It amazes me how many people go on their travels and the one thing they think about and remember when they get home is the questions from immigration officials. I know I've had the usual barrage of seemingly ridiculous questions from immigration but of all my trips cannot recall where or where any of it happened.

Okay, it may take a bit of your time but can anyone really let it ruin a trip unless something really significant happens. Just be grateful you're the one travelling and your job isn't to sit behind a desk and be obnoxious to travellers.

Was just going to say, you won't read much pro-U.S. in the Telegraph...

I work in the immigration field, and have seen a significant increase in the past year in rude and abusive behavior by immigration agents. It coincides with their movement from the now-defunct INS to the Department of Homeland Security. Within DHS, they're treated like the idiot siblings, and are taking their unhappiness out on hapless travelers. It's a shame, because the U.S. is, as a result, seeing not only a sharp drop in foreign tourism, but a movement of scientific and business conferences to other, friendlier, shores. People are taking their business elsewhere.

Here is another link to a story

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/3673109.stm

Sounds like from the stories above that at least people are complaining and making a point of the problem (sqeaky wheel gets the oil). Mabye lack of Foreign tourism in the US should become a campaign issue( that seems be the only way this admistration will do anything )

Any way - have any americans noticed any "Retailiation" in the customs lines of EU countries lately

I can't really comment on you question, just hope that you aren't scared away from our country by the talk of our President. Personally, in travelling internationally, the lines for customs/immigration and questions, etc. never really seemed to bother me- I've had much worse experiences at car rental desks and airline desks - but of course I've never been detained and put in leg cuffs. I think (hope?) the reality is given the millions of visitors to the US, the number of these incidents is actually miniscule - which may be the case if the worst example is a guy was actually wanted by INTERPOL for a debt with a middle eastern country.

FYI - the date for biometric passports is likely to be delayed :
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DHS, State want to extend biometric passport deadline

The Homeland Security and State departments have asked Congress to extend an October deadline for economically developed countries to provide biometric passports to citizens travelling to the United States.

The Bush administration wants Congress to extend for two years the biometric passport deadline for travelers from the 27 countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program. The countries are experiencing technical difficulties producing the travel documents, according to an administration statement.

The U.S. government is having similar problems providing biometric passports by a December 2005 deadline, according to the State announcement.

Not all the countries expected to miss the deadline, however.

?In terms of our readiness on production of biometric passports, the United States has acknowledged that Australia was one of a very small number of countries that had the technology and resources to meet the October 2004 deadline,? Australian embassy spokesman Matt Francis said.

State on Friday briefed Australian officials and representatives from several other countries about the plans to request the deadline postponement, Francis said. ?The administration believes that an extension will avoid the potential disruption to international travel if visa waiver travelers are required to obtain visas,? State said.

Congress mandated the biometric passport deadline in the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002.

Many of the waiver program countries told DHS and State months ago that they would have difficulty meeting the deadline. Homeland Security officials had raised the possibility of seeking a deadline extension.

Last month, after a hearing of the House Homeland Security Select Committee, undersecretary for border and transportation security Asa Hutchinson said the administration was considering the need to delay the deadlines.

The administration noted it plans to enroll travelers from the visa waiver countries in the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator System Technology biometric database at all airports and seaports starting Sept. 30.

DHS Customs and Border Protection bureau officers now use U.S. Visit to process only travelers bearing visas. State said the new requirement to fingerprint and photograph visa waiver travelers at the border would ease security concerns that arise if the biometric passport deadline is delayed.

The International Civil Aviation Organization last year selected contactless integrated-circuit chips and facial recognition as the world standards for biometric passport technology [see GCN story]. ICAO specified a 32K minimum storage capacity for the chips; the federal government plans to provide passports with 64K of storage.

As an American, I certainly hope you have a wonderful experience during your trip. I have had hassles with all different immigration offices. However, I've also had many more "good"
experiences. I would hope that we all try not to get defensive right away when an immigration official from any country is doing his/her job. These people in particular have been assigned with many more tasks in the last few years and for the most part seem to take their job seriously.

As for Mr. Bush, well he too has come under fire lately for being to trusting.

Peace and have a great trip!

By the way....last Summer when I entered London traveling on to Northern Ireland I had to submitted to the most detailed search & question I have ever been through. Just an observation, not a complaint.

For the record, the UK Daily Telegraph was certainly not anti-war and does not appear to be anti-American either. This newspaper supports the Conservative party, who in turn were strongly in favour of the war.

In any event, this article was in the travel section which has no political bias. Similar stories are appearing in all the quality newspapers and this is bound to affect tourism despite the weak dollar.

