Sydney Airport Customs Clearance Chaos

[thewinchester]

Re: Where Do I File a Severe Complain Report for Sydney Immigrations and Customs??

4th amendment: Unreasonable Search and Seizure.

I do love it when someone waves their 'rights flag' around claiming they've been violated.

Your 4th amendment rights do not preclude an appropriate member of the law enforcement community from confirming your bona fides before being permitted entry to a foreign country, a view upheld by the US Supreme Court in Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, 154 (1925), United States v. Ramsey, 431 U. S. 606, 616 (1977), United States v. Villamonte-Marquez, 462 U. S. 579, 584 (1983), and again in United States v. Flores-Montano (2004). The latter also noted that this right extended from a statute passed by the first congress of August 4, 1790 - so border protection measures aren't anything new.

Where Do I File a Severe Complain Report for Sydney Immigrations and Customs??

Regardless of your views regarding the establishment and verification of your bona fides by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, there are no grounds for complaint, and I suspect there might be more to the story than you have lead us to believe.

If you really feel that you have grounds for a complaint, then you can do so online at:
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service - Complaints and compliments

 

[markjb]

Re: Where Do I File a Severe Complain Report for Sydney Immigrations and Customs??

Where Do I File a Severe Complain Report for Sydney Immigrations and Customs??/


I was held for a 2-hour questioning period by first Immigrations and then Customs. I was locked in a room for 2 hours. I had my phone confiscated. I was asked about my bank accounts. The immigrations and customs bureau of Sydney International Airport (this was on July 25th, 2009) even requested to look at the instant messages on my phone.

This is a gross, heinous, and severe breach of privacy rights. In the united states, this violation would be referred to as a direct and blatant violation of the 4th amendment: Unreasonable Search and Seizure.

This was a horrible "welcoming" to the first time in the country of australia for me, let alone as an illegal questioning.

I was threatened saying they would fly my back to the states.

THE REASON....The Reason for this ludicrous and disgusting violation of privacy, time, and unreasonable confiscation...as far as I could assess was that I didn't have enough bags!!

Yes, the fact that I had a backback and one other bag seemed to "alarm" customs and immigrations. They then wanted to ensure that I had "enough money". I had a one-way ticket and was visiting a friend because I had not yet determined the details of the correspondence but had purchased the ticket and my visa 1 month prior to my arrival in Sydney.

The perpetrators responsible for this at Sydney Customs and Immigrations need to be disciplined and reprimanded for this.

I need to know to where I file my complaint.

Thanks.

Mate go into USA as a "visitor" and you get alot worse! I think you may be leaving a little out of this story......

not having a return ticket also a big no no! Do that into USA and you wont get held for 2 hours you will be held until they physically hand you over onto a flight going back i have seen it happen with a British couple in Seattle they handed them to the BA crew and told them not to give their passports back until 5 hours away from USA. this British couple had a 2y\o and were held for 9hours in a small room until the next flight. i sat behind them he was telling me all about the treatment! not sure why they got turned back something about a visa for the baby but they did.

remember in the customs area YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS! it states that on the arriving docs!

toughen up princess!

 

[ariel sum]

Re: Where Do I File a Severe Complain Report for Sydney Immigrations and Customs??

Where Do I File a Severe Complain Report for Sydney Immigrations and Customs??/

I was a frequent flyer to sydney, i was extremely upset with one of their customer officer. Due to my carelessness, i lost my visa slip, and the custom officer questions me and forbid me to come to australia for the next three years, which i can completely understand. I was there for holidays and would normally stay for a few months, as my boyfriend is working in sydney and is a permanent resident. Thus i was questioned my this custom officer and i explain myself that i was visiting and having a holiday as well, he insisted that i was lying, when i was telling the truth. When i told him i was living with my boyfriend in sydney. he actually insult me as a loafer! what right does hea have to insult me as a loafer, as i earn my money as a freelance designer, and can afford the stays in australia. After the insult, he insist that i was lying and dont allow me to go to australia for the next 3years, i was so upset, i even told him i can ask my boyfriend to speak to him, if he dont believe. He simply brushed it off and tell me he had enough of my lies and he walked away. What the hell do i deserve to be treated this way when i was simply visiting a country and get all these insults from a custom officers. 1stly. what evidences does he have to insist that i was lying when what i am telling is the truth. Its normal to be suspected, but not to be assumed that i'm lying?? i am not a CRIMINAL. 2ndly, What rights do he have to insult me as a loafer?
I dont care about whether i can go back to australia, but i am really upset and humiliated to get treated that way. Is there anyway i can find out who the officer is or how i can complain?
p.S: i remember its a overweight man working in the international airport on the 30th of May 2010, 350pm.

 

[NM]

Re: Where Do I File a Severe Complain Report for Sydney Immigrations and Customs??

I dont care about whether i can go back to australia, but i am really upset and humiliated to get treated that way. Is there anyway i can find out who the officer is or how i can complain?
p.S: i remember its a overweight man working in the international airport on the 30th of May 2010, 350pm.

As this happened yesterday and I assume you have been returned to your country of residency, I suggest your best approach would be to contact the Australian Embassy in your home country.

 

[NYCguy]

You definitely don't want to go to the LOTFAP then :!:

Once you get past the DHS officers, the Customs checks are pretty-much non-existent. After many hundreds of inbound trips to the USA, both as a visitor and a resident alien, I have been subjected to Customs screening exactly four times.

The Americans are paranoid about whom they let cross their borders, but they aren't hung-up about an extra carton of Special Filters or a couple of bottles of Tanqueray in your baggage.

 

[NM]

Once you get past the DHS officers, the Customs checks are pretty-much non-existent. After many hundreds of inbound trips to the USA, both as a visitor and a resident alien, I have been subjected to Customs screening exactly four times.

The Americans are paranoid about whom they let cross their borders, but they aren't hung-up about an extra carton of Special Filters or a couple of bottles of Tanqueray in your baggage.

And I get the feeling they are more interested in stopping US citizens bringing thing back home (like Cuban cigars) than they are in visitors with that extra bottle or carton on non-cuban cigs.

 

[NYCguy]

And I get the feeling they are more interested in stopping US citizens bringing thing back home (like Cuban cigars) than they are in visitors with that extra bottle or carton on non-cuban cigs.

I concur.

Australian Customs and Quarantine officers are some of the most moronic officials that I have ever had the misfortune to come across in my travel anywhere in the world, including the psychotic zealots at TLV. This obviously comes from their training, which is clearly well-intentioned but deeply flawed.

Making statements like "one slice of that banana bread could destroy the whole economy" (actually said to my partner at SYD) just makes them sound like a bunch of dim-witted hayseeds who have no idea what they're talking about. Some Israeli officials might be obsessive enough to qualify for electroconvulsive therapy, but some of the Aussies are just plain mong.

 

[kpc]

Australian Customs and Quarantine officers are some of the most moronic officials that I have ever had the misfortune to come across in my travel anywhere in the world, ....... This obviously comes from their training, which is clearly well-intentioned but obviously flawed.

Making statements like "one slice of that banana bread could destroy the whole economy" (actually said to my partner at SYD) just makes them sound like a bunch of dim-witted hayseeds who have no idea what they're talking about.

+ 1:evil: Also, everytime I watch Border Security (why do I watch it...so I can get more tips on how to avoid getting caught up with their stupid line of Qs:idea, I end up muttering obscenities when I hear their reasons similar to the banana bread anecdote above; The only quarantine officers probabaly more cough than Aust are the NZ ones...I now declare to NZ quarantine the 1 or 2 green tea bags that I may have taken from the QF club as "plant material":shock: