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Comment by jetcata | Hacker News Reader

I love the "welcome home" from Passport control here in the US, I think it's amazing.

I don't mean to be snarky--I'm genuinely curious if you are being sarcastic here. As a US citizen, I've been met with indifference, or more likely, quizzed on the places I've been, my home address, or the contents of my luggage. Never once has the greeting been "Welcome home"

I get the"welcome home" every time (Dulles, JFK, Philly, Miami), it's one of those things that kind of caps off an international vacation for me.

Its the same as retail/customer service based industries. I've never had a pleasant experience at Walmart, but at the bodega down the street things are different. Flying into a major hub like say Miami the agents just wanna get you through, flying into say...Cincinnati or San Antonio the pace is a bit slower and the customs agents more friendly.

Oh, I'm sorry you've never been greeted that way :( I'm not being sarcastic, the first time the officer said it to me I was amazed!

I've heard "welcome home" each time, coming through Seattle or Chicago over the past ten years.

I also heard that in Seattle, though it was a weird feeling, as I am not a citizen nor a permanent resident. At the time I thought it might be due to my frequent travel to the US.

US citizen here, originally from Boston.

Logan immigration has been very friendly to me in the past.

These days I'm not in Boston and usually come in through Newark Liberty. Half the time I get a nice friendly/chitchatty immigration officer who welcomes me back.

Nowadays most airports do that electronic thing, so they don't even need to ask you questions since its all on that slip of paper. So a couple of times I've had them glance at the slip, and then just welcome me back with a smile.

I've had a welcome home on my H1-B at SFO, made me feel quite warm and fuzzy. Also had much less pleasant experiences (the immigration officer who thought Europe was being overrun with Mislims.) As a white British person I've never had a welcome home from an immigration officer in the UK, but being greeted in the UK would seem weird.

Depends on the guard you get. I'm a Canadian citizen living in the US and I even get "welcome home" sometimes!

I was greeted that way flying into both Miami and Dulles, separated at times from 2000 to 2009.

I usually return via SFO, and I don't think I've ever heard "Welcome Home". Last time (after a short vacation from the region) I was quizzed "Do you reside in New Zealand or Australia?" followed by "Move along."

In SFO most recently, I was welcomed back only after I thanked the guy at passport control and told him to have a good day. It really depends on how passport control feels that day.

I've gotten a "welcome back" returning from the UK to Boston.

It's a different experience each time ... but sometimes it's quite pleasant.

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