Hot answers tagged customs-and-immigration
30
It'll depend on what you write, who you get at the border, and what else you do.
For example, I've seen a person not have a hotel when they arrived at US Customs. He literally turned and asked anyone behind in the queue if they know the address of a hotel, and someone named the one from Pretty Woman on Rodeo Drive. So he wrote that in, and handed it to the ...
28
I remember seeing this at an airport once before. They didn't have this at my local international airport so I thought it was some crazy thing for paranoid fliers. But in hindsight it has a purpose.
The companies that provide these services claim a lot, but it is definitely going to provide the protection from the following things:
Tampering (or at least ...
23
Deliberately lying on an arrival card means that you are lying to the government of the country you are arriving in. At best, that could be grounds for being refused entry to the country, or being deported at a later stage and potentially refused access for future trips.
Although this question may seem relatively benign, the real risk if you are discovered ...
21
It prevents anyone in the airport from stealing anything from your bag. Not a problem in many European/USA airports, but when travelling through, say, Africa, you have to be careful.
I remember a friend of mine, after transferring through Johannesburg, picking up her laptop case from the luggage carousel and remarking that it felt very light.
19
Shrinkwrapping your luggage also protects anything protruding or attached such as handles, straps, fittings, padlocks, wheels, etc.
Apparntly it's also used to keep things of odd shapes and sizes together as in this photo from Bangkok airport:
(Thanks to WikiMedia Commons for the photo)
19
In the United States, you can't get into trouble just for possessing encrypted files. There is nothing illegal about encryption, and in fact most security experts recommend it for border crossings. You could, however, get "into trouble" if you refuse to decrypt it for them on request. It has happened that they have taken it to the courts and got the judge to ...
18
Currency inflow/outflow in India is regulated under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The relevant foreign exchange / customs rules are:
Import of Indian Currency is prohibited. However, in the case of passengers normally resident in India who are returning from a visit abroad, import of Indian Currency upto Rs. 7500 is allowed. This translates to ...
18
Short answer: Yes, according to the official rules you could be denied access at the border. You can avoid this by submitting the green form (along with additional documentation) after the fact.
It sounds like you participated in the Visa Waiver Program and the green form was an I-94W.
According to the US Government,
If you departed by land, private ...
17
There is an official "minimum connecting time" for each airport. For international airports, there are usually separate "minimum connecting times" specified for domestic to domestic, domestic to international, international to domestic, and international to international. At larger airports there may even be longer minimum connecting times when you are ...
17
Plastic wrap, or some sort of net, is also a common technique for people traveling with backpacking packs. The number of protruding straps, handles, etc. are irresistible bait for baggage handlers or machines to grab your bag by the wrong strap and rip it apart. Bundling it until it reaches your destination prevents backpack disabling misadventure.
17
When importing food to Norway, you are not only affected by custom regulations (they are usually relevant when it comes to taxation of products), but you also have to adhere to the regulations from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet).
The EU regulation 206/2009 is in effect in Norway and tells (page 12, paragraph 5) that you can bring 2kg of ...
15
I agree with most of the answers, but don't think that if your luggage is wrapped in plastic it can't be "opened by accident".
I have a friend who traveled from the US to Venezuela with his luggage wrapped in plastic, and some things "dissapeared" from his luggage, aparently someone opened it got some stuff and wrapped it again in plastic so my friend ...
15
Jerusalem is no longer divided (it was divided between Jordan and Israel between 1948 and 1967). Israel controls all of it, and there are no check points or border control anywhere in the city.
There are security checkpoints at the entrance to the Temple Mount, but they're there to keep the Israelis (and weapons) out, not the foreigners (as opposed to what ...
15
Firstly keep in mind that the answer to this question will vary significantly depending on the countries involved.
Some countries (eg, the US) have requirements that if you are a citizen you MUST enter using the passport of that country. So as a US/UK citizen you must always use your US passport when entering the US.
The UK does NOT have such a ...
14
Aas long as you leave a country with the same passport that you entered in on, then you're ok.
So:
Option 1: Entering Aus on Aus passport, leaving on Greek = bad
Option 2: Entering on Greek, leaving on Aus = bad
Option 3: Entering and leaving on Greek passport = good
Option 4: Entering and leaving on Aus passport = good
The reason being for counts and ...
