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Most agressive customs checkpoint you've encountered
panorama
In my expeirence, England and The USA have some pretty severe customs to get through. Now, I know they are only doing their job, but talk about paranoia!
Australia has gotten pretty hardcore now as well, and if you overstay even 1 day on your visa, they will chuck you into detention camps- I kid you not
Funny enough though, The customs at Algeria and Mali were the worst I have had to deal with. In Mali, they grilled me at a backwater boarder crossing for 2 hours while a bush taxi waited very impetiently. Asked me where I went to uni, what subjects did I study, all kind of crazy questions. Could have been more curiousity then anything, as I knew I would eventually get in,( the embassy in The Gambia granted me a lifetime visa!) though they did go through everything, and I mean EVERY little thing in my bag, pockets...Algeria was another story - had a visa, but was denied entry 6 times over 3 days (no reason at all) and was eventually let in when a different guy showed up to the checkpoint. No bag check at all.
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Has to be Australia
I recently came through Sydney airport and stupidly had a bottle of expensive vintaged wine in my hand luggage that I completely forgot was there. I could accept losing the bottle due to my own stupidity, however the actions from the Customs officials stunk of corruption.
The junior Customs official that discovered the bottle was very helpful, has he recognised that I had just stuffed up. He suggested that I fill out a form and leave the bottle in their office and have someone come and collect it in a few days. The senior official saw the bottle and said the policy had just changed and they no longer stored bottles. The Junior official said to tip the contents out, the senior official said I couldn't. The junior official said to smash the bottle, the senior official said he would detain me until I missed my flight if I did. As I said good bye to the bottle and left the Customs area, the senior official then thanked me for the bottle and told me he was looking forward to trying it.
US
Got to be the US, these guys take rude to a whole new level. I have flown in and out of the US extensively for over 15 years and found the customs officials and the guys at immigration to be the rudest people I have evr encountered in any walk of life, and sometimes they can speak English!!!
the USA
yup, true, like secert service agents without any education...wanna be cops, that failed the police enterance exam and are mad at the world because of it- plus, bush has em believing everyones a terrorist
No doubt; the USA ...
... and embarrassing to say as a Brit, my own lot.
And since they did that fingerprint bullshit, I've got no intention of returning. Land of the Free? Innocent til proven guilty? Bullshit ... and British customs aren't too far behind ...
I am currently in Burundi where everybody at the border and the numerous roadblocks was so polite and I know where I' d rather be visiting ...
And why; oh why is America the only bloody country in the world not to have a transit lounge? I have missed two connecting flights to Latin America because they insist I go through customs, pick up my bags and check them in again ... why? ::: I didn't want to go there in the first place. Because of this I don't even bother 'transitting' there anymore even if it costs more money. Once, they even lost my bags while I was 'transitting' through.
Met some great Americans over the years, though. And Brits, for that matter: But Burundi does have the weirdest keyboards ever ... the Yanks and the Brits can have that one!
JB
strange customs - always wait behind the line!
yes i found the US customs to be the strangest. most of the time, the customs officials are quite friendly. however, not this time. it was a long queue/line as usual, and it was a transfer (lima to europe via miami), with lots of panicky people worried about missing their connecting flight. my girlfriend and I were travelling together (why would we not?) and had the same flight details and ticket but we are of different nationalities. we walked up together to the officer, and he started to check my girlfriend's passport and do the fingerprint scanning. then he noticed me standing next to her and asked what I was doing there and why I was not behind the red line. i said we were travelling together and have the same ticket. he asked, are you married to this woman? I said no, and he simply said 'get back behind the red line and wait your turn'. OK then. I waited there, and a minute later, he motioned with his index finger for me to approach. then without a word, he took my passport and the green form and visa waiver form with him and left his desk. (i am also wondering at this point, wouldn't it be easier just to log all passports from incoming flights and have a transit lounge for those not wishing to enter the country.) the officer with my passport gave it to another official and came back to me and said follow this man please. ok, what's going on? then i was led inside another room, full of other travellers sitting down. there were no exits or bathroom or usual facilities. they put my passport on a shelf with a stack of other passports. since i got no explanation and when trying to ask, being told to 'sit over there sir', i wondered if i was taken to this room as punishment for accompaining my girlfriend through customs. so, remember to stay behind the line! but that wasn't the point - it was this room I was in. there were many concerned, anxious faces here with me. a french woman next to me started crying. an old man stood up and tried to us his phone, and an official shouted from across the room - 'no cell phones in here, put it away please'. then someone else stood up, and wanted to leave or ask a question, and the officer started to shout 'i am not here to babysit you all, just take a seat and wait till your name is called'. luckily i only had to wait 25 minutes (for them to check my new biometric British passport that already has 3 US immigration stamps on?), and I was free to collect my bag (yes the bags are transfered for american airlines - you have to pick it up and give it to someone else for the next american airlines flight). when i finally found my girlfriend, she was very worried, she didn't have a clue what had happened to me, and wasn't allowed to wait near the control points. i hope all this is worth it though, if it means it is an effective way of stopping criminals... it just isn't the same in other countries.
