walkinaround

>>>>>>
In times of Mad Cow worries, immigration (or customs?) will ask citizens to declare whether they have been on a farm.
>>>>>>

that's the silliest question. it says: 'I am bringing:
...
soil or have been on a farm/ranch/pasture?'

what does this mean? is it asking if i have EVER been on a farm?

hetismij

I hate that question. We used to live on a farm, and now regularly visit friends on their farm. Once the OH made the mistake of saying yes to that and got delayed for ages - this was long before the current security clampdown, in fact we still needed visas. Now I just say no. The friends only have horses, chickens and a couple of pigs nowadays anyway.

alanRow

<<< that's the silliest question >>>

Not if you are coming from an area that has foot & mouth or Colorado Beetle it isn't.

If you think that is stupid then you'd better never go to Oz or NZ where food is confiscated and peopel are sprayed just in case they are carrying some agricultural nasty

W9London

Just a reminder--not only UK immigration officer stamps your passport when you board Eurostar at Paris or Brussels, non-EU citizens must complete the white landing card (available before the immigration counter). Technically, non-EU citizens also are supposed to yellow entry/exit card before entering France, but to be honest, I have not seen one at London Eurostar station.

xyz123

W9LONDON...

You're about 10 years late...about 10 years ago, the UK immigration service stopped requiring the yellow cards and stopped stamping passports upon leaving the UK whether it be at St. Pancreas, Heathrow, Dover or wherever.

As noted, the French immigration service is very lax about stamping passports...they usually do stamp passports out at Gare du nord before the UK immigration control but not always.....

W9London

xyz123,

no, I'm talking about <b>french</b> yellow entry form. UK immigration still requires a white landing card.

xyz123

...correct......but until about 10 years ago, non eu citizens had to fill out a yellow card to leave the UK and they stamped your passport out...as noted that ended 10 years ago...on and off at Heathrow sometimes they check passports when leaving the UK, more often than not they don't.

walkinaround

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;
Not if you are coming from an area that has foot &amp; mouth or Colorado Beetle it isn't.
&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

no, it still is a stupid question as it is not time bound (which was obviously the point of my original comment).

and i have lived very close to the sites of the recent outbreak of foot and mouth in surrey so i'm well aware of these type problems.

although i walk through farms regularly (as do a large % of uk population) i always answer 'no' to this question when entering america as i don't understand if they mean within the last few weeks, months, or ever....so it is a counter-productive question.