How have you been treated by immigration officers?

Oh my the airport can be quiet in the middle of the night and the few immigration officers that are about may be having a tea or coffee. I flew out of Hawaii in the middle of the night and I was meant to surrender the piece of paper in my passport but there wasn't an immigration officer to take this. Maybe they think I am still the there.

Strange as it was, it wasn't the middle of the night. I flew from the UK and most of the flights arrive at around 4-6am, but, we arrived at about 10am, which was the quiet time. To be fair, back then, immigration and customs didn't really mean too much to an island like Corfu as nearly all the people coming in were tourists and with that came money and business.

The American immigration officers are suspicious of anyone that is spending longer than the standard two week vacation there. They often wonder if a traveler is intending to work there illegally. Three months fully paid leave sounds very good indeed to me. I once met an Irish lady that had won a Green Card in the lottery. Apparently many nationalities are eligible to enter this accept British people. When I went into Los Angeles airport the immigration officer didn't like seeing a one way ticket there. I had to go into my money belt to show him I flying around the world. He was convinced I was going to work in the USA but I showed him my Working Holiday Visa for Australia and this calmed him down a bit. I remember waiting in a line and sniffer dogs came along to sniff everyones luggage.

I have found the US immigration officers to be fine. I hold a green card and they told me after I had waited in the non-citizens line, that I am treated like a citizen in regards to immigration. I am not sure what you are referring too in the "lottery" for British people, as ALL Irish(I am not Irish) people will point out to you that Ireland is it's own country and not part of Great Britain ;-)

The no food policy is understandable as Australia is an island, and this rule keeps out many diseases. Just recently a man tried to bring in some fruit, which was later found to contain fruit fly. Something we can do without.

I know what you mean. Immigration and customs officers can make an innocent person feel guilty. I think searching someones bags for an hour make them feel awful. I know Australia didn't allow food to come into the country in the year of my first visit there. They have one of the strictest immigration policies in the world. Every foreign visitor had to have a visa when I went there and now an ETA is the least tourist can have that allows only 3 months there I think.

It is sad that corruption even goes on in paradise. Apia is the one of the smallest capital cities that I have ever been to. I would love to go back to gorgeous Samoa one day.

It is great that you are polite to immigration officers and that they have all treated you with respect and felt confident about you.

Wow! It was very nice of the immigration officer to say you could stay for a year without charging any fee. I would love to go island hopping and snorkeling in the wonderful Philippines.

It is lovely to hear that the immigration officer stamped your passport going into Cyprus. My friend visited relatives in the Netherlands and they stamped her toddler's passport to please him. Across the EU I think they tend not to stamp other member countries passports. In the 1980s and 1990s passport pages were quickly filled up with all the stamps given in Eastern Europe. It is sweet that you travel with a stuffed toy.

Yes, it is sad to see corruption in a country. My mum went on a group holiday to Italy before I was born. One lady had tucked all her money in her passport cover. It went missing when handed in with all the other passports for inspection.