Rants and Raves With Immigration Officers Upon Arrival to Country of Destination

[akal]

Sa Casabalanca ako nag-exit. Baka natiyempuhan lang ako. Pero sinabihan na ako, bago pa ako pumunta roon. Binulatlat yung wallet ko du'n sa baggage X-Ray at doon nga nakita yung $15 ko.

Bro, kumusta yung mga pulang "limousine" (lumang model ng Chedeng) sa Casabalnca? Kala ko luma na yung mga taxi natin sa Pinas. He-he!

Ayos yang airport sa Casablanca. Yan lang ang nakita kong airport na nagkalat ang pusa. Mismo sa lobby, palakad-lakad sila.

baka nga natyempohan ka lang bro. yung kasama ko ay tiningnan nga rin daw yung wallet nya.
napansin mo rin pala mga pusa..hehehe. pero nung last daan ko sa airport, medyo nawala na. ina-upgrade na rin yung airport nila at baka sa next exit ko ay matatapos na at mag-improve.
buhay pa rin mga chedeng na taxi. 7 ang sakay at ginagawang fx. parang sardinas na yung nasa loob.

[StraightSix]

dude...you will get hassled if you bring in food or produce, especially those na maamoy or could be considered "exotic" in the states. bagoong??! :shocked2:

What if it was the other way around?

My mom (from FL) was over here in the UK a few months ago. When I met her at the waiting lounge she was with an agent from the airline. The airline misplaced her luggages, and so was asking her to declare everything that were in the luggages. Of course she said she had loads of dried fish, salted eggs, "Boy Bawang" etc. so the guy tried to tell her that it's not allowed to come into the UK. I found it amusing how my mom told him that those things were bought in the US, that they were vaccum-sealed, and how can British customs could be stricter than the US post-9/11, blah-blah. In the end, the guy just told me that he's aware how those things can be a delicacy for pinoys, but asked if I could just tell my mom to limit them the next time around. Like hell I will ... and yes, I got all my tuyo after a week, delivered at my doorstep.

---

I never had any unpleasant experience with IO's yet. Nobody's ever asked me anything about money, most of the time I never got asked at all. Although my experience with the French was different with the others on this forum. It may be because we were on a train (the EuroStar through the channel tunnel) and were headed straight to the Disney terminal ... but the French IO onboard was pretty lax. He could've easily missed us on our seats if it weren't for my wife who tried to wave him her passport. He had that look on his face that said "Great, more work for me."

[mazdamazda]

Ummm... haven't experienced anything unusual with the IO for any of the countries that I've visisted.

[NightWinger]

I am a chinese(China) passport holder. And going back to my mother country after around 20years. The chinese IO just look at me and ask me where I come from. And I answer in chinese that I come from Philippine. And she look at me and ask me wait outside the line. After around 5min they bring me to a room and ask me some more question. D kasi ako mukha Chinese eh. Baka isip nila paano to naka kuha na chinese passport at galing magsalita na chinese. Baka spy to. Pero pinapasok pa rin ako.

[bayonic]

might be OT but I have rants with Immigration Officers bago ka pa man makaalis ng Pilipinas

1.) ang haba haba ng pila kasi ilang counters lang ang manned .... tapos ang daming IO na palakad-lakad lang sa paligid
2.) no dedicated counters for Filipinos.
3.) they have a sign on the windows saying Do Not Use Cellphones pero sila mismo ang txt ng txt habang pinaprocess ang passport mo.

airport security at NAIA Terminal 1 is another story.

[NightWinger]

+1
Minsan ang rami na IO sa likod pa lakad-lakad. Pero dalawa o tatlo lang counter na o-operation. Kasi daw break time nila o what ever. Ang haba haba tuloy ang pila. Minsan mas mabilis pa ako(gamit na chinese passport) kaysa mga OFW o may hawak na Pilipino passport.(Kasi may special counter dun para magbayad na re-entry).

[ozcity]

a very angry ausie woman..

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WQ9nbfnrM4"]YouTube - Angry Australian woman[/ame]

[smooth]

One time, when we arrived in France, me nakasabay kaming pasahero na ang lalagyan ng passport nya eh Louis Vuitton. Biruin ba naman ninyo eh mas inuna pa kilatisin ang leather at trademark nung passport holder kesa dun mismo sa visa. Sabay bigay ng thumbs up telling the Pinoy na authentic ang LV nya! Ngek! Ok diba? (hehehehe)

FYI: my cousin, who travels to europe regularly, told me that the French are very proud of the LV brand. parang "national treasure" sa kanila yan. please don't try to bring a fake LV into france kasi yayariin ka nila talaga. i guess the thumbs up sign was because he was glad you (or that lady) patronized their "national" product.

edit: (OT) i wish we could be the same for our local products. like for example if we see a foreigner buying hapee toothpaste, we might tell the foreigner, "good for you sir/ma'am, that toothpaste will give you all that you need at a better price."

