What are weirdest questions you have been asked at United States Customs

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

August 2002 was the 1st time my family had driven to WDW since 9/11. We had flown since then, but not had driven down since August 2001. Anyway we got to Ambassador Bridge United States Customs area around 9:30 PM. We got there around that time because we had drove all night until 11:00 AM the next day until we got to our destination for the evening in Dalton, Georgia. Anyway when we got to the border the 1st thing we saw was the National Guard (I think it was them) put a light in our car & they were holding automatic weapons, which can be very scary looking that close. Anyway after the usually citizenship question, the border guard asks us how long we will be away for? We tell him 2 weeks. He then says how do you get 2 weeks vacation & said it in a surprised way. Then he asks my Dad what he does, same question to my Mom, then he also asked me the same question. He also said if your going to Walt Disney World why are you leaving now? We told him which is what I said at the top of this post. Finally he said go threw, but after that we were like that was intresting with those questions. Maybe he was trying to catch us of guard or something & I do realize that this was months after 9/11 & the 1 yr anniversary was the next month, so I was happy to see a lot better security. However those were still the weirdest questions we ever got asked when entering the United States, because everytime since then when flying or driving they asked us where are you going, how long for & what is the purpose of the trip? So have any of you been asked what you thought were werid questions when entering the United States?

 

[cslittle999]

I have a number of crazy customs stories, both US and Canadian. I will share two.

Two years ago I put together a guys weekend to the Brickyard 400. I was driving and we crossed at Sarnia. There were four of us in the minivan. We pull up and roll down the windows and the two customs offices ask us where we're going. We said Indianapolis and then chatted a little bit about NASCAR. One of the guys asks if we have any fruit with us. We said yes. Grapes? Yes. What country are they from? Let me see them. Of course the grapes had been washed and there weren't any country stickers on them. The guy takes the ziplock bag of grapes, throws them in the big garbage bin and then says we're free to go. At no time during this discussion were we asked our citizenship or did they look at our passports. They didn't ask how much beer we had with us (a number of cases as I remember Canadian beer being way better than American). I guess there was a fruit blitz that week.

One of my staff was taking a family vacation around Christmas two years ago. At the border they were asked if they had any beef with them. They said yes. They had a beef cup-a-soup with them. It was confiscated. I'm not even sure that counts as real beef.

 

[Rubbertops]

We went to New Orleans for 2 weeks (before Katrina and 9/11) and they said they same thing re: 2 week vacation. I thought it was weird. What is the big deal about having a 2 week vacation?

 

[cslittle999]

A lot of American workers may only get two weeks vacation a year or if they get more may be restricted to only take one week at a time.

 

[twinz]

We were going to Boston over 1999/2000 New Years and as we were crossing the boarder The Boarder guard asked us where we were going (to a concert), how long we would be gone (5 days) do we have any bombs aboard? (HA HA HA, and he was laughing too!!!!), It was funny, and I think he was training and we were his "first" customers. IT was too funny!

 

[langin]

We drove through Houlton around 10:00 pm and they asked where we were going. We said to Florida and he said "Where?" like he didn't hear us correctly, then he looked inside and saw the 3 kids and said "With 3 kids, good luck!"

We were thinking we were going to need it, too ! LOL

 

[tmli]

Last year I was crossing the border alone with ds on our way to Buffalo airport to fly to wdw. Pull up and he asks citizenship and who is in the back. I say my son and he asks me to roll down window so he could see in (they are tinted). I comply and he proceeds to ask my son if I am his mother....to which my darling replies, "I have never seen this woman in my life" and begins to laugh....the guy at first looks shocked and then starts to laugh. (ds is so obvious mine--plus he had already seen our passports). I almost died!

Trip back in May...same crossing with ds and neice (4). Again asks me to roll down window and asks me "wheres their father?".....i say well she is not mine she is my neice and ds's father is probably at home with his gf. He then says you are voluntarily taking two kids to wdw on your own?

I guess these questions aren't that weird!

 

[tribus121]

We ( my DB and I )was on my way to WDW crosing the border at houlton Me in a blinding snow storm ( 4 am ) , after being asked the normal questions he then asked if we where nuts and could he go with us . ( before 9/11 )

 

[sammi]

We crossed back into Canada yesterday in Sarnia after spending a few days in Frankenmuth and had asolutely no problems going or coming back!

