Usual US Port of Entry Questions - Tourist

[irische]

oo mahilig sumunod si hubby kung asan ako. pag nakahanap ng free time yun i'm sure susunod na naman haha.. sakto naman summer break so pwede nya isama yung 3 y.o. namin. probably 2 or 3 months stay here sis, business and pleasure ang drama ko ngayon. me kadeal kasi ako. i'm planning to put up a small business dyan satin. hopefully magwork out. 

Are you still in the states sis?  Higpit ba when you arrived at your POE? di ka ba na grill or na secondary interview (sana hindi)? sis..sino kasama mo magisa ka lang bumalik?  did you have to present evidence of business meeting? hehe..tanong lang baka makatulong sa akin eh hehe...swerte mo sis sunod2x yong hubby mo...bf ko ayaw magbyahe..

[sofibanofi]

^yes sis i'm still here. the usual interview like when was the last time i was here, my purpose of going here.. you should just answer confidently and don't ever get intimidated by the officer. actually yung trip ko na to, i'm with my bestfriend. we do yearly out of the country trips together but mostly asian countries lang. medyo lumayo lang kami ngayon kasi timing that we're both free to have a vacation this long. pero this wasn't planned talaga. yung tipong di ko sineseryoso yaya ni bff. eh biglang nagpabook ang bruha. tada! andito na kami sa us.. kulitan lang. about ur Q if i had presented any business thing - NO. first, i just told the officer i am having vacation with my bestfriend. second, the business meeting i'm having is an informal one. kaibigan ko din who is interested in venturing into another business. no need to tell the officer about it more so elaborate or explain much kasi mas confusing pa yun eh. besides, we are really here to have fun.

sample lang:

Officer: when was your last visit here?
Me: oh, just last october! (instead of - uhmm.. last october?)

how you answer makes a big difference. sakin i made it sound casual. saka hello sis i did not commit any crime ano. kaya ikaw, relax ka lang!

[aquacharly]

Breezed through New York City Immigration at 2PM earlier.  Surprisingly, all that was asked was:  How long do you intend to stay in NYC?   We were ambivalent:  said 1 to 2 weeks.  Our passports had no exit date stamped.

I think the fingerprint scanning and new procedure for the new/renewal of visas at the Manila US Embassy are  very helpful.  Now, the Immigration Port of Entry officers are confident about the identity and validitiy of reason/s for entry of entering foreginers, hence less questions.

But best not to bring in foodstuffs; best not to bring down any food given on the plane.

They are also quite lax now about people bringing in over USD10,000.  We were not required to fill up the 2nd Customs Form  FinCen105. 

lol:  I was asked if I was bringing in cheezchron.    Nope, just 1 fat oink oink oink I said.   lol
Sorry, no chicharon for you I told the Customs Officer.  hehe 

[theflygirl]

A Pinoy friend who works at Korea Times cleared customs n immig at JFK last week. Same thing was asked of her regarding pork rinds! Haha. I wonder if it's the SOP nowadays for border officials to do that. Or is it just because of the Pinoy factor or sa JFK nila type magtanong nyan? LOL

[mama squeak!]

^SFO and LAX ganyan din. Synonymous na ata ang chicharon with Pinoys.   

[theflygirl]

LOL...last year, fish ang tinanong sa kin when I declared dried mangoes in my MIL's suitcase. Of course, none. Haha. And even though the mangoes were perfectly legit, just the hassle of going through secondary checks were sooooo inconvenient. Kaya this time around, I begged off taking ANY food with me. To think dami na namang oriental stores. Sheesh. I found some Mexican chicharon in Vallejo but they were extremely salty. Better pa Lapid's here. Haha

[xthine]

Only things I got asked about: the Purefoods Corned beef my sister asked me to bring for her.  This was at SFO, they were pretty nice about it though.  Asked me how many cartons of cigarettes I bought with me (per sisters request) evidently they were too much, they just told me about the limits for next time.

[lakwatsa]

^hala ang higpit naman. buti pala noon dami ko nadalang mga de lata hehe

^ilan nga ba ang limit for cigarettes sis? di ba 200 sticks lang or 10packs? beyond that may tax na? tama ba?

[little_princess]

had a horror story during my last trip to the US. Our POE was Detroit and we were groggy and sleepy from the flight. We were a family of 5 and natapat kami with this black guy and he asked us the usual stuff, where we are staying, how long, what do we plan to do. I was answering knowing how my mom panics and would escalate things.

then he asked us how much cash we had with us and my mom was a bit reluctant and unsure with the amount that she said. he then said, why bring in so much cash? (but the cash we have is just the limit for 1 person entering the US). we were like, we're going to disneyland and buy tickets and the everyday expenses. my mom was dumbfounded and we had to go through another series of checks to verify the amount of cash that we had.

we were in such a rush because knowing how strict the US is with security checks and we had less than an hour before our connecting flight would leave. we proceeded to this other customs area where they screened our bags and counted our cash. upon finding out that we were being honest, we were free to go and asked them if we violated anything. the lady assisting us was kind enough to say that it was just SPO since some people say a certain amount but had much much more.