BTTT: in my experience, parang mas strict ang mga fil-am IO's kaysa sa ibang IO's when entering the US. pansin mo sa immigration, ang iksi ng pila sa fil-am IO. i understand the no special treatment thing pero in my subjective experience, parang the fil-am IO's are extra harsh.

[jeffrocks]

dude...you will get hassled if you bring in food or produce, especially those na maamoy or could be considered "exotic" in the states. bagoong??! :shocked2:

the quarantine rules are super-strict in the US because foreign foods or animals typically bring in disease or pests that could be extremely destructive.

didn't they tell you this at immigration?

yup thats rigth...bagoong??...IO's stamped it with "NOT FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION"nakakahiya...

No hassle so far with IO's wherever i go with my family

[JiggeR671]

yup thats rigth...bagoong??...IO's stamped it with "NOT FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION"nakakahiya...

No hassle so far with IO's wherever i go with my family

hahaha...not fit for human consumption....

tanong lang po.. diba customs officer ang nangangalikot ng mga bagahe nde immigration officer? o pareho lang sila

[smooth]

while i completely understand the concept of pasalubongs, wala bang bagoong na mabibili sa mga Filipino store? yung utol ko alam ko nagpapadala lang ng pasalubong (sa mga bibisita sa US) para makatipid siya sa gastusin hahaha (lagi niyang hiling argentina corned beef, e nakita ko sa grocery meron namang argentina corned beef dun. not sure about bagoong though.)

[HIFI]

Though I didn't carry any bagoong with me sa LAX, perhaps matalas ang IO's sense of smell. Kagaya ni Malu Fernandez ba?

Amoy bagoong ang mga tao sa flight? Hehehe....

[moneywhiz]

so far so good. i never had any bad experience in airports

[chua_riwap]

Sa Saudi naman mga IO's di marunong mag-Ingles.

Customs officers naman nila, pag natiyempuhan ka, bubulatlatin ang laman ng maleta mo. Maraming bawal: religious materials, ****, mga DVDs/CDs., at siyempre foods na may pork.

[meledson]

So far I have no problems with IO.

[LadyRider]

I just arrived here in Shanghai for a 4 day visit and fortunately their IO's are very silent! (hehehehe) They will just look straight into your face and look again at the passport and the visa they issued in Manila... tatak tatak then yun na! (hehehehe) Nakakatawa lang sila kase ang lalagkit ng mga tingin!

Ganda ng skyline nila dito lalu na yung mga skyscrapers at lalu na ang lights sa gabi! Sana ganito rin sa Pinas....

Pero ok pa rin tayong mga Pinoy lalu na sa English kase second language natin yun diba? Ang hirap makipag-usap! Hirap na hirap sila mag English at karamihan di pa marunong! Grrrr......

[LadyRider]

Sorry mods nadoble po... paki bura na lang po.. thanks po

[strutot]

had trouble once with a melbourne IO, he wouldn't believe that a filipino was doing business with an australian company... gave me a hard time, even calling for a security officer to check my luggage... even to the point of charging me duties for the stuffs i was bringing in.. duh.. I was bringing in SAMPLES to show my customer!! sigh..

[Jun aka Pekto]

Let's see. Flying out of the US from NYC..... no problem
Arriving in Germany..... no problem
Belgium..... no problem
The Netherlands..... no problem
Leaving The Netherlands at Amsterdam..... no problem except when I forgot to open my aluminum laptop briefcase. They had me redo the x-ray part.
Arriving at the US via Atlanta..... no problem
Leaving the US at Atlanta..... no problem
Arriving in Tokyo..... no problem

Even my wife hadn't had any problems. Entering LAX back in 2005 on the return from a trip to RP, she had a suitcase full of daeng and tuyo (the whole suitcase). She said the immigration/custom officer took a long hard look at the plastic bags of dried fish and squid, got a whiff of the odor, shook his head, and let her through. My wife just kind of smiled during the whole thing

[bilog]

Our last trip was going to HK. The immigration officer was nice and courteous naman. Ok ng adun kasi may candy pa sa counter to help you calm yourself.hehehe