the worst port of entry. Chicago was bad until they build the new International terminal a few years back.
Never had any problems at LAX or DFW.

So why do we call our vistors to our country ALIENS????????????? Overseas vistors is much more polite.