airport experience

Triple Citizen said:
Totally agree. That is why I let the OP know earlier in the thread that what she did was perfectly legal, but something frowned upon by USCIS.
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In law there's nothing called frowning upon. Its either legal or illegal. If USCIS doesn't like it let them change the law.
 
Again, totally agree. However that does not stop USCIS officers (humans, like you and I) from letting their personal opinions influence their behaviour and judgement.
 
Triple Citizen said:
Again, totally agree. However that does not stop USCIS officers (humans, like you and I) from letting their personal opinions influence their behaviour and judgement.
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Agreed.

Everytime I would come in to visit or for business. I knew I was playing on a "random game".... you would either get a "nice" officer or a "PITB" (pain in the butt) officer who would send you to 2nd inspection + question you harshly.
 
Thanks for all your replies.
So I guess it is not unusual to get harsh officers, that makes me not feel like a total outsider.:) And I do get that they might not be excited about the way I did it, but on the other side they werent the one giving me the Green Card and I did get it, so they shouldnt say things like that. I guess I have to get a little harden up, (or look for nicer looking officers).
I just started thinking maybe they have wrong info about me or something.

Thank you again for everybody who took the time to read and reply my thread.
Keila
 
In my experience of entering around 10x so far using either F-1 or H-1B visas, the first nine or so times the POE officers have been very friendly and professional, only on my most recent entry, I've had one who was not friendly. He said "he didn't believe in the entire H-1B system anymore" and went completely ballistic after I answered him what my job is. (It turned out I entered in a city where there are massive layoffs for people in my profession - doh! :eek:) Essentially, he suggested I shouldn't be allowed into this country because there's already too many jobless Americans in my profession who should be able to get a job first.

I understand your reaction, I was a little stunned too for a couple of days by the unfriendly welcome. Now I came to understand that whatever he said really didn't matter, what mattered is that he stamped my I-94 and let me into the country, so his words were just personal opinion. Maybe he had a bad day, maybe he's watching the coverage and debate about the broken immigration system and got sick of all immigrants. As Triple Citizen said, they are just human, too.
 
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In 4 days I am flying to my country for the first time as a permanent resident, so I am wondering what kind of welcome I am going to get at the port of entry when I fly back...

Anyway, I flew 2 times on a tourist visa and one time I had the nicest PO officer, and the second time Pain-in-the-but officer, he tried to break me, was very rude and was trying to prove me that on my previous visit I had worked illegally. I didn't let him scare me and it proved him he was wrong. But certainly, he tried to show his authority.

So we will see what happens during this trip (but this time as a LPR :)).
 
Mostly I found the PoE officers to be polite but definitely not conversational. Occasionally one would ask something like where I worked, but that was pretty much it. Prior to LPR, I had way more trouble when visiting on VWP and H1B.
 
I'm a US citizen (born here, not just naturalized) and I once got questioned by a Custom Official. What was I going to do here, how long I was gonna be here, etc., etc.

I didn't like the questioning because I believe as a US Citizen I can be here when ever and how long I want without having to explain myself. But at the same time, I understand it's there job to detect fakers. So I just answered the questions as I've learned over time, complience opens doors.

So, if they question US Citizens, they will definitely question Perminant Residents and Visa holders/
 
austriacus said:
In my experience of entering around 10x so far using either F-1 or H-1B visas, the first nine or so times the POE officers have been very friendly and professional, only on my most recent entry, I've had one who was not friendly. He said "he didn't believe in the entire H-1B system anymore" and went completely ballistic after I answered him what my job is. (It turned out I entered in a city where there are massive layoffs for people in my profession - doh! :eek:) Essentially, he suggested I shouldn't be allowed into this country because there's already too many jobless Americans in my profession who should be able to get a job first.

I understand your reaction, I was a little stunned too for a couple of days by the unfriendly welcome. Now I came to understand that whatever he said really didn't matter, what mattered is that he stamped my I-94 and let me into the country, so his words were just personal opinion. Maybe he had a bad day, maybe he's watching the coverage and debate about the broken immigration system and got sick of all immigrants. As Triple Citizen said, they are just human, too.
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WOW!!! That was rude and uncalled for.

Anyway you did the right thing. Racism and hatred toward people is part of everyday life. We find it everywhere. When you have everything in order they can "bark" all they want, but there is nothing they can do about it. They just want to lure us into making a mistake or saying the wrong thing so they can abuse of the "little" power they have.

When filing my forms I called the customer number and hit the phone key to have general information about filing forms and came across someone who didn't seem to understand that answering those simple questions was his job and he was very rude as if I was bothering him at home.

I took it badly and was down for having been treated that way and swore never to call them again, but since my checks weren't cashed for a long time I called back, and this WONDERFUL woman was very nice and kept on asking me if there was anything MORE she could do for me.

So it depends on who/when you come upon. Its like when you are in line at a supermarket: some people are jerks.

Never had any problems at the airport though back in the days with my student visa. Always just the routine questions: my school, my city, how my schools football team was doing, my address, how long was I in US,...
 
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