Ever get hassle with customs? Denied. Detained. Deported. | Hacker News Reader

Ever get hassle with customs? Denied. Detained. Deported.

trickaduu.com

17 pointstrickaduu26 comments

No matter what you are planning to do.. "Tourism, I am here to see the country (see friends, relatives etc)" I almost made that mistake before but remembered to shut up just in time.

Yeah, being too honest and excited to see London was her mistake.

Lying, even when the lie is "conventional" can cause problems as well; many immigration agents are very good at sniffing out little inconsistencies.

I once spent about three hours arguing with immigration officials in "the back room" after a friend decided that "tourist" was a better answer than the real reason (going to a wedding, staying with my family)—but that didn't quite match up with other details ("where are you staying?" "how long are you here?" ...). [Note this was also prior to 9/11, and they probably err on the side of "grill" more often these days.]

The guy that did most of the grilling in that case (and who seemed pretty sharp) ended with this advice: "next time just tell the truth... it's a lot easier for everybody."

I think that's pretty much true.

Hard to say really, didn't work in this case. Another friend of mine has been told before by passport control to just say "tourist" when she gave an answer that wasn't "I'm here on holiday" whereas customs then grilled her minutes later on why she said "tourist" when she was there for a wedding.

The thing is, though, once you're in the back room, they can fairly quickly determine if you were lying, and if you did lie, that itself will be held against you. Unless you have a very good explanation for why you lied—and do a lot of groveling—just the lie can be enough to deny entrance (even if the truth is innocuous).

Explaining a non-lie can be annoying as well, but not having lied is a much better position to start from.

During the second interview in the back room it was fully explained why my friend was there. The woman in charge then told her "It doesn't really matter what you tell me now anyway, I'm going to base it off what you said the first time around." Even after I got to explain the thing again on the phone to the woman later she said if that's the case she made a mistake but there was nothing she could do about it at that point as she "just stamped the paperwork so no reversing it now."

As a UK resident, I feel a pang of embarrassment and sadness and anger as I see how non-residents are treated when going through immigration control. Heathrow immigration is the worst. It's depressing, oppressive, cold and ugly. These are probably deliberate choices.

On several occasions, I've seen customs and immigration officials behave aggressively, usually fidgeting with night-sticks (truncheons) in a way that suggests that they are itching to beat someone.

The immigration officers were acting like they just uncovered a criminal, power trip took off.

Here's how it works.

There are two kinds of people in the world: people who crave power, and people who don't. The people who don't aren't the problem.

There are two kinds of power-craving people in the world: people who act on their craving, and people who don't. The people who don't aren't the problem.

There are two kinds of people acting on their power craving in the world: people who try to join the military or the police, and people who don't. The people who don't aren't the problem.

There are two types of power-craving military or police cadets in the world: the ones who stay there, and the ones who don't. The ones who stay there quickly get their antisocial tendencies beaten out of them by their instructors, in the vast majority of cases, so they're not the problem.

There are two kinds of power-craving academy dropouts in the world: the ones who realise that power trips aren't for them, and the ones who don't. The ones who realise aren't the problem.

The rest become airport security guards. THEY are the problem.

OTOH, this summer while crossing the canadian border in Madawaska (ME) to enter the US, I was "stopped".

For some reason the US immigration officier in Puerto Rico had forgotten to add a date to my entry stamp. I was stopped for this technicality, and while getting some paperwork for me in my car the custom officers found I had prescription drugs.

I was worried, but for no reason at all - they figured out the mistake that happened in PR, and checked the drugs official prescriptions matched (antibiotics and some pretty stong painkillers), and then I was cleared to go with a smile.

TL;DR : the US custom officer were friendly and efficient, and fixed a mistake.

I wouldn't dream of that happening in Europe, or (god help me) the UK.

I'm sure there are just as many occasions where European custom officers are friendly and efficient and fix mistakes.

But I can assure you that this story happens with US customs as well - if they think you are there to work in the country without a work VISA, you will get detained and it is not pleasant.

These customs anecdotes are a dime a dozen. I've had a customs official arguing with another official because he wanted to 'nail me to the wall' for no particular reason AND I'M A GOD DAMN US CITIZEN.

Customs officials are given a wide amount of powers, and little to no oversight. At this point, I feel like a US customs official could rape an entire squad of 13 year old cheerleaders live on air over the public airwaves and receive a tax break for the trouble. </bitter>

The fact they act on a whim is beyond dodge.

I know US passport control is strict but never heard of the UK being so strict. Unlucky to get a grumpy woman with a chip on her shoulder.

Very interesting read. My girlfriend is American and I am from Ireland, we have had a few close calls.Luckily nothing has happened yet!Heathrow is notoriously bad for deporting people. Just wondering, how did you get bumped up to premium? I have a long flight coming up and trying to see if there are any tricks to getting bumped up for free.

Same boat as you. Never had any close calls before though, went to Ireland recently via Heathrow and had no problem, gave the exact same info. All seems to be down to the officer in charge and the mood they are in. Show up early and dress well for a chance to get bumped up.

I have often wondered whether UK Immigration Officers have a quota to meet...

I would be curious to know if some ethnic groups are being targeted so that the statistics show that they're deporting a 'correct' amount of people from each group.

This was suggested by one of the people I spoke to afterwards. They can now say that they don't just stop a certain kind of group or look... "We stopped a blonde American girl last week."

How could she be so dim? She's a singer and she's going to sing while she's here. Of course they are going to prick up their ears when they hear that.

Not her fault. A lot of people make this mistake; a coworker of mine was driving down into the states (from Canada) to run a training course for a company. The customs officials asked him what his business was in the states, and the sentence he replied with happened to contain the word "work."

After ten hours of sitting in a room he was turned back, and we had to fly someone else down to teach the course. Moral: when you're asked why you're visiting a country, do NOT reply with anything that could be (intentionally) misinterpreted as "to find work."

More excited and naive really. Main reason was a holiday, going along to sing in a small pub was only an added bonus, non paid.

That's Stockholm Syndrome talking. You're standing up for evil. Be ashamed, and change your tune. Really.

Gracious no. I'm the last person to stand up for bully-boy customs officials. But in this case a professional singer is coming here to sing. Sorry, but I really, really think they are doing their job correctly for once.

Wow. Can't believe that immigration officers go to such devious lengths to try and catch out unsuspecting, innocent people.

Pretty nuts, entrapment style.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com