Welcome to the United States!

[brooklynite]

This afternoon, my wife and I returned from a Vacation in Europe. The announcements that were made about arrival policies were as follows:

If you are a visitor, you will be fingerprinted and photographed...

Cell Phones must remain off until leaving the Customs area...

You must not open your luggage between baggage claim and the Customs desk...

No photgraphs or video recordings in the arrivals area of the airport...

Boy, who wouldn't want to come here?

[Solly Mack]

1. Back in May, I spent 15 minutes explaining how I could be an American

living in Germany, who was just visiting America - this was at customs coming into Atlanta. Other Americans were going through the process much faster...but when it got to me...I had to about tell my life story just to get in.

[Eurobabe]

5. That's fucked. Can't wait until I get my Aufenthaltstitel in my passport

The customs people always get so concerned about that page....

[Solly Mack]

6. You would think customs would know that some Americans live abroad

and it doesn't nullify citizenship. But nooooo...this guy actually wondered if I should be in the foreign nationals line instead of the line expediting Americans through

[MazeRat7]

2. The sad thing is that most folks just want to get to where they are going.

I can't tell you the number of times I have waited in customs after a 15-20hr flight...only to catch another flight to eventually get home. After that much time in an aluminum tube... you really do feel like cattle and will pretty much submit to anything just so you can get HOME (or where you are going). I hope some day soon to never "need" to fly internationally again. Want is something completely different.

MZr7

[non sociopath skin]

3. I'm a Brit married to a yank visiting mom-in-law for Christmas.

Dreading it. Last time, I spent three hours in line in Immigration at Miami, eventually being interviewed by a Hispanic officer whose English was none-too-good (and his comprehension of my English accent even less good) and who spent fifteen minutes quizzing me on which American and European cities I'd visited in the last twenty years. For some reason, he seemed to think that this made him J. Edgar Hoover and continued to dredge up more and more obscure locations, while the folk behind fretted more and more about the flights they were missing.

I've lost count of the number of Brits we've encountered who, having heard my wife's accent, make a point of telling us how much they used to enjoy going to the States but how they have no intention of ever again subjecting themselves to humiliation at the hands of the Commissars of the Politburo for Security of the Beloved Homeland, at least while the Chimperor is swinging through the trees of the White House garden.

I only go to the States because Edna has a deteriorating health condition and can't visit the UK. I wonder just how many visitors you guys have lost in the last five years. And how many you'll ever get back ...

The Skin

[Eurobabe]

4. I got fucking screamed at in Philly upon arrival last month

Had to call my mom to tell her I landed, and I was only walking up the ramp, my mom had an accident while she was talking to me, a minor fender bender -- I was on the phone for all of two minutes, but was walking into customs hall: this customs nazi screamed at me to get off my phone. I felt like saying nice welcome HOME BITCH!

[SpreadItAround]

7. America, land of the terrified