[DrSbaitso]

I'm a Canadian citizen and get this type of treatment all the time. Every time I enter the US, which is about once a month or so, they send me to a back room for secondary screening. The reason? Their system thinks I overstayed my visa once back in 1995. What actually happened was my family took a road trip to New England, and nobody bothered to check our passports on the way out, so there was no departure record.

So for the last 18 years, they've sent me back for questioning every single time, wasting countless hours of both my time and their time. They always ask me if I worked illegally in the States in 1995 and I just tell them, "No, I was nine years old." When I ask them if they can remove the flag on my account, they say it's impossible because only the government department that created the flag can remove it, and that department no longer exists.

[opinali]

"they say it's impossible because only the government department that created the flag can remove it, and that department no longer exists" -- omg, real-world Kafkian anecdote...

[_pferreir_]

I think Kafka foresaw all of this. The man was a Genius.

[kafkaesque]

I'm a Canadian citizen. I live in the States.

Without getting into too much detail, I pretty much go around feeling paranoid. When I think about it logically, I really have absolutely no reason to be this way.

I sometimes ask myself why I'm here and when the day I finally leave will come, if it ever comes.

[goatforce5]

My full legal name is longer than average and seems to get truncated by lots of computer systems (and/or will be abbreviated by data-entry people, etc.). It means that my ESTA record doesn't 100% match my passport, and i'd always get a raised eyebrow a couple of questions, and it would normally be OK.

One time a guy said "I don't have time for this" and sent me to secondary. After waiting about an hour I saw the secondary inspector and he told me the front line guys would send anyone back that they couldn't process in a couple of minutes and to expect it to happen again in the future.

[adrianmsmith]

Over the years, I guess you've tried various different approaches talking to the staff at immigration. Friendly, apologetic, assertive, and so on.

What worked best? What would you recommend for someone else in that situation?

[X-Istence]

For me personally, I am friendly. Ask how their day is, ask how busy it has been, depending on the time of year happy new year ... and small talk about the area.

Last guy I had when coming into the US used to be a software developer as well (Fortran, Cobol, and Pascal) and was interested in what kind of work I was doing.

Haven't had an issue yet. I am on a green card, and even-though all my paperwork is in order I still find myself nervous while waiting to enter the US. Also, the whole fingerprinting/picture taking makes me angry and I feel like I am being treated like a prisoner rather than a tax paying citizen.

[jzwinck]

Say as little as possible. Speak clearly. And if entering the UK, have a bank statement with you. They like people with money (this is not something I made up, it's in the immigration rules, called "maintenance").

[Nursie]

If you have no money then you may be there to make some (is the thinking).

If you can show you have enough money to support yourself and get out again then it will make your life easier. However they will already need to be suspicious of you to take an interest in this.

[nicholassmith]

From what I've heard, Australia does the same and so do a few other places. The question is often framed as "and how much money have you brought along for your holiday?", which is doubly loaded as there's a right answer and two wrong answers (nothing and X, where X is bordering on enough to kick start a new life). Immigration sucks.

[patrickk]

Australia has an actual dollar amount (AU$3000 I think) that you have to have before getting a one year work visa. A friend went there recently and that was his experience.

[Nursie]

100 bucks a credit card :)

I'm allowed into Oz with as little or as much cash as I like, for the next few yeas at least, which is quite nice.

[dexcs]

Maybe you could trick the system by entering without a passport check and then leaving with one. So score is 1:1 and the database record from 1995 get's the flag "departed" = true... Maybe :)

[coopdog]

More like cavity_search = true on the way out!

[ta201301]

Look at it this way: at least they get to spend money and resources on you every single time. So they are practically shooting themselves in the foot every time you enter the country.

[3825]

you needed a visa in 1995 to come to the US? Why? Could you not get a waiver? o.O

[DrSbaitso]

It was before I became a Canadian citizen, but yeah, it would have been on the Visa Waiver Program. So technically they think I overstayed my visa waiver.