BUT last Sept. my DH,DB,DSIL, and myself were driving down to the Carolina's and crossed over at the Peace Bridge and was asked if we knew each other????? My DH nearly said NO!

And this past Feb while crossing again at the Peace Bridge (heading to Buffalo airport for Florida ) we were asked how much money we had????

 

[donkthemagicllama]

On the way back from a day trip to Seattle (from Vancouver), my brother-in-law (who is a Canadian Citizen, but comes from a Vietnamese family) was driving.

The female Canadian customs agent asked him what his citizenship was, which he replied Canadian.* He has quite a Vietnamese accent, but has been a Canadian citizen for probably 20 years.* The customs agent said in a very intimidating way, "Well, you sure don't sound Canadian"!!!!!!!* We were blown away by this.* He was so upset by it he could hardly speak, but managed to answer a few more questions (which I don't recall), and we were on our way...

On the American side, I don't recall anything too weird...* I was on a roadtrip and we crossed the boarder somewhere in BC and the US customs agent let us get out and have our picture taken with him... this was before 9/11...

 

[tone.def]

Pre 9/11 - "And what are you going to go with that granola bar?"

Me: "Sit on a mountain and eat it sir."

 

[Scratch42]

This was a quick trip to Buffalo to try to find DD a Grad Dress..........

First Time using brand new passports! DD's Very First Passport.

We get up there, I had the passports to the Custom's Officer. He looks at them, asks how long we are staying and where are we going. My answer, few hours, McKinley Mall........

He responds, Ok, hands back the passports......... DD confused He did not ask me any questions! She is used to getting the third degree 'cause up until this time she was on my passport! I told her now that you have your own.........They know it's you!

March Break Trip ~ Custom's Officer telling me that I need to get DD her own Passport. Duh, I know but not until this one expires!

j

 

[bev r.]

About 8 or 9 years ago at the border crossing at Kingsgate, BC on the US side the guard asked us if we had any bear food. My husband and I just looked at each other. Then he said "do you have any pets?". We realized he was trying to be funny.

On that same trip, when we entered California, they have stops, similar to the border crossing checking for produce coming into the state. They confiscate all incoming produce, either you have to pull over to the side and eat it all, or they take and put it in the garbage. We had a bag of cherries, that I was not about to throw out, so we pulled over ate the cherries, and gave them the pits.

 

[SnowWhite]

I have never had a hard time crossing into the United States as I have literally done this hundreds of times. (Spent ten years in Drum and Bugle Corps. with most of our major competitions in the US.) BUT getting back into Canada is a different story. It always seems to be the female border guards that give me the hardest times. I swear they don't want me to come back here

Back in 1993 my wife (gf at the time) and I went on a shopping trip to Watertown NY. and crossed at Ganonoque (spelling?) The US customs agent looks at us (both 21 at the time) and asks us where we are going. We said Watertown. He leans into the car and says "Whats going down in Watertown?" but in a kinda rapping voice. I almost couldn't hold the laughter in.

March break 2005, we were doing our annual march break vacation in Niagara Falls and shopping trip and went across the Rainbow bridge as usual and this was just after the US gov had just heightened their alert status so we were counting on a long wait to cross and alot of questions. The lady US customs agent asked me where we were going and how long we expected to be in the US. Thats it. Then she said have a good day. I looked at her and said you don't want to know if these are my kids or what citizenship we are? No ID. She just smiled and said "Naw, you guys are ok with me......" WOW and Bush says Canada is lax at the border

Rob (Snowwhite's DH)

 

[sean-1966]

I had a package shipped to a clients just over the border. On my way to pick it up I was asked "How do I know that you're not going over to work." I just replied that I didn't have and equipment with me. I wanted to ask "How do I know you're not going to take you gun out and shoot me."

