What are your worst experiences with customs, passport controls?

Question

An example: On a visit to the UK with my two daughters, driving a car with Swiss number plates, I was asked by passport control to 'pull over.' They took our passports away and we almost missed the ferry. When, at the last minute they returned our passports, I asked what the problem was. 'We couldn't understand why 3 British citizens were in a Swiss car.'

'You could have asked. Oh, and by the way, all 3 passports were issued by the British Consulate in Switzerland. And that is on the passports. That could have given you a clue'

Answer 1

Luckily being a white person from a developed country, I never really have problems. The only problem would be the long delays at Heathrow immigration control. It’s the slowest I’ve ever experienced.

Answer 2

My sister is a huge Monty Python fan.  On a trip to the grocery one day I found a special edition can of SPAM with their theme on it.  I bought it and when the next time we flew from the UK to the US I brought it with me.

Mind you this was not to eat it was to be a collectors item only.

At the airport in Orlando I was detained.  I freely admitted I had it BUT as I said it was not to be opened it was meant to be a collectable.

I was almost arrested for bringing a meat substance into the US.

Now they did not give me the third degree but it was still scary.  Because I freely admitted to having it they let me go with a warning.

I recently found another can after a LOT of searching and you better believe I will remove the meat before mailing her the can!

Oh and also another time, flying into the US I was waiting to go through customs and was using my cell phone to call my husband to let him know my 9 hour flight was over and I made it ok and I was almost arrested.  There was this one teeny sign that said cell phones were illegal in the area.  I didn't even see it and this super fat rude man in uniform told me I had two seconds to put the phone away before I was arrested.  I made a super snappy comment about the sign and how it was not noticeable and that made him even more rude and nasty.

I was very angry to say the least.

I am American btw.

Answer 3

Upon returning from a wonderful trip to Greece, my wife and I were detained by ICE at the San Francisco airport. We stood at a counter for at least 15 minutes. Obviously, we got impatient. Finally we flagged down an agent and asked if we were going to have our luggage gone through or be questioned or what? After even more standing, we were let go. I did ask what the hang-up was. The agent said that we had a common last name, a name a terrorist would choose to sneak in. I looked her straight in the face and asked, "you mean if I were Muhammed BenGoofball we would have left here half an hour ago?"  

Answer 4

Not me but read about a woman who lost a LOT of weight and changed her whole appearance was stopped in Thailand because she did not look like her passport photo. She said it was the most frightening experience and could not understand a word they were saying. It wasn't until one of them spotted that the eyes were the same that they released her.

Answer 5

I was visiting Sweden as an adult in a group which included my parents. My UK passport had been issued in Switzerland and it was full of suspicious looking visas from East Africa. The Swedish immigration officer declined to let me through on the basis that there was nothing in my passport to state that I would be allowed back into the UK. In vain did I point out that neither did any of the other British passports contain any such declaration; that the UK was the land of my birth and that I had parents right there (who had been admitted to Sweden on their passports) to testify to the fact....she was adamant until mercifully a senior immigration officer was good enough to let me in.

I had a miserable hour in Ben Gurion Airport a few years back being the one the immigration officials picked on to search and interrogate because of my suspicious profile (along with a particularly innocuous looking Japanese businessman). I think that the reason for my suspicious appearance was the fact that I had travelled to Israel with a friend, but that we were travelling back separately. I'm glad that I declined to bring in a pile of Polish books which had belonged to the said friend's mother -- I don't read Polish and would never have been able to explain them away.

I also remember the time my luggage arrived in Tanzania after me and I had to go to the Customs shed to clear it. The Customs officer went through intimate items of clothing with great gusto, allegedly in the interests of deciding whether or not they had been worn, and finally sent me down the road (the main street of the town!) to the next building with a great humiliating armful of the things. His colleague, mercifully, took one horrified look at me staggering in and waved me on my way.

Answer 6

I'm British and travel to America alot because my husband is American.

And i have to say,the American airport security/immigration workers are some of the most daunting,un-helpful and scariest people i've ever met! It almost puts me off travelling to America!

One time,after "appearing suspicious because i was travelling alone",i had my baggage searched. The officer went through EVERYTHING,but the thing that struck me the most was,in my bag,i had a greeting card for my husband (it was our anniversary) and the officer opened the card envelope and read the card! I just could not believe it!

There i was,23 years old,of good character in every way,frequent traveller to America and it's tourism,stood in the middle of an immigration interview room with my clothes and belongings scattered around me,watching some stranger read a personal greeting card not meant for him!

Answer 7

I live in Michigan and my family had a cottage in Canada. One time my Dad was taking me across to Canada (I was probaly about 7 or 8 then) and the customs people stopped us. They took my Dad out of the car and brought him inside the building. Then one of the customs people asked me who that man I was with was. I told him that he was my Dad. Then he asked me if I was supposed to be with him and I told him yes. I guess meanwhile they were inside questioning my Dad about if I should be with him or not.

My parents got divorced when I was one, so I was used to going to Canada with my Dad and my Mom certainly had no problem with it.

The customs people told my Dad that they needed to speak with my Mom to make sure I was supposed to be with him. Well, lucky us my Mom wasn't home and we couldn't get a hold of her. They ended up finally getting ahold of my Grandparents who straightened everything out.

Answer 8

The worst thing I experienced was the pay packet, that's why I left.