9 ms·

Once (also in JFK) I was quizzed a bit by the CBP officer. I told him I was a math grad student, he said "well, then tell me about the Euler problem". I expla

by rjtobin 10y ago

Once (also in JFK) I was quizzed a bit by the CBP officer. I told him I was a math grad student, he said "well, then tell me about the Euler problem". I explained that Euler was a fairly prolific guy, and asked if he could be more specific. He didn't relent, apparently he had seen some documentary that was all about the "Euler problem". Eventually, we moved on to my background, and I mentioned I had done a masters in computational neuroscience. He said something like "oh neuroscience, my great aunt had that", I think he thought it was an illness? Was sort of expecting the reality TV cameras to be busted out at that point... He let me through though! Usually I clear immigration in Ireland (one of the few places you can do the immigration before you leave), and those folks are always much more pleasant.

minipci1321 10y ago
I was going to SV and landed at SFO. The flight was long and I was tired, and raised additional suspicion of the security guy. He asked me about the purpose of my (two-week-long) visit. I replied "software integration". He asked then, "what sort of software integration can be done in only 2 weeks?" I must say, this question remained unanswered. He let me in, it was 2006.
- meddlepal 10y ago
  "None, but don't tell management that please."
  - tn13 10y ago
    I would advise strongly against that kind of snarky or funny responses. It is a no-no. Give a standard answers the lawyer might have presented you.
    - Declanomous 10y ago
      I dunno, when I was coming back from Europe a while back the homeland security guy in the airport asked me if I wanted a full cavity search. I was like "no?..." And he was like, ah, you don't fit the profile anyways. I've found American Border Patrol and Customs to be fairly relaxed though. I am a white American guy from the Midwest, so that may have something to do with it. I find the TSA to be more of a pain.
      - tn13 10y ago
        Oh if you are American and/or white it is a different case.
        elastic_church 10y ago
        I know, all these European migrants are running around out here scared because Lord Merkel tells them to be when they have nothing to worry about Its a hard point to convey without really spelling out the underbelly of American society
        Cadvallion 10y ago
        If anything it's Granny Merkel and we don't need her to be worried. What really scares me is that people seem to believe anything they read/heard/watched on the internet without checking or even asking for the source of the claims/news. O, and Trump scares me. Not because I fear a war or something. But because he's a negative example of the good old 'anything is possible in America' and he somehow deleted that 'land of the free' part...at least in my version of reality (yep, that's ok, everybody got his own reality. But we're all in IT here, we know that, right?
      - guan 10y ago
        “No” (in a different tone perhaps) or “no thanks” does seem like the straightforward, serious answer to that question.
      - untog 10y ago
        The real problem with border patrol is that how you are treated depends entirely on the individual border agent. I've had agents joke with me, I've had agents grill me. I've even had an agent with an earphone in his ear, dance music pumping, as he stamped my passport and visa in time with the beat. I've long since learned the lesson that joking around with them is absolutely never, ever worth it. It's sad, because it presumably makes their jobs joyless, and the actual nice people more likely to leave. But here we are.
        10y ago
seanmcdirmid 10y ago
Most of Canada has USA immigration in their airports, so it's not exactly rare.
- WildUtah 10y ago
  Canada, Ireland, and Abu Dhabi do US immigration at their own airports before you leave. I've never heard of any other pair of countries with any similar arrangements. Indeed Canada, Ireland, and Abu Dhabi wait until you arrive there from the USA to do their own immigration so it only goes one way.
  - zx2c4 10y ago
    France and UK when traveling by train.
    - manarth 10y ago
      And ferry.
    - happosai 10y ago
      Finland to Russia on train, the Russian Border security checks you while the train is still in Finland, speeding 200km/h towards Russia. And vice versa when going in the other direction. Saves a lot of time and hassle.
      - jerven 10y ago
        Also from Switzerland to France, if departing from Geneva. As well as Geneva airport having a dedicated section for flying to france.
      - zhte415 10y ago
        That's awesome. Did the crossing a couple of decades ago and that was also the case, though not when 'speeding' but when changing engine at the border, and then it didn't go 200km/h at any point, and that's probably a good thing as there were man-sized gaps between left and right of the iron floating bridge connectors between carriages, but same principle.
areyousure 10y ago
As an additional data point, in 2000, both a fellow traveler and I were asked mathematical questions by US immigration officers in Canada. He answered correctly, I was unable to do so, but we were both allowed to enter without further investigation. I thought the experience was fine. I have had less pleasant, aggressive questioning dealing with British immigration when flying into Heathrow as well as Irish immigration when flying out of Heathrow, though in the latter case the proximal cause was my fellow traveler choosing to lie. :(
- TomMarius 10y ago
  Ah, the good old prisoner's dilemma.
- microtherion 10y ago
  > He answered correctly, I was unable to do so, but we were both allowed to enter without further investigation. It's like that cliché often employed in coding interviews, but immigration officers are more serious about it: They don't need a correct answer, they are interested primarily in observing your answering process.
- huxley 10y ago
  It may be a bit dated nowadays, but from travelling through Central America back in the 80s, I made it a habit to never ever use the phrase "fellow traveler" around US border officials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_traveller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_traveller
  - areyousure 10y ago
    Thanks for the reference! I didn't know about that euphemism.
yzmtf2008 10y ago
I was once traveling back from Italy after attending PKDD conference. I was really sick and had a really bad headache, so the following exchange really scared me: "Why did you go to Italy?" - To attend a conference. "Which conference did you attend?" - European Conference on Machine Learning "Machine Learning? (smile) How do you learn from machines?" I forgot the exact answer I gave, but I was pretty afraid that he had a Wikipedia page on "Learning from Machines" and would not let me pass if I failed.
- squirrelgod 10y ago
  Are you sure he wasn't just joking around? I've had a TSA officer joke around asking me if I hacked into their devices (I was wearing a hackathon t-shirt)
  - kalleboo 10y ago
    A couple of times I've managed to defuse TSA officers after they're convinced I'm not a danger to the country, and they turn into humans again. Once I was visiting just to meet a friend and we were planning on a road-trip up to Canada. The officer quizzed if we were going in order to do drugs (which is a thing apparently?), and when I answered in the negative he sighed, said "ah, I was young once too" and let me in...
  - yzmtf2008 10y ago
    Could be :) Unfortunately I was feeling really bad that day so I was a little paranoid.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 10y ago
    > Are you sure he wasn't just joking around? One rule of thumb is that you Never joke with the airport security (1). So wouldn't that go both ways? 1) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkemans-blog/2012/nov/27/dynamite-advice-bomb-jokes-airports https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkemans-b...
    - 10y ago
peteretep 10y ago
I entered the US a few times on a visa waiver for business, and (truthfully) stated my business as "teaching dating advice to men". I got a lot of laughs, but luckily no actual in-depth questions.
jlg23 10y ago
> Usually I clear immigration in Ireland (one of the few places you can do the immigration before you leave), and those folks are always much more pleasant. FYI: It's not just Ireland that let's you clear US-immigration before departure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_precleara... I've been going through Dublin myself for years, and I can highly recommend it: In worst case, you'll be told to leave the terminal, but you won't go into a holding cell - and yes, officers there are much more friendly than their counterparts in the US (I guess they are all infected by the Irish hospitality).
- huxley 10y ago
  I've got some bad news for you, there's a bill being debated in Canada about giving US officials the discretion to hold or detain travellers at pre-clearance centres: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pre-clearance-border-canada-us-1.3976123 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pre-clearance-border-canada-... https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-23/ https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-23/ If it passes in Canada, it's only a matter of time before it happens in Ireland (or you lose the pre-clearance option).
xyzzyz 10y ago
He probably meant the problem of the seven bridges of Koenigsberg, which was solved by Euler, and is one of the easiest to explain to laypeople, which is good for making documentaries.
bane 10y ago
One time, while going into Panama, the border agent wrote a couple words on a sheet of paper and asked me to pronounce them: ship, sheep. Thinking this was some kind of shibboleth, I complied. She then wrote a couple more, I think they were chair and share, again I complied. Finally she wrote another pair, I don't remember what exactly, but I was getting very worried that this was some kind of bizarre profiling by accent and I was about to find myself in a Panamanian detention center. She looked up and laughed, and in very broken English explained she was trying to use the accents of incoming Americans to improve her accent to help in her job when dealing with English speaking foreigners.
xster 10y ago
I'm not saying we shouldn't resist these types of arbitrary unofficial screening processes whenever we encounter them but if I weren't such a confrontational type of person for these things, I would just listen to my lawyers and just bring employment verification letter and visa letters with me whenever I travel abroad.

