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Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

richardbarrow.com

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Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#51

Post by kevin_nisbet »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #6
ryaniscool wrote: post #2

He flew home to the USA but he was processed in Canada? In other words, did he fly into Canada from SE Asia and then immediately drive to the USA? Honestly, that would look a little suspicious to me if I was a customs officer. I've flown into L.A. and Dallas/Fort-Worth a bunch of times from the Asia Pacific region of the world and never received a glance at any of my visa pages.

Plenty of international flights connect through Canada, like Vancouver on the west coast. Also, most big Canadian airports have American immigration facilities since they have so much traffic to process, quite efficient actually.

More information about preclearance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearan...

Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#52

Post by victorf »

jacquesm wrote: post #10

Borders have three uses: 1) to keep people out 2) to keep people in 3) to be able to search/detain people without cause I've yet to see a border that I liked. In plenty of countries this now extends to a certain distance away from the border (sometimes surprisingly large), even when you are not actively crossing or have not crossed.

Bizarrely enough at the Chinese border they only cared that the paperwork is in order. The last few times I went, everyone passed by the giant customs X-ray without even filling out a nothing-to-declare form. China's border crossing inspection for foreigners is far less invasive than the US's for citizens.

Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#53

Post by chrisbennet »

rbanffy wrote: post #26
jacquesm wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> at which you need to show your passport And if you're a dirty foreigner you have to have your Iris scanned, a picture taken and your fingerprints taken. I've lived on the US/Canadian border and if they make a flip-book of all the pictures they took of me over the years it would make for a neat animated study in aging.

> and your fingerprints taken Actually, they are not taken. They are just copied. ;-)

Not just copied, "pirated". :-)

Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#54

Post by kghose »

justinator wrote: post #43
jasonkester wrote: post #11

For all the mean things that border control agents get away with every day, I personally enjoy "Returning From Thailand" as my little opportunity to even the score a bit. "How long have you been gone?" "I don't know. A year, give or take? Who keeps track?" "Which countries did you visit while you were away? Your landing card just says 'most of them'" "Well probably not most of them really, but definitely enough not t…

The way to beat rudeness is not to be rude back. I've had these same people greet me with a big smile, ask me how well I'll do in a race (they had already met many people doing the same race) and wish me good luck. Airports are stressful places and traveling in general can also be stressful. My opinion? Being rude is not your privilege. It won't fix a broken system. It just makes you personally feel better, at the ex…

Yes.

Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#56

Post by hyperventilator »

marvin wrote: post #33

I have no words. They won't even stop at looking through your files on a groundless suspicion - they'll clone your harddrive ? With your naked pictures of your girlfriend, diary, company secrets and everything? And I'm a "rights-free person" (a foreigner). If they do this stuff to citizens, I can't even imagine what sort of authority they have over foreigners. You guys really need to rein in your government, this is…

Is it not the same elswhere? It is at least in the UK, what about the rest of Europe?

Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#57

Post by aneth5 »

jasonkester wrote: post #11

For all the mean things that border control agents get away with every day, I personally enjoy "Returning From Thailand" as my little opportunity to even the score a bit. "How long have you been gone?" "I don't know. A year, give or take? Who keeps track?" "Which countries did you visit while you were away? Your landing card just says 'most of them'" "Well probably not most of them really, but definitely enough not t…

I imagine it's hard for you to see how arrogant and insensitive it is to rub your success and privilege in the face of the middle class. Think about that twice next time.

You have a great life. Appreciate it but also appreciate others. Being successful doesn't have to mean being a jerk.

Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#58

Post by cpursley »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #37
cpursley wrote: post #31

This is another good case of having a second passport as an American (or any place for that matter) for travel and (shtf) insurance purposes. "Distributed Nationality" if you will.

What risks are you trying to protect against?

Political risk, business risk, etc. The same reason you don't invest everything in one stock, one skill-set, etc. Same reason you back up your database and use version control.

Distributed systems is all the rage now. It makes sense on all levels of life.

Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#59

Post by awda »

aneth5 wrote: post #57
jasonkester wrote: post #11

For all the mean things that border control agents get away with every day, I personally enjoy "Returning From Thailand" as my little opportunity to even the score a bit. "How long have you been gone?" "I don't know. A year, give or take? Who keeps track?" "Which countries did you visit while you were away? Your landing card just says 'most of them'" "Well probably not most of them really, but definitely enough not t…

I imagine it's hard for you to see how arrogant and insensitive it is to rub your success and privilege in the face of the middle class. Think about that twice next time. You have a great life. Appreciate it but also appreciate others. Being successful doesn't have to mean being a jerk.

I don't think TSA workers qualify as middle class. It's not a skilled job, and it doesn't pay particularly well.

Re: Detained in the US for “Visiting Thailand Too Much”

#60

Post by mortenjorck »

awda wrote: post #59
aneth5 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine it's hard for you to see how arrogant and insensitive it is to rub your success and privilege in the face of the middle class. Think about that twice next time. You have a great life. Appreciate it but also appreciate others. Being successful doesn't have to mean being a jerk.

I don't think TSA workers qualify as middle class. It's not a skilled job, and it doesn't pay particularly well.

It might have been a 20th-Century middle-class job, had it existed then.
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