Do Australian Border Force officers deliberately provoke passengers?

[kpc]

Because +1 can speak Mandarin, she has been known to help translate for Border officials when they get stuck with Chinese tourists who don't speak English...I get a bit irritated as it holds us up but I guess she is doing everyone a favour. The Border officials do seem to be grateful....

 

[Forg]

Because +1 can speak Mandarin, she has been known to help translate for Border officials when they get stuck with Chinese tourists who don't speak English...I get a bit irritated as it holds us up but I guess she is doing everyone a favour. The Border officials do seem to be grateful....

And the "don't speak English" people are definitely happy now their "no English, no English" protestations have been dissolved .... ?

 

[OATEK]

The one thing that has not been mentioned as far as I can see is that the new egates are currently being installed in SYD. There has been a lot of confusion as a result for staff and pax, and this may well be contributing to the general vibe as pax start using them for the first time. I expect once everyone, including staff, are more familiar with the new machines the tension will ease.

 

[dairyfloss]

Never had any issues or attitude from AU immigration or customs officers before now... but then perhaps I have been lucky on my 118 times passing through The USA, on the other hand.............

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[pauly7]

Because they can, and they get away with it....not just in Australia...I just bite my tongue which is difficult for me....

Exactly, cough the USA…

 

[Brucetiki]

The one thing that has not been mentioned as far as I can see is that the new egates are currently being installed in SYD. There has been a lot of confusion as a result for staff and pax, and this may well be contributing to the general vibe as pax start using them for the first time. I expect once everyone, including staff, are more familiar with the new machines the tension will ease.

Singapore just finished rolling them out for all countries (they’ve been available to about 40 countries, including Australia, for some time).

It took 20 minutes from the plane to Jewel, of which 10 was spent setting up our Singapore eSIM’s (I’ve had longer waits for domestic luggage here).

Singapore also have the ICA app, where you can fill in the passport control/arrival card information up to 3 days in advance.

Compare that to the hot mess here. Sure, the gates themselves are great and much quicker, but we could make the arrivals process so much more efficient.

 

[OATEK]

Singapore just finished rolling them out for all countries (they’ve been available to about 40 countries, including Australia, for some time).

It took 20 minutes from the plane to Jewel, of which 10 was spent setting up our Singapore eSIM’s (I’ve had longer waits for domestic luggage here).

Singapore also have the ICA app, where you can fill in the passport control/arrival card information up to 3 days in advance.

Compare that to the hot mess here. Sure, the gates themselves are great and much quicker, but we could make the arrivals process so much more efficient.

I believe the same process is coming, with streamlined processing. But you can't get past the fact that there is only one terminal in Sydney which is always overcrowded at peak arrival times. Even WSI is unlikely to change that in the foreseeable.

 

[Warragul]

I think Border Security highlights the targeting of non-English speaking backgrounds, especially when it comes to quarantine.

While, yes, some of the things being brought in (and not declared) are absurd, when it’s people from the same regions that end up on the show, the racial profiling is pretty obvious.

In a way, it’s what also surprised me with the ‘why are you bothering us’ attitude with the items I was declaring. I wasn’t expecting anything to be confiscated, but it seems contradictory having messaging of ‘If in doubt, declare’ and then being made to feel like you’re inconveniencing someone by declaring.

While Quarantine is not Border Force, the term racial profiling gets used a lot for both. The were specific flights where certain nationalities would be selected particularly for quarantine checks. An example was (maybe still so) Hong Kong Chinese around the time of year the delicacy 'birds nest' are made and eaten. More than 75% of Chinese travellers would have them and around half wouldn't be declared - they needed to be checked to ensure no raw egg was in the them. Is that racial profiling or treating the risk? Maybe both?

 

[kyle]

In a way, it’s what also surprised me with the ‘why are you bothering us’ attitude with the items I was declaring. I wasn’t expecting anything to be confiscated, but it seems contradictory having messaging of ‘If in doubt, declare’ and then being made to feel like you’re inconveniencing someone by declaring.

This is 100%.

Having said that though, nowadays, if I tell the officer checking the declaration card that I've got prescription medicine and packaged non risky foods, then they don't usually want to see them. As some of the questions contain multiple things in one, I now circle the thing that I have.

 

[kyle]

Because +1 can speak Mandarin, she has been known to help translate for Border officials when they get stuck with Chinese tourists who don't speak English...I get a bit irritated as it holds us up but I guess she is doing everyone a favour. The Border officials do seem to be grateful....

Thought United Nations at BF as I've always seen Chinese speaking officers on duty.

 

[kpc]

Thought United Nations at BF as I've always seen Chinese speaking officers on duty.

Unfortunately not all the time or busy else where. I personally would pretend not to speak the language and move on....don't want to get involve with others' potential issues!