14
If you have a brand new passport, then keep all the pages together with an elastic band, and only release new pages when the old ones are full. This has kept things nice and orderly for me so far - the only place anyone took off the band was Taiwan where they at least stamped only the next page and not some random mid-passport place.
If your passport is ...
14
There are certain situations when you definitely cannot lie. If it's mandatory for you to apply for a visa in advance and proof of accommodation is one of the required documents, then you cannot take a chance with lying as visa officers may check on your itinerary details at their discretion - and since you aren't around to explain, you'll be unable to ...
13
The most useful single reference seems to be the "Pets: Cats, Dogs and Ferrets" page of the German Missions in the United States, followed by the USDA's page titled "Taking Your Pet to a Foreign Country".
In summary:
The microchip must meet standard ISO 11784 or ISO 11785 for identification purposes. The microchip must be implanted before the rabies ...
13
Some airlines now enforce plastic wrapping your luggage themselves. I flew out of Johannesburg with Emirates and they took it upon themselves to plastic wrap my luggage. I assumed it was for 2 reasons:
to help prevent theft from luggage because OR Tambo International is known for pilfering
to make the luggage as compact as possible.
13
From the US Customs and Border patrol website:
As Secretary Chertoff noted in a recent op-ed, "Of the approximately 400 million travelers who entered the country last year, only a tiny percentage were referred to secondary baggage inspection…[and] of those, only a fraction had electronic devices that may have been checked."
So, (if they are being ...
13
The "E" in ETA stands for "Electronic", and that pretty much refers to the entire process. Not only do you apply electronically (eg, on the ETA website), but the airlines are responsible for electronically checking that you have obtained an ETA or a Visa.
Presuming that your previous flights to Australia have been from the US, you may recall that whilst ...
13
It's like any animal product - you'd have to declare it - better safe than sorry.
However, if they're anything like New Zealand - who are VERY strict, they can fumigate / sterilise / wash any suspect item. For example, a friend brought an Ostrich egg back from South Africa. They took it for a couple of weeks, processed it, and mailed it back to him, all ...
13
You will find your answers on the website of the Norwegian customs authority.
In my interpretation, you can import this honey to Norway, because:
the goods are for you or are a private gift and not intended for sale or commercial use
you bring the goods with you, either on your person or in your luggage
The value is less than NOK 6,000 (approx. EUR 815).
...
13
A friend did something similar, where he kayaked from Vancouver, Canada to Alaska.
Turns out you need to report in the same day you arrive. He was tired and slept that night, and the next day went to check in. Naturally there was a) no record of him leaving Canada and b) he'd been on US soil for 24 hours as an illegal alien. They sent him packing and ...
12
No, this is not accurate. I'm from New Zealand and therefore am eligible for the Visa Waiver Program (see list of countries).
In 2010 I flew in from Bogota, Colombia - which is NOT on the list of countries, and it was absolutely fine. They don't care where you came from, only what your passport says.(*)
(*) - note however that this does not prevent a ...
12
There's a question about this on Skeptics-SE:
The accepted answer gave two examples of people being deported for lying on their forms, including one who didn't mention her history with the SS when she applied for a visa in 1959, and the DoJ caught up with her in 2004 and deported her.
12
One of the roles of the immigrations officials is to determine if you are wanting to enter the country for legitimate reasons, and for reasons that are within the rules of whatever class of visitor you are seeking to enter the country as (eg, a tourist, for business, for work, etc). They are also trying to determine if you are likely to leave within the ...
12
The import laws cited on the the page of Norway's Toll Office do not distinguish between the manner the alcohol has been created (because that would likely be rather difficult); only by the strength. You're allowed for free (see the link for how much you have to pay if you need to import larger quantities):
One litre of an alcoholic beverage containing ...
11
Most US airports (IAD, DTW, JFK, ATL, etc.) have separate terminals for international and domestic flights - arrivals and departures. And more often than not, the two terminals are separated by at least a (internal) transit ride. Moreover, in addition to the immigration lines, all international transit passengers are required to collect their baggage AND ...
11
Mostly Canada, but also a little bit in the Caribbean, and Shannon and Dublin in Ireland.
The complete list: CBP Preclearance Locations
It doesn't necessarily save time, but it does allow you to fly directly to smaller US airports that aren't international airports and which don't have customs facilities.
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