The USA
yes, since Bush declared himself dictator, and stole an election, Mercs have become a bit more paranooid and power crazy
<rolls eyes>
Give me break.....Enough of that tired song and dance already.
As far as tough customs/immigration, it has to be Russia. Hands down. Crossing the Finnish/Russian border by car is quite an experience. Some 4 passport checks - one by Finnish officials, and 3 by Russians. Talk about stone cold faces! And getting OUT of Russia is a whole other experience.
Kaliningrad
... although we didn't have any problem whatsoever when crossing from Poland to Kaliningrad (by train). Even when we'd lost our train tickets!
Although the locals did think we were mad to visit the place, but that's another story...
Israel
In '94 I did one of those mini-cruises they sell in Cyprus which take you to Egypt and Israel. As I boarded the vessel in Larnaca I became aware of some Israeli immigration/security officers who were there to check people out, which I suppose is fair enough as we were all bound for Haifa. I was stopped by a pit-bull young Israeli woman who spent the next 25 minutes asking me all sorts of personal questions about me and my family, followed by asking whether I was carrying fire-arms or any form of weapon. I of course said no. I was aware that other people were being stopped for a matter of a couple of minutes and then let aboard, much less than me. She had a look in my bag and found a rape alarm - one of those which acts like an aerosol to emit a squeal. She snatched this off me and said "you wont be needing this in our country" and finally let me go, informing me that I could pick it up again on return to Cyprus (which I did after much explanation and patience).
I should add that after she let me go, I was again immediately stopped by a bloke with a camera. Already in a foul mood by this time, and thinking this was another security measure I gave my best "pissed-off" scowl, only to discover later that this was the ship's photographer taking snaps to commemorate the happy holiday moment of people coming aboard, for them to buy later. I dont usually bother with this sort of thing, but on this occasion I had to because the photo in question is just so priceless, and a perfect denouement to the story. I've told friends the tale and then shown them the picture and had them in uncontrollable tears of hysteria as a result.
Israel for me, too!
While serving United Nation service in Lebanon in the end of the 1980s unfortunately we had to travel through Israel in order to get home. Everytime everyone of us were intertogated by Israeli uniformed soldiers at Ben Gurion Airport about our whereabouts like where we were coming from, if we had been carrying our luggage with us, if it was handled by somebody else etc. All UN soldiers were usually answering the questions "according to the book", even if it was far from correct. Anyway it did not matter. The only idea with the 15 minutes long nonsense-question-and-answer conversation was to identify nervous passengers who possibly could be "terrorists". One day I was even body searched at Ben Gurion, wearing UN military uniform or not. After that experience I promissed myself I will never visit the State of Israel anymore.
The Gambia
Without a doubt the most aggressive. As others have said, they went through everything, purpostely looking for drugs. Funny, how they questioned the aspirin (labelled) in my bag but not the unlabelled Glaucosamime! So whey did I need to drop my pants.
Do why did they need to count every every single bill in my moneybelt.
And this was on both entry and exit. Of course they also asked for gifts. The `blessings of the lord^ were the only gifts they got.
Guess which country I`m never going back to.
Nicosia~Cyprus
Any opportunity I get for a passport stamp I will jump at as I love collecting them but this is one stamp I regretted.....
I crossed the "green line" in Nicosia to visit the Turkish occupied area of the city on the way back I was asked if I would like my passport stamped of course I accepted without thought (Big Mistake!) when arriving at the South side we were made to wait 20 minutes in the blistering heat while the police and border controls of both sides entered into a nasty argument resulting in the passport being stamped over by the south side. The Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus is not recognised by the Republic of Cyprus of by the rest of the international community for that matter and I thought for a moment I had sparked and international incident, so be sensitive if you are making this journey and dont be tempted to collect this stamp, thank goodness my passport expires soon!!
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
Unlike Ireland, Provo immigration officials had a hard time believing and/or understanding that I was going to be in TCI only for the day (by plane, not by cruise ship.)
The official at the desk asked me why, what I did for a living, how to pronounce my last name, how much my plane ticket was, and where I lived. She then handed my passport, unstamped, to another immigration official, who asked me how much money I made, how much money I had on hand, and what I did for a living before taking a closer look at my passport (my photo has me wearing glasses; I have contacts now.)
He finally released me and my passport to the first official, who stamped my passport as above (note that they have me staying only for the one day.) I went through the door to Customs, where I handed my form, then was handed off to another Customs official who inspected my bag, asked me why I was staying there only for the day, and so on.... *sigh* It took me an hour before I was out of the airport.
TCI
Had problems there as well. During week stay went to Haiti, no problem there. On return to TCI, because I hadn't take my UK return ticket with me I couldn't prove I had an onward ticket. BA only have staff at the airport on the two days the flight operate. Phone calls had to be made to the Bahamas to check if I did have a confirmed reservation. That took about 2 hours. The hotel I was staying was only a five minute walk away where documentation was available to check first hand. No, proper procedures had to be done.. Still there wasn't anything wrong with country.