[zee007]

I had many similar run-ins with immigration when I worked for Microsoft in the Redmond area (brown guy with a beard, likes to travel the world [sometimes taking trips as short as one weekend]). I've missed more than my share of flights (at one time my name was in the do-not-fly list because it partially matched the name of someone they wanted).

Final straw came when one time I was returning from an international trip with my x-wife and kids when the immigration officer decided she didn't qualify to accompany me (we were married at the time).

"No big deal, she'll just fly back to Canada" (we're Canadians). We were told she couldn't do that, she had to be deported to the country she came from. "But sir, we just had a single entry visa and cannot re-enter". "That's not my problem, the law is the law. You need to be deported back to countryX". "But sir, we have no ties to countryX. We dont have visa to countryX. We have a Canadian passport, if you dont want to admit us then let us just turn around and go to Canada". "Oh y'all can come in, but she can't".

So I ask for a supervisor and he refused (I later learned he wasn't allowed to do that). Had us sit there for many hours with cranky kids after a transatlantic flight and then said:

"You can take her now (take her??) but I'll hold on to her passport. She can come before the judge in 30 days with the document and collect her passport or she'll be deported to countryX".

I had to unnecessarily waste time and money hiring a lawyer to figure out what the heck went wrong. She showed up 30 days later with our lawyer and the judge couldn't figure out why she was there. Gave us the passport. My x-wife dropped me home, told me to pack up and drove up to Toronto the same day. Even though I was about to get my green card (everything including labour cert was done) I told my employer to halt the process and moved back. For next few years I continued to work for US companies but remotely from Canada and pulled in close to $1 million in salary and stocks over the years that IRS wasn't able to tax at all. Canadian economy (not the American economy) benefited from my well over average spending over these years.

I can wrap my mind around "your name is similar to xyz we are looking for [even though xyz was a different ethnicity with a different age, height and everything]. But for me this made me realize how vulnerable non-citizens are when it comes to US immigration and border patrol. To this day I have no idea what ticked that guy off to single us out like that but I decided I did not want to live in a country where I had such little rights. I am well educated, make a lot of charitable contributions and spend a lot of time volunteering in the local community. Everything the US used to benefit from but now Canada does.

[jacquesm]

I have no idea why you got downvoted.

[zee007]

I don't either especially since I am not even bitter about the experience. I am just confused.

The irony is that since then I've crossed the border 12+ times a year and the experience is always pleasant (now I enter as a Canadian citizen for either vacation or a short business trip). One would think they'd have preferred me when I paid taxes there (and by the virtue of being on visa, they knew a lot more about me).

[SoftwareMaven]

As a US citizen, I, on the other hand, am extremely bitter and angry about these kinds of offenses. It makes me sick to my stomach and I really do believe every day is one day closer to me becoming an expat.

[jacquesm]

Some of your countrymen - and women - do just that. I have the privilege of knowing a few of those and they are doing quite well outside of their native habitats.

American go-getter attitude abroad seems to be a winning combination.

[jzwinck]

But an expat where? These immigration policies have an aspect of retaliation. Other countries often mirror draconian policies seen elsewhere. I am concerned that all this can only lead to one inevitable conclusion: extremely locked down borders with only the very rich allowed to migrate. The UK is actively working on this now, though so far they do allow EU and commonwealth members in more readily.

Even Singapore has been raising the bar for entry lately. We may see in our lifetimes a world where one can only easily migrate to third-world countries.

[kmfrk]

Your government at work trying to make that as unpleasant as possible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FATCA.

[jacquesm]

That is - for want of a better word - an astounding piece of legislation. What's next, a deal with the hereafter? I figure that the only thing this will effectively accomplish is that a lot of American expats will go all the way and will ditch the American nationality and that a lot of people in the United States will be denied access to services. Brilliant move, the world-stage equivalent of the schoolyard bully mentality.

[grecy]

http://www.reddit.com/r/igotout

[mscarborough]

I agree with SoftwareMaven and jacquesm. Sounds like an awful experience, and you're cool about it.

I'm confused as well: which path in the system should be credited as most wrong? The intersection of you being Canadian, brown, and in a better profession than customs agents seems rife with opportunities for them to F you over.

Hell, I'm a white guy and despite this privilege I ass-kiss too much whenever I travel because they can decide to do the same to me. Not nearly as likely, but since we gave up our rights to opaque government security services, who knows. Not to be US-bashing, I do the same when I have gone international.