Customs and immigration officials in the US have always been rude in contrast to the welcome one receives in the country. However the new rules concerning biometric passports which are not available in Europe and changes to the visa waiver programme will definately deter tourists. We usually have one holiday in the US each year, but until the US government gets its act together and makes me welcome again, then I will not be returning

Article in The Sunday Times may be of interest.

timesonline.co.uk The Sunday Times - Travel
May 02, 2004

Cover story: Butt out! As the USA puts the squeeze on tourists we find classic America elsewhere
Long queues, short tempers and an outside chance of incarceration: travelling to the USA, is already no picnic and as, Matt Rudd reports, it could get worse. But don't panic: you can have the American dream without even going there
Stop the tourists!" Or was it "We must keep the tourists out!"? Whatever he said, when George W Bush confused tourists with terrorists, we all assumed it was just another slip of the presidential tongue. But as the US Department of Homeland Security continues to do everything in its power to discourage terrorists ? sorry, tourists ? from visiting, you begin to wonder whether there was any slip at all.
Last week, this section reported the latest demands from our special friends across the pond. It is proposed that every terrorist - tsk, tsk, there I go again - every tourist must provide a complete record of his or her whereabouts during his or her stay in the USA, before he or she is permitted to board the plane.
One study estimates this will add 30 seconds of processing per passenger, which means we'll all have to check in up to five hours before the flight. Thirty seconds? It would take my mother a good half-hour to remember where she'd packed the hotel vouchers. But let's be optimistic and stick with five hours.
That's just to take off. Wait till you touch down on the other side. From September 30, each tourrorist will be photographed and finger-scanned, a process they say will take "just a few seconds" ? but that's on top of the interrogation you already get.
On April 21, Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "Some argue that we should raise the drawbridge and not allow in any more foreign visitors. They are wrong. Such a move would hand a victory to the terrorists by having us betray our most cherished principles. For our own nation's wellbeing, and because we have so much to give, we must keep our doors open to the world."
Too late. Queuing for an hour or more at big US entry points is now commonplace. I waited for two in a stuffy terminal at Philadelphia last year, when all I wanted to do was go on a driving holiday. And I'm not the only one.
"Last summer, I had to transit through New York on my way to Mexico," says Alison Chambers, a teacher. "The couple in front of me were honeymooners and also in transit. The queue at immigration just didn't move. I had four hours to make my connection, but they had only two, and as the clock ticked, they got more and more distressed. So did lots of other people. The groom explained their situation to staff, who just shrugged and told him to wait his turn. They finally got to the front 15 minutes after their flight was due to take off. The bride was in tears. They knew there wasn't another flight until the following day. What a start to married life."
What a start indeed. Debbie Hartley, a television producer, had the end of her blissful trip to Jamaica ruined by an epic queue and a series of pointless delays at Miami. "They were so slow," she explains. "And when I finally got to the front, it got worse. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I was made to feel like I'd done something wrong. I know that's their job, but, frankly, there is no excuse for rudeness."
And what happens if you fall foul of the immigration people? Last Sunday, the financial director David Pattison flew to New York with his wife. Upon reaching the immigration desk, they were escorted to an interrogation room. "I was then informed that they had a warrant for my arrest ? because of an alleged missed instalment on a company-car repayment from when we were living in Qatar four years ago," says David. "I didn't know anything about it. I was then handcuffed and legcuffed, and a wooden block was placed between my neck and abdomen. My frightened wife was forced to leave the airport."
For the next 20 hours, David was kept in a cell with seven others, with no food or water. If he tried to stand up to stretch his legs, he was repeatedly sworn at until he sat down again. He was eventually allowed to fly home the following evening, with no further explanation or apology from US officials.
THE BUSH administration has recently announced that tighter controls have already led to a 30% drop in overseas tourism since September 11. When the new measures are implemented, some of you unlucky people could be looking at as long as seven hours to get through all the airport red tape. And that's providing my mum's not in the queue. Add that to the seven-hour flight ? and, of course, the slight chance of incarceration ? and suddenly the classic New York weekend doesn't look so appealing. Visit USA says: "We're working hard to address the concerns of leisure travellers, not least the small number actually affected by the evolving entry requirements. We will be travelling to Washington in June to consult with those directly responsible for entry policy."
Let's hope that meeting goes well, because it would be a shame to abandon such a wonderful country. As Andy Cooper, the director-general of the Federation of Tour Operators, says, "If it does get worse, it will be hard for us to persuade customers that the many excellent features of the US outweigh the headaches and hassles of getting there."

Dear All

Thank you for the mostly reassuring responses.

Songbird, I am all for the prevention of terrorism - those of us in the UK who spent our formative years growing up in the shadow of the IRA and were affected on a personal level by their actions in the seventies and eighties cannot feel otherwise.

However I fail to see how intimidating legitimate tourists whilst at the same time letting people board planes to Heathrow with live ammunition in their jacket pockets (a BA flight to Heathrow from the USA, can't find link, was a few weeks ago)is preventing terrorism.

joxxxxx,

I have an answer for you. The article you guys bring up is a very poor example of any hardships.

The first incident where the honeymooners missed their connection?

Well, I have been stuck at Heathrow for up to 1 and 1/2 hours for immigration. It HAPPENS. I've also been delayed at CDG once for over an hour. Any large international airport will experience these type of problems on occasion.

Second incident is not really clear a to what actually happen, so I won't comment on it.

The third, I already did in an earlier post but many of you choose not to read the truth.

The man was stopped and detained because INTERPOL had a warrant for his arrest. His wife was allowed to proceed. Apparently INS was not able to get a complete clearance from INTERPOL and decided to ship him back to the country of his citizenship, so the mess could be cleared there. IF HE WAS ALLOWED IN and he was on the run, returning him to his country could be problemetic. He would have to be arrested locally, detained and if he fought extradiction, it may take time and money to do that. It is just easier for immigration service to not allow anybody with a known warrant to legally enter the country. ANY country would do the same.

So again, the three examples are not showing me anything. I will agree that I have dealt with some bad agents on my many trips, but majority are curtious and efficient.

I am from England and travel to the US on holiday alot, it's the greatest country on earth. In my view no-one has a divine right to enter another country without accepting the rules and regs laid down by them. Watch any "fly on the wall" airport documentary in the UK and see our immigration officials detaining people for hours on end only to let them go or deport them. This is not remotely to cast any aspirtions on anyone contributing to this forum but if these unfortunate souls were from an Arab state would we feel so indignent about their treatment here in the UK.... maybe you would but we all know many wouldn't.
I am returning to the US in 2 weeks and quite frankly I can't wait. As for the ramblings of some dude of a journalist, who cares what they say, they dont speak for me. In my humble opinion once you litter your story with words like "interpol", "debts" and "state of Qatar",(regardless of the specifics of the actual case and the fact that the subject involved strongly denies the allegations), it isn't exactly Bob and Sue from up our street going for 2 weeks to Orlando is it. I say GOD BLESS AMERICA and if you dont like it go somewhere else (the mega-queues may be shorter without you!). In-a-bit!!!

The long, run-on way in which the original comments are posted make it difficult to read through all the comments, which follow the same format.

With all due respect, our country was attacked 2 1/2 years ago, and our government is making every effort to eliminate the likelihood of that happening again. So if they screw up by detaining the wrong people, they are also finding some of the right ones.

And Mr. Bush does not confuse the words "terrorist" and "tourist" - his accent just makes it sound that way!

Sorry for my mistake. I just thought Interpol was there to deal with real criminals, you know drug traffickers, arms dealers, child pornographers, murders and rapists - not (allegedly)missed car payments.

Then maybe you better take this up with your local Interpol office?

Is there an easy way to tell "legitimate tourists" and those who are "law abiding" from those who are not? While being rude is certainly not likely to help differentiate between the two, some delays are going to be inevitable. And don't be so sure that these delays are not partially calculated to root out those appearing unnaturally anxious, pressured, etc.

While I will be the first to rile up against any violation of our Constitutional and civil rights, these times have created inconvenience for all, both US citizens and those of other countries. It is both maddening and sad to me that I was unable to visit many historic sites in Washington, DC last year. I imagine that those responsible for border security must have an incredibly boring yet stressful job - how would you like to be the one who let in a terrorist?

Pick your battles - in all likelihood you will have an uneventful, if tedious, entry. If not, it is up to you if you want to dwell on this aspect of your trip or a more enjoyable part. If you don't think you can do that, perhaps you would be more comfortable traveling to an EU country.

I think I can relate: every time I land in England, I get rude treatment. Must be my sweet looks! :) Anyhow, it does give me pause about going to England again. Just a pause, tho...

Last year, they even LIED to me in Manchester Airport!

In the US, being rude is considered part of "rugged individualism". In China, being rude is considered not bowing to capitalist tendencies. Whatever...rudeness is rudeness.

That said, I believe that people in border jobs get harassed a lot. They have so many stupid rules and regulations to follow and enforce. I've even met with rudeness when entering Thailand! However, once inside the country, the kindness and friendliness of the local people more than make up for the rudeness encountered at the border, so I don't dwell too much on what happens at the border. Unfortunately, border frustrations look like they will increase and not decrease in the near future, so enjoy your trip and forget about the border crossing problems!