[irische]

^yes sis i'm still here. the usual interview like when was the last time i was here, my purpose of going here.. you should just answer confidently and don't ever get intimidated by the officer. actually yung trip ko na to, i'm with my bestfriend. we do yearly out of the country trips together but mostly asian countries lang. medyo lumayo lang kami ngayon kasi timing that we're both free to have a vacation this long. pero this wasn't planned talaga. yung tipong di ko sineseryoso yaya ni bff. eh biglang nagpabook ang bruha. tada! andito na kami sa us.. kulitan lang. about ur Q if i had presented any business thing - NO. first, i just told the officer i am having vacation with my bestfriend. second, the business meeting i'm having is an informal one. kaibigan ko din who is interested in venturing into another business. no need to tell the officer about it more so elaborate or explain much kasi mas confusing pa yun eh. besides, we are really here to have fun.

sample lang:

Officer: when was your last visit here?
Me: oh, just last october! (instead of - uhmm.. last october?)

how you answer makes a big difference. sakin i made it sound casual. saka hello sis i did not commit any crime ano. kaya ikaw, relax ka lang!

sis and sis aquacharly and mamasqueak and theflygirl, thank you sa mga tips and suggestions and info nyo i am excited to fly to LAS na for my trip mid may...would be 8 months + since my last visit.  so...hopefully would breezed through POE lol balitaan ko kayo for sure..tamang2x maybe my back to school sale lol hopefully!

mga sis tanong lang anyone stayed at ballys? flamingo, paris in vegas?  kasi TI ako parati but i notice their rates are going up and may promo ang mentioned hotels.  tell me if okay if you have stayed there..thank you

[mama squeak!]

^sis, there's a Vegas thread. You can post your question there. Or you can also check tripadvisor.com for the hotel reviews.

http://www.femalenetwork.com/girltalk/index.php/topic,213086.0.html

 

[aquacharly]

IRISHE it is no crime to bring in more than USD 10thou - PER FAMILY yan ha - just declare  it.
On the form you fill up on the plane - just check the box for that.  Be sure you check the box - to indicate oo, you have over 10thou.  Matindi ha, lol, it states  on the form pati COINS consider mo, in all currencies you all carry.  Lol

When you go down - you will fill up a 2nd Form - yun may breakdown na of amts and currencies.  FinCen105.    But they assist you naman - basta nga on the form you filled up on the plane - you admitted you have over USD10thou.  Pag ask ka why you have so much on you - just say you shop a lot, your cards may malfunction or max out.   you will list down all currencies and amts - they will wait for you to halughog your pockets, wallets,  bag, etc.. Then they convert it for  you into usd. 
Once,  hindi pa rin ako sure if all declared. My husband says what if you have more, na declare mo na most.  But takot ako sa ganon.  So I  told the officer - that is what we know we are  carrying in now. But I am not sure - we just got back from a Macau trip, I may have hidden from my husband some cash In my carry-on - if you find it, pls remember - it's mine. Eh katabi ko si hubby -  natawa si 'merkano - His manner became friendly henceforth.
So there - hwag ka ever pa intimidate, and just fill up forms properly. 

[theflygirl]

Been in Vegas for the past couple of days now. Cleared McCarran CBP with no other questions except for the duration of my stay & if I had any food with me. I said none apart from the Doritos my kids were holding, then that's it. IMO, I find their airport old and tired. Well, beats ours anytime. Weather in the desert is getting hot every day! Drove thru The Strip earlier today and there were quite a number of people taking photos at the welcome sign 

[wild_berries]

5 mos sis. kasi biglang sumunod si hubs on my 2nd month kaya nagtagal pa kami. ganon din, pasyal, statehopping to visit friends and relatives. poe ko last year was jfk. this time sfo naman. basta don't worry too much. 

Sis as long as you stayed naman within the time limit allowed for your stay you shouldn't have any problems.  And that may financial evidence ka na you're able to support yourself. ^.^ May friend ako dati labas paso state hopping and until one day naflag down sya about her constant visit to the US...wala naman problema as long as napakita nya na she had the $$ to do so w/o going pass her allowable time to stay around.  I believe ang concern lang ng US is illegal working. ^.^

[somethingreal]

sis and sis aquacharly and mamasqueak and theflygirl, thank you sa mga tips and suggestions and info nyo i am excited to fly to LAS na for my trip mid may...would be 8 months + since my last visit.  so...hopefully would breezed through POE lol balitaan ko kayo for sure..tamang2x maybe my back to school sale lol hopefully!

mga sis tanong lang anyone stayed at ballys? flamingo, paris in vegas?  kasi TI ako parati but i notice their rates are going up and may promo ang mentioned hotels.  tell me if okay if you have stayed there..thank you

sis irische - saan ka na? US ka na? hopefully everything went smoothly at the POE! balitaan mo kami. :-)

[irische]

sis irische - saan ka na? US ka na? hopefully everything went smoothly at the POE! balitaan mo kami. :-)

sis nasa pinas pa ako...kasi naman nagalit yung tatay ko hehe parati daw ako naglalakwatsa...siguro renew ko nalang first yung visa ko before going pero nakakabahan din..
sa totoo lang kasi wala naman akong job hehe work lang ako sa tatay ko..so hahay...
pray nalang siguro mag ibang isip yung tatay ko at papayagan ako.

[cuppie_cake]

Hi sissies, any ideas how much ang funds na kelangan iprovide mo sa embassy, if you're just planning to stay for a week sa US? thanks..  This is without any relatives to provide you accomodation ha.

[un1z]

mga sis, pag halimbawa sa SFO ka nag entry then you fly to Texas, dadaan ba ulit sa mga officers na katulad ng sa POE?

[xthine]

^not in my experience.

[xtine]

^Nope.  One time lang ang Immigration and it is always on your POE.  SFO to Texas will be domestic flight na so no more immigration.