It happened in March 23 years, and now I’m finally in the mood to finish the whole story slowly.
For their own records, but also for everyone to leave a reference, I hope everyone is not like me so unlucky.
In mid-March, I flew from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Los Angeles, USA on a business trip. Because there were no direct flights, I bought a connecting flight from Houston to United Airlines.
I have been to the United States many times before, but I have never been to Texas, so I have a 4 hour transfer time.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I arrived at IAH Airport in Houston, I was taken to the CBP Black House by the border guard.
In the first place, I was confiscated from my cell phone watch and forced me to hand in my mobile phone lock screen password.
After carefully looking through the various records of my mobile phone and being interrogated for more than ten hours in the interrogation room in the small dark room, I was finally denied entry + cancelled the 10-year US visa + immediately deported back to China.
The crazy thing is that after the decision was made, I learned that the border control stopped me because my name, date of birth was exactly the same as that of a Chinese scientist on the American blacklist!
After they figured out that my father was a former soldier and a party member, they refused to sign me because they would rather kill me than let go.
What is more ridiculous is that all my luggage is still in Brazil, so I came to the United States on a short business trip with a schoolbag on my back. No matter how CBP people firmly refused to repatriate me to Brazil.
What’s more, because the flight back to China had to be tested for nucleic acid, the CBP people put me in jail in Texas for a few days, and enjoyed the whole process of how to lose human rights under the American imperialist system. Then they took me back to the airport after finishing the nucleic acid test.
In the end, the transfer from IAH to SFO to PVG was finally back home, even if the full flight ticket was paid by the United States (it is very likely that the ua857 who returned to China kicked out one of the original passengers).
A total of five days without sleep is outrageous, but it is truly a unique experience in life.
Painful, but valuable.
Some practical security advice for entering the United States:
1) Delete sensitive comments on your phone that involve politics / troops / the United States, etc., as far as possible in advance. Even the best news discussions are deleted.
2) You can’t lie in CBP, but your family background is really sensitive, and you should think about how to answer in advance (unfamiliar / unknown / alienated)
Getting a visa does not mean that you can enter the United States, the United States visa is divided into immigrant visas and non-immigrant visas, travel visas (B1 / B2) and study visas (F1) are non-immigrant visas, When entering the United States Customs, the cross-examination is usually more, there are some details that must be paid attention to, sometimes it is clear that they are not at fault, but when filling in the form or answering the negligence leads to out of control.
In 2017, the Chinese Embassy in the United States issued a notice on entering the United States, pointing out that individual Chinese citizens have lost their passports, expired visas, Failure to fill in the customs declaration form, carrying contraband, the actual purpose of residence in the United States does not match the visa type (such as holding F1 visa but working illegally in the United States) and other reasons were refused entry by the US Customs Enforcement officers.
Now, let’s go through the whole process of entering the country again, and I hope to give you a reference.
1, fill in the entry form
About an hour before the plane lands, the stewardess will hand out the entry form on the plane. All passengers need to fill out the customs declaration form. There are a few places where Chinese people are particularly prone to make mistakes Carrying more than $10,000 in cash must be filled out truthfully.Carrying cash is not an offence, and more than 10,000 cash is not taxed, but it needs to be filled in truthfully. Once there was a Chinese tour group, each carrying more than $20,000 in cash into the customs. As a result, someone filled in someone who had not filled it out, resulting in the whole tour group being locked up in a small black house for a few hours, and then checked one by one to confirm the amount of cash before releasing it.
From this, we can see that not all those who close the small black house will be repatriated, and the Customs and Excise Department also understands the Chinese people’s habit of carrying cash out of the house, as long as they declare it truthfully.
2, the information should be complete
When you hand in your passport to a customs officer at the Immigration Department, you’d better hand in all the materials together. Don’t be like squeezing toothpaste.
For example, tourist visas, in addition to passports, round-trip air ticket orders, hotel orders, car rental orders, and so on, are all sandwiched in passports and handed over to customs officials for verification, so that he can ask one by one, especially those who are not good at English, and become false when asked a few more times.
In the case of a student visa, you must present your passport, I-20 or IAP-66, I-94 and the declaration form to the immigration officer for inspection.
If you need to make a connecting flight, attach the transit ticket ticket to let the customs officer know that you are in a hurry.
3. Face Questions from Officials
When you give your passport to a customs officer at the Immigration Department, they usually ask you a few questions.
If it is a tourist visa, you will usually ask: How long will you be in the United States? What is the tour plan? Where to live… There is a say, do not make anything out of it.
If it is a student visa, you may be asked about academic performance, discipline, etc. Students who have studied IT were asked to write code on the spot, which is likely to happen.Don’t lie, they can check your academic record at once, and even find out how many classes you missed. If you miss too many classes and fail in your grades, your student visa will be cancelled on the spot and repatriated by the original machine.
4, do not carry contraband in your luggage
Fortunately, after the immigration officer’s inquiry, go to the baggage waiting area, quietly waiting for the luggage on the line, do not jump up and down, and do not discuss certain things with fellow passengers, the customs officer mixed in with the crowd is likely to understand Chinese.
When the luggage is picked up, the vast majority of people can get through the customs smoothly, but a small number of people are stuck in the baggage check. What needs to be reminded here is: do not bring A famous brand bag! Once some foreign students were locked up in the small black house because of this. Although they finally entered the country smoothly, they went on the blacklist from then on. Every time they entered the country, they had to check their luggage until she graduated and returned home.
As for other prohibited items, such as seeds, food, meat products, etc., do not bring.
5, there is no more relaxed customs
Some people say that Los Angeles customs is strict, others are lax. But this is not absolute, this time many strict inspection of Chinese students in Houston customs. Remember: Customs offices everywhere are under the jurisdiction of the federal Customs and Border Protection Agency, and those officers receive the same training.
Finally, I hope that all international students will enter the country smoothly and complete their studies.