 

[meka15]

We crossed the border t buffalo on our way to the airportand you could tell this guy was going to give us trouble, He was training someone and he was really mean! He asked us where we were going so late in the day and when we replied he asked why. SO my dad said for a graduation trip and then he demanded to see both my sisters and my students cards. What that had to do with crossing the border I don't know because we had alrady graduated. Then he wanted to see our tickets, so we had our boarding passes but they were only for one way so he wanted to see the other but it was hard to find because our car was so packed. I really didn't think he was going to let us go. Then he asked my dad what holiday they were having (memorial day) but my dad had no idea and thought he had asked something else. Finally he let us go but he was so mean and usually they just let us through right away!

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

In January/05 I was taking DD to Disneyland and flying from Seattle. We were having one of the worst snowstorms this area had ever seen. I was so nervous about driving down, but knew the roads were better once I was down past Bellingham and closer to Burlington, so decided we would take a very slow drive to Burlington and get to a Seatac hotel to catch the plane the next morning. When I approached the border it was dead, not a car in sight. There was so much snow that had drifted I could barely even get into the lane I needed. My heart was in my throat the whole time. I pulled up and the border guard said "What on earth are you doing out in this weather with a child in the car?". I told him we were flying to Disneyland the next morning at 6am and had to get to Seattle, and since the weather was predicted to get worse and worse, I decided to leave now before the roads got closed. He could obviously tell I was panicked abou the drive. He took a quick look at our id and said "Please drive carefully! I don't want to hear sirens in a few minutes!". I said I would go very slow and he told DD to say hi to Mickey Mouse. He then said "See here?" and pointed to the speedometer.."If you see mommy's car go over 30 you tell her to slow down" (he was meaning 30 km/h). LOL! So we had the worst drive to Bellingham - I still don't know how I made it. Stopped for some lunch and hit the road again. The roads got better and better to the point where they were just a bit wet and I went just under the speed limit. DD said "Mommy you are over 30! Slow down!!". Yah....could you see me doing 30km/h on the I-5?! LOL!
The 2nd time we went down to use Seatac airport the following April, I got grilled to the point he almost had me in tears. Had to show our plane tickets, he had the car searched,etc.... It was a total nightmare!

 

[connorsmom911]

This one was just recently, my mom and I were heading on our annual trip to Traverse City, MI. We cross at Sarnia/Port Huron and we are used to the border guard asking the normal questions and then questioning us as to why we're going to Traverse City, who lives there. Well, no one, we are just going on vacation. That was the reaction we got a few times, but this time they caught me off guard again. The guy was nice enough, but just rattled off the questions really fast and then asked who our prime minister was...I was caught so off guard that I didn't know!! I'm not a politics person, and I couldn't think of it. My mom finally pipes up "Steven Harper, but I certainly didn't vote for him!" The guy just laughed and waved us through.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Last spring I went to a conference in Michigan with a friend, and when we got to the Windsor/Detroit border, the customs agent started asking her a lot of questions about the car (it was her husband's car). He wanted to know whose car it was, did he know we were driving it, when was it last driven to the US, I think he even asked where her husband bought it. It was very strange and we could NOT figure out why he was asking so many questions about the car!

In the fall, my family drove to WDW and we had my daughter-in-law with us (she is Dutch). Well, as soon as they saw her Dutch passport we had to pull over, get everyone out of the car (including her two children, ages 3 years and 11 months), and go inside. It was about midnight, we were doing the "drive all night" plan, so the children were woken up and not happy.

They give my dil a list of questions including: Are you a terrorist? (check yes or no) and Are you planning any terrorist activities while in the US? (check yes or no). She started giggling about these questions and the guard glared at her - but I could hardly keep from laughing myself. Yes, this is a really effective way to deter terrorism.

Then they asked us where we would be staying in the US. We said WDW. They wanted to know the ADDRESS OF THE HOTEL. We didn't have a clue - we knew we were going to POR, but didn't know the street address. I could not believe they were giving us such a hard time because we didn't know the address. I had some confirmation info from my travel agent but it also didn't give the POR address. Finally, some helpful customs officer sitting behind the desk looked it up on the Internet and we were able to proceed.

Teresa

 

[phabric]

This year, we were going for the day (Port Huron) crossing through Sarnia. DH was asked what type of work he did and when he had to return to work. We have never been asked that type of questions usually how long are you going for, citizenship. and where do you live.