Quote from: LostInTime on July 06, 2007, 08:59:03 AM
Dealing with the current security situation in the US is kind of like dealing with a psychotic schizophrenic who really wants to bash your head in with a wrench.
Just to point out that I had hassle with Canadian immigration on arrival at Montreal airport, despite being "innocent looking" and having a UK passport in correct name and gender ....
The (nice) immigration officer explained to me the way it works.
You initially go through passport control where the official at the window has just 2 minutes to either let you straight through or send you to be "screened" by immigration if anything arouses concern.
Like 10 - 20 % of the plane's passengers I was consigned to the "immigration queue" which took for ever
, well over an hour, as certain people seemed to be being interrogated at real length, even phone calls being made to check their stories !
My reason for not being let through ... well the breaking terrorist threat about "liquids as explosive" had shut London Heathrow almost completely down for the weekend (it was chaos), cancelled virtually all America bound flights, and to get to Canada in time for surgery I bought a single Air France fare from Paris, and reached Paris in a last minute mad rush by "eurotunnel" train. So I turned up at Montreal with a "one-way" ticket in hand.
Also I could name no hotel I was staying at, but said truthfully that I was arriving for "medical treatment".
And guess my worst "crime" of all was when the woman official asked if I was "importing foodstuffs" - I joked that I'd kept my pre-landing sandwich and cookie to eat later that evening if that counted ? "Of course it did, why hadn't I declared it on the form I'd been given"
(!), "what was in the sandwich ?" - "cheese" ... "was that all ?" - this in disbelief ? .... My sandwich wasn't confiscated, and I never though an innocent sandwich constituted imported foodstuff .... but a warning to others not to be good humoured with the passport officers, and have return flight ticket to hand, and just say you are arriving for a holiday and have hotel name or Chantal's B&B details to hand.
Brassard gives you a "get out of jail" letter that declares that you have fully paid for surgery, the hospital details and date(s), confirmation that all Canadian taxes have been paid, that no way are you imposing on the Canadian healthcare system, etc. This letter got me through immigration like a dream, the immigration officer asked me what the surgery was and I said that it was of a "private nature". He smiled and wished me the best of luck, guess the letter is a giveaway
?
Laura x