by rjtobin 10y ago

minipci1321 10y ago

I was going to SV and landed at SFO. The flight was long and I was tired, and raised additional suspicion of the security guy. He asked me about the purpose of my (two-week-long) visit. I replied "software integration". He asked then, "what sort of software integration can be done in only 2 weeks?" I must say, this question remained unanswered. He let me in, it was 2006.

meddlepal 10y ago
"None, but don't tell management that please."
- tn13 10y ago
  I would advise strongly against that kind of snarky or funny responses. It is a no-no. Give a standard answers the lawyer might have presented you.
  - Declanomous 10y ago
    I dunno, when I was coming back from Europe a while back the homeland security guy in the airport asked me if I wanted a full cavity search. I was like "no?..." And he was like, ah, you don't fit the profile anyways. I've found American Border Patrol and Customs to be fairly relaxed though. I am a white American guy from the Midwest, so that may have something to do with it. I find the TSA to be more of a pain.
    - tn13 10y ago
      Oh if you are American and/or white it is a different case.
      - elastic_church 10y ago
        I know, all these European migrants are running around out here scared because Lord Merkel tells them to be when they have nothing to worry about Its a hard point to convey without really spelling out the underbelly of American society
        Cadvallion 10y ago
        If anything it's Granny Merkel and we don't need her to be worried. What really scares me is that people seem to believe anything they read/heard/watched on the internet without checking or even asking for the source of the claims/news. O, and Trump scares me. Not because I fear a war or something. But because he's a negative example of the good old 'anything is possible in America' and he somehow deleted that 'land of the free' part...at least in my version of reality (yep, that's ok, everybody got his own reality. But we're all in IT here, we know that, right?
    - guan 10y ago
      “No” (in a different tone perhaps) or “no thanks” does seem like the straightforward, serious answer to that question.
    - untog 10y ago
      The real problem with border patrol is that how you are treated depends entirely on the individual border agent. I've had agents joke with me, I've had agents grill me. I've even had an agent with an earphone in his ear, dance music pumping, as he stamped my passport and visa in time with the beat. I've long since learned the lesson that joking around with them is absolutely never, ever worth it. It's sad, because it presumably makes their jobs joyless, and the actual nice people more likely to leave. But here we are.
      - 10y ago

seanmcdirmid 10y ago

Most of Canada has USA immigration in their airports, so it's not exactly rare.

WildUtah 10y ago
Canada, Ireland, and Abu Dhabi do US immigration at their own airports before you leave. I've never heard of any other pair of countries with any similar arrangements. Indeed Canada, Ireland, and Abu Dhabi wait until you arrive there from the USA to do their own immigration so it only goes one way.
- zx2c4 10y ago
  France and UK when traveling by train.
  - manarth 10y ago
    And ferry.
  - happosai 10y ago
    Finland to Russia on train, the Russian Border security checks you while the train is still in Finland, speeding 200km/h towards Russia. And vice versa when going in the other direction. Saves a lot of time and hassle.
    - jerven 10y ago
      Also from Switzerland to France, if departing from Geneva. As well as Geneva airport having a dedicated section for flying to france.
    - zhte415 10y ago
      That's awesome. Did the crossing a couple of decades ago and that was also the case, though not when 'speeding' but when changing engine at the border, and then it didn't go 200km/h at any point, and that's probably a good thing as there were man-sized gaps between left and right of the iron floating bridge connectors between carriages, but same