 

[kyle]

Unfortunately not all the time or busy else where. I personally would pretend not to speak the language and move on....don't want to get involve with others' potential issues!

Same!

 

[RealtimeY]

Going through arrivals, each time it feels like the staff there directing people simply don't care and that's ok, much like QF ground crew managing priority boarding. Maybe they will also fix it by investing in an IT project instead of lane ropes and signage.

 

[Rich]

Compare that to the hot mess here. Sure, the gates themselves are great and much quicker, but we could make the arrivals process so much more efficient

I was pleasantly surprised on arrival in to MEL international last month. Within 1 hour of landing we were driving out of the long term carport, having collected checked baggage that was amazingly quick, declaring some food, waiting for the long term bus and wasting considerable time looking for the car due to my poor sense of direction.

 

[Brissy1]

Exactly, cough the USA…

USA... I believe part of their modus operandi sometimes is to actually be unpleasant, testing you (your response) on their rule of "moral turpitude", I'm told that they can and do refuse entry if you're deemed "unpleasant" thus failing their "moral turpitude" test.

Knowing that, easy to be stoic about it.

Having said that, I've generally had OK experiences there. One funny officer, we're flying SYD-SFO-NYC so at SFO immigration (our form showing we're staying at hotel in NYC) jokingly said "sorry to inform you, you've arrived on the wrong coast "; and then when I'd pointed out to my young daughter his guns he said "yes, if you're ever in a gun fight the 1st thing you need, is a gun" Welcome to America.

 

[Cynicor]

oing through the same people in Singapore you feel like they're about to call one of the innumerable angry-looking men with the machine-guns over

I’ve never had any negative experience in Singapore or experienced anyone angry in the airport.
Is this immigration or the random odd occasion they decide to xray you at “quarantine” just before the exit?

I’ve done the xray a few times (I suspect they target people alone with lots of baggage, as one profile) and it’s always been smiles and pleasant.

On the Aus BF, I think being white makes the experience a lot more pleasant. English speaking and a citizen also helps. My industry is pretty multicultural and I hear a lot more negatives than I’d expect for their SES otherwise.

 

[Katie]

Were you not given an Incoming Passenger Card by the airline to complete? Because that's where you would declare anything you needed or wanted to declare, not at the Passport machines. Perhaps the staff were confused by your lack of that card and didn't bother telling you why?

I've perhaps become accustomed to frequent surliness or non-happiness of Border Force staff at busy times, like yesterday morning in Sydney. I arrived around 8:30 or so on QF12, but was fortunate not to witness any lack of customer service. Over time, I have observed the staff being weary about processing thousands of passengers per hour and dealing with a number of people who don't understand their instructions, as I wouldn't if I was being spoken to/yelled at in some language I didn't speak.

I declared every chocolate bar I brought with me on my first OS trip. It gave the ABF person a bit of a chuckle. I also declared chopsticks after coming back from Japan, and found out I didn't really need to. Coming back from Canada, I declared some ornaments made of wood. They also had bright red balls that looked like a berry or nut ... quickly discovered that they were coloured styrofoam!

 

[kyle]

wasting considerable time looking for the car due to my poor sense of direction.

Next time try the google maps save parking feature.

 

[Brucetiki]

Were you not given an Incoming Passenger Card by the airline to complete? Because that's where you would declare anything you needed or wanted to declare, not at the Passport machines. Perhaps the staff were confused by your lack of that card and didn't bother telling you why?

Yep we filled that in, and presented that along with the passport control ‘receipt’ to the officer directing traffic at the declaration line, where I was berated because the machine didn’t print out the receipt properly.

The final guy I went to (the one with the ‘Why are you bothering us’ attitude) took the arrival card off me and then confirmed what I was declaring.

 

[RooFlyer]

USA... I believe part of their modus operandi sometimes is to actually be unpleasant, testing you (your response) on their rule of "moral turpitude", I'm told that they can and do refuse entry if you're deemed "unpleasant" thus failing their "moral turpitude" test.

Knowing that, easy to be stoic about it.

Having said that, I've generally had OK experiences there. One funny officer, we're flying SYD-SFO-NYC so at SFO immigration (our form showing we're staying at hotel in NYC) jokingly said "sorry to inform you, you've arrived on the wrong coast "; and then when I'd pointed out to my young daughter his guns he said "yes, if you're ever in a gun fight the 1st thing you need, is a gun" Welcome to America.

Been a while, but this was a

US Customs and Border Protection humour

I travel Calgary to USA reasonably frequently, so do US Customs and [-]Boarder[/-] Border Protection pre-clearance in Calgary. Its usually a fairly painless procedure and has been less painful again by the sense of humour of some of the immigration people. In a previous trip report I noted how...

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