How to please immigration and customs at airports

I've never had any issues with Customs and Immigration when leaving or entering a country..I've found them to be efficient and courteous..now,on the other hand,if your discussion had been about baggage security checks...

I have never had too many dramas going through customs. I was expecting a massive hassle getting into the USA as everyone was telling me how difficult it was these days compared to the last time I was there in the 90's but it was relatively easy. I have been searched coming back into Australia due to my declaring food items, but when I could not find the items, they just told me to go on through. They could see I was a family man and had nothing to hide. When I came back form Norfolk Island in 2010, I had to get my shoes inspected as the whole of Norfolk Island is classed as a farm. We took brushes to clean our shoes thoroughly before leaving the island as Australian Customs do not want any foreign organisms getting in. Any soil on your shoes at all and they will pull you up.

Only Saudi Arabia I encounter a very strict immigration. Staff don't know how to speak English. Most of the time we use sign language. They also strictly check baggage's more than myself.

I guess it depends on the immigration officer. I know it's not good to generalize on just one occasion but when I went to Australia, I found their immigration officers to be warm and friendly whereas my experience with the Philippines immigration's reception, my own country's immigration office at that, was not really something I could be proud of. When I went through the immigration officer before I could pass through the last check at the boarding gate at the NAIA 1 (Philippine International Airport - I flew Jetstar that time), she asked me a lot of questions. Stuff like: Why are you going there for almost 2 months? What are you gonna do there? Do you have a boyfriend there? Are you gonna work there? Will you come back? All this insinuating that it seemed impossible for me to afford the trip, yet she never asked me if I have proof of funds. *she browses the pages in my passport* I see you have been quite to many places yourself...You must be quite a traveler. *she made a slight move in her seat to get up to consult her supervisor probably but in less than a minute she changed her mind and gets back to her seat* She muttered something but what I could discern was "Ikaw naman sasagot sa sarili mo...Alam mo naman siguro." In English, "Never mind. You are the one to answer to your self...I think you know that already." Gawd. I was so relieved when it was all done and she stamped my passport. There were many passengers lining up for the final check before getting through the boarding gate, my boarding gate would be closed in about 5 minutes. Good thing two of the Jetstar staff were looking for me in the queue and said I should just asked someone to let me through the check first. When I arrived in Darwin, I was so surprised. The immigration officer looked at my passport and at me and asked a few questions, like where in Darwin I would be staying and if I was going for a vacation. I replied yes to both questions and it didn't take long before my passport was stamped. Not much fuss. I got through the baggage inspection and the Australian woman asked me if I brought some medicines, I said only multivitamins. And then I was let through. Even in my flight from Perth going back to the Philippines, I didn't so much encounter being asked so many questions from the immigration officers. I understand that the immigration officers in Manila are just following the usual protocol, but I found it insulting that she insinuated I couldn't afford a trip on my own and that I have to have an Aussie boyfriend to get me to Australia. I know there are a lot of cases where some poor Filipino women look for foreigner boyfriends so they can get out of their miserable living conditions and get a visa to other countries. It's kinda unfair to be generalized that way because I worked hard to earn the money for my trip on my own.

hi maximax, you have a remarkable experience in the airport at immigration counter,when we traveled to Thailand , we does not have visas,visas will be issued at the arrival,so we got the visas there, and there are three counters for immigration check,one counter is for Europeans and another counter for Asian people,but i does not remember about the 3rd counter,they did not ask any thing ,because we are traveled in group tour,have a nice day.

Yes maxi, when we go to a country for a travel we should be well equipped with money. At abroad money is the only friend. Money can solve any problem. So before staring trip to any country one should know details of that country and accordingly should make budget. Americans always think only job seekers go their. Sometimes foreigners are being harassed by the American immigration stuffs. Specially they harass Asians and Africans.

I've never really had any problem except once when taking a number of laptops into Kenya. Many less developed countries a small gratuity eases passage all the best urban

I usually don´t have problems at airports but I have heard that some people (among them my youngest daughter) have had it. If you have all it is needed (passport, Visa and all your papers) you hould not have any problems exceptif you encounter a very stupid airport officer. In the case of my daughter, the last time she went to the Us several years ago, the customs officer was so paranoid that she made my daughter take off the diapers from her 3 month´s old baby. My daughter will never go to the US again, needless to say, even if she went for a scholarship there years ago and has an "american family" that she loves. There´s no way to please dumb people, but fortunatly most people are normal.