Travel in Europe using u.s document 'n being stop by cops

M

Miss.PinK

Registered Users (C)
ok. questions ...
I've read on one of the threads about the police in europe often times stop foreigner and ask their immigration paper. What should we show them? our GC? our passport? our what?

and one thing. my friend told me that in barcelona I need to be careful coz' there are a lot of FAKE cops. they run away with our ID and stuff. is it true??? my roommate told me to leave passport n important paper in hotel. so even if the cop stop me on the street. she suggest to told the cop that all the paper is in hotel , and ask them to come along with us to the hotel. People from the hotel can recognize which are the fake cops and which one the real one.

I found "travel" not exciting anymore coz' hearing so much issues. makes me worries more.
 
Miss.PinK said:
ok. questions ...
I've read on one of the threads about the police in europe often times stop foreigner and ask their immigration paper. What should we show them? our GC? our passport? our what?

and one thing. my friend told me that in barcelona I need to be careful coz' there are a lot of FAKE cops. they run away with our ID and stuff. is it true??? my roommate told me to leave passport n important paper in hotel. so even if the cop stop me on the street. she suggest to told the cop that all the paper is in hotel , and ask them to come along with us to the hotel. People from the hotel can recognize which are the fake cops and which one the real one.

I found "travel" not exciting anymore coz' hearing so much issues. makes me worries more.
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Miss.Pink,

No matter where I travel, I don't usally carry my travel doc with me. I will usally leave it in the hotel room. I only carry my NY State ID with me.

I traveled to UK, Greece, Belgium, France (Paris), Spain (Barcelona), Italy(Rome), and the Netherlands two years ago. Nobody ever stopped me for an ID. I know you suppose to carry your passport or travel doc with you while you are traveling in these countries, but I never did. It will be a nightmare if you lost your travel doc in foreign country. I went to Bars in London, Paris, and Brussels, I only showned my NY State ID to prove my age.

I don't know about a lot of fake cops in Barcelona, but I think the city is anti-outsiders in general. I have traveled to few places in Europe, Barcelona is the only city I felt like people there dislike (or discriminated against) me. But I have to admit, the city is very beautiful - very interesting architecture. I traveled with an American (white), he felt the same way. I don't think it is just me.
 
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Miss.PinK said:
ok. questions ...
I've read on one of the threads about the police in europe often times stop foreigner and ask their immigration paper. What should we show them? our GC? our passport? our what?

and one thing. my friend told me that in barcelona I need to be careful coz' there are a lot of FAKE cops. they run away with our ID and stuff. is it true??? my roommate told me to leave passport n important paper in hotel. so even if the cop stop me on the street. she suggest to told the cop that all the paper is in hotel , and ask them to come along with us to the hotel. People from the hotel can recognize which are the fake cops and which one the real one.

I found "travel" not exciting anymore coz' hearing so much issues. makes me worries more.
Click to expand...

Well when I didn't have the RTD, I was scared to leave my RTD in a hotel room. I do not trust any hotels in Europe unless its the big brands such as Marriott etc. Usually if you go to Europe, you stay at mom n pop hotels which dont guarantee anything.

I would suggest you carry your RTD with you or passport. Reason being that I know in Germany you can't show your DL and get away with it. In Germany, those who are not citizens, all of them carry their passports or copy of their passports with visa. Germa police have the habit of just dropping by to check your papers..anytime anywhere..Its nothing to be scared about. I was in a train with my wife and 3 cops came while to Koblenz(small town near Frankfurt) and surrounded as until we showed our Passports. They did call someone and verified if RTD doesn't require a Visa. Once they were happy, they start to joke with us and started to tell us what hitler castle to see in Koblenz.

AS to fake cops & real cops, after visiting Europe so much, If someone asks me for my ID and to piss them off, I show them my DL and they ask for a passport....Carry your DL and passport. Make sure your Passport is not in your back pocket or in your purse, somewhere like a pocket of your shirt is better.

The horor stories of fake cops isn't something to be scared of. If you have a GC, you should not worry about anything..Just show your RTD...

Since I travel a lot, I have a folder with my expired NP, tax statemetns from last 3 years...Jsut in case If I need them.

Don't let anyone scare you. Having cops check papers and stuff made me very safe. And usually they don't bother chicks anyways :P So you are ok Rei.
 
glad to hear that

Thanks cchong and Thanks Jimmy.
Thanks for sharing ur experienced travelled in Europe. :)

ps: I just hope I'll never encounter a fake cop who would run away with my GC. now that would be a nightmare. I wil have to chase him no matter what . HAHA
 
Miss.PinK said:
Thanks cchong and Thanks Jimmy.
Thanks for sharing ur experienced travelled in Europe. :)

ps: I just hope I'll never encounter a fake cop who would run away with my GC. now that would be a nightmare. I wil have to chase him no matter what . HAHA
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You should never show your GC unless you are boarding a flight. The Visa in your passport should be enough or RTD/RP should be enough...If they insist..make sure you take the RTD Or RP back from them..
 
In some places in the world police have the power to stop people without cause for an ID check or for anything for that matter. You have a higher chance of getting stopped if you fit a cetain profile.

I was in Hong Kong with classmates. Two of them are Chinese-Americans who speak Cantonese with mainland accents. They tried to talk to some shopowners in Cantonese. A plaincloth officer overheard the conversation and made the assumption that they were illegal Chinese immigrants. He called for uniformed backups (as if he was confronting violent criminals) and asked for IDs from my friends. The cops were pretty apologetic when it turned out that they were American citizens and Yale University students.

I later heard that illegal Chinese immigrants are believed to be responsible for many criminal activities in Hong Kong.
 
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Miss.PinK said:
Thanks cchong and Thanks Jimmy.
Thanks for sharing ur experienced travelled in Europe. :)

ps: I just hope I'll never encounter a fake cop who would run away with my GC. now that would be a nightmare. I wil have to chase him no matter what . HAHA
Click to expand...


If "fake cops" are really a problem for you, you can ask to go to the nearest police station and have your papers checked there.
 
I was in europe in january, actually i went to 4 different countries without a problem, yet i had a problem leaving france back to the US. they indeed gave me a hard time let me board. It was bad. ( i went to london, amsterdam, brussels and paris)
 
oh i forgot to mention that the only time i was stopped besides in the port of entry of the country was in paris at a train station. I was coming from brussels and the police officers there saw me with my backpack and asked me for my passport. but in all other 3 countries i had no problem at all...
 
mbetona1 said:
I was in europe in january, actually i went to 4 different countries without a problem, yet i had a problem leaving france back to the US. they indeed gave me a hard time let me board. It was bad. ( i went to london, amsterdam, brussels and paris)
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What problems u had while boarding in france? Please share.
 
they were annoyed by my RTD... They kept showing the RTD to different people for the airline and the airport. (i was okay until then because everytime i travel people always ask me what is that "passport" for or how did i get it). but then she put a sticker on my ticket and on my RTD that every time I passed by a police officer or someone from the aiport security they would stop me, ask for my papers and search me... in the xray line they separated me from the other people because of the sticker, maybe me take my sueter, shoes, socks, in front of everyone, and even that the machine did not beep when i passed by they kept searching me, and a female airport security lady touched my whole body looking for something that i have no clue.... but i think they thought i didn't understand french, so they were joking with each other saying that I was the third one select for that type of search for day....
plus after the xray, i got lecture about terrorist and a police officer with a huge gun and drug sniffer dog stopped me... so i just stood there while the dog sniffed me :-(

I thought that all that was a little too much....
 
O My God

O MY GOD ! ... honestly .. that kinda insulting.

I have this experienced shopping in MARVINS (or wallmart? I forgot. it was next to Ross in sacramento). They said my driver license picture didnt look like me (D'OH ! my hair is pink now. of course!) .. and then she lift it up next to my face and keep saying "SEE , it doesnt look like u balblalblalbalblalblba"

and one of her co worker say "hey stop harrassing her" .. and they both laughing. and SHE KEEP insist saying "it doesnt look like u" with louder voice (trying to get attention or something). AND THERE WERE many customer. GOSH! .. I just not in the mood of fighting at that time. usually .. I would say "I wanna speak with ur supervisor" ... (I used to work in oldnavy and I KNOW FOR REAL that sales associate ARE NOT supposed to do that to customer, especially putting the ID next to customer face like that. WHAT A STUPID IDIOT!)

honestly. if this is happen in my country. I will pull her hair and smack her to the ground and hit her face. (pardon me. I am not myself rite now. haha. I JUST HATE it to be treated that way. .. c'mon now. I use contact lens at that time while the pic in my ID I was wearing my glasses.)

she's just being a moron!
 
mbetona1 said:
they were annoyed by my RTD... They kept showing the RTD to different people for the airline and the airport. (i was okay until then because everytime i travel people always ask me what is that "passport" for or how did i get it). but then she put a sticker on my ticket and on my RTD that every time I passed by a police officer or someone from the aiport security they would stop me, ask for my papers and search me... in the xray line they separated me from the other people because of the sticker, maybe me take my sueter, shoes, socks, in front of everyone, and even that the machine did not beep when i passed by they kept searching me, and a female airport security lady touched my whole body looking for something that i have no clue.... but i think they thought i didn't understand french, so they were joking with each other saying that I was the third one select for that type of search for day....
plus after the xray, i got lecture about terrorist and a police officer with a huge gun and drug sniffer dog stopped me... so i just stood there while the dog sniffed me :-(

I thought that all that was a little too much....
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mbetona1,

I am sorry to hear about your bad experience. Which Airline did you take?
I usually take American Airlines or British Airways for long haul flight. These airlines' employess are usally pretty imformative about RTD.

My last visit to Europe, I went to Greece, Italy, and Spain. I took American Airlines to Brussels, Belgium from JFK. I then flied on many airlines including Iberia, Alitalia, and Olympics Airlines, I never had a problem except the stupid Iberia Airlines' employee kept flipping thru my RTD when I tried to board the plane from Barcelona to London for my plane back to the US.
 
cchong...

actually i flew with american airlines... but i know for fact that the people that gave me a hard time were french not americans... i mean they had a french accent speaking english with me...

Even though that happened with me in Paris I intend to go back... i just love the country :-)
 
The rudest airport personnel I have ever encountered were in France, Morocco and Switzerland. Of course that does not mean they all are like that in those countries; it was just my particular experiences.
 
Wow mbetona, scares me for my trip in may through france to Germany to Switzerland...

But I was in Australia once and the custom officials come to you rather than you go to them..so you are ready to pick your bags and an officer comes and talks to you like you are in a party..and yes he has a dog. He takes your passport and says "are those your bags?" and you go "Yes" and he asks you "so Jimmy what are in those"..you are like "Hmm CLOTHES..stuff"...And he looks at your eyes and goes "HOw much medicine you got."..."any Fruit?"...and in the entire time, the big huge dog sniffing me and sniffing my bags...

AFter that I am used to anything! !haha
 
I am scared of dogs, even the lap dogs like poodles, hah. I would be freaked out if one those dogs came sniffing me.
 
clotty said:
I am scared of dogs, even the lap dogs like poodles, hah. I would be freaked out if one those dogs came sniffing me.
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My wife is like you but those dogs are harmeless...unless you got drugs..!!
 
in france i was scared too because i am afraid of big dogs... i had a bad childhood experience with a big dog. it was very hard for me to stand still with my eyes open... :)
 
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