Anyone had problems travelling to the USA?

wijcc

wijcc

wijcc

Soldato
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London
I have been to the USA twice, both times i have been stopped and pulled over by immigration. Once in new york in march when i was held for over an hour and in Minneapolis in december when i was stopped and pulled over for just under 4 hours and made me miss my connecting flight.
All the people they held for more than 5 mins that were flagged were brown like me.. any caucasians that were flagged were processed in about 5 mins and released to resume their travels.
I was born in the UK and lived here all my life, hold a UK passport, had all the right travel documents etc. i didn't have anything remotely suspicious in my luggage, so why have i been flagged twice???
I have a sister that lives in the states and quite a few friends there. Am i going to be flagged and stopped everytime i travel to the states.. its starting to pee me off a bit now.
I hope UK immigration gives US citizens a similiar hard time.. as US citizens overstaying their visa is one of the biggest groups of illegal immigrants in the UK (rant off)
 
Im sorry apart from wearing a t-shirt which says "Im not a terrorist" you will be stopped, the percentage of white muslims are so remote that they dont check, so they mass analyse the rest.

I know its crap but dont put up a fuss or you will get a whole lot of poo.

If they force you to miss a connecting flight sue/get compensation off them for it.

KaHn
 
KaHn said:
If they force you to miss a connecting flight sue/get compensation off them for it.
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Definately try this. You might be one of those lucky guys who gets billions for "deep emotional scarring" or whatever. :p
 
You can't sue them. In new york they broke my very expensive suitcase even though it wasn't locked, they forced it open with a crowbar instead of just pressing the tab to open the suitcase. I can't claim off the TSA or claim on my insurance as i didn't bring the broken suitcase back :mad: . Luckily my friend picked me up from the airport so i didn't have worry about carrying a broken suitcase that no longer closed. they won't even lwet you make call to anyone to let them know that you'll be late.
In december my sister had to wait for over 12 hours for me worrying. As i was held up for nearly 4 hours in Minneapolis then had to wait another 5.5 hours for a connecting flight then 3 more hours travelling :(
Very frustrating, it has put me off from travelling to the US again. Next time I'll head to mexico or canada and get my sister and/or friends to meet me there if they don't come to the UK. :(
 
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i don't think so.. I never had any problems travelling to anywhere else in the world.. in september i went to australia and never had any problems there????
 
They searched me for about 40mins when i first went to the states, make you feel like **** on someones shoe, turn your bags inside out then expect you to put it all back.
Missed my connection because of it but thankfully the nice girl at check in put me on the next flight out so only had to wait an hour longer :)
 
I know people who travel to pretty dodgy places on work, and the best advice I can give you is dont let it show it bothers you, if you do that the small man who has a little bit of power over you at the moment will flaunt it if he can, just sit the accept it and dont get irrate, as you might find yourself with guns in your face giving you a lot more grief.

KaHn
 
Chances are it's something along the lines of you sharing a name with someone who may be a problem :/
Do you have a "common" name or surname?

I'm just waiting for them to add T Smith or M Smithson from "Great Britian" to the "watch list", at which point they'll suddenly start pulling over huge numbers of Brits (the watch list is in theory a fairly good idea - if it's accurate, reasonably detailed and the people who have access to it are reasonably smart and trained).

A lot of what appears to have been done in terms of "enhancing security" in the U.S. seems to be make work/PR rather than actually thought through and workable* (basically it looks good on paper but that's about the limit of it's effectiveness).



*Because 5 minimum wage guys with a couple of days training are going to be so much more effective than one guy paid a decent wage and with training (and it as a career rather than a job for the holidays).
 
i didn't both times i remained calm. Was very helpful. polite and courteous. Both times i sat in silence calmly.. i didn't get arsey and risk being arrested, sent back on the next flight back to london (and you can't get your money back for that) or sent off to cuba in orange suit.
 
Wolf I can understand what your saying, but I dont mean to sound horrible to anyone who isnt white british, but for something like airport security its easier to blanket everyone that to try and pick the bad apples.

KaHn

I know its crap just accept that the few ruined it for the majority.
 
Werewolf said:
Chances are it's something along the lines of you sharing a name with someone who may be a problem :/
Do you have a "common" name or surname?
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a common surname miah, but not first name.
 
Honestly, suck it up or dont visit.

Terrorists do not wear turbans or sticks of dynamite around them and do not carry Afghani passports or non at all.

Statistically, terrorists are more likely to be darker colored and from a foreign country. So they stop people who fit the profile.

Also, they are not looking just for terrorists but also illegals crossing the borders. I was on a bus from Houston and when I got to my destination, before anyone could even move, a border security guard came on board, asking for ID and pulling people of mexican appearance off the bus.

It doesnt mean that you cant visit and it doesnt mean you cant walk down the street and have a good time visiting.
 
I've travelled through LAX atleast 20 or so times with very little problems over the last 6 years, my Dad however gets stopped by Immigration every single time for "special security measures" and has no ideas why, usually it involves having every item of his luggage searched and a load of questions asked about his work (nothing exciting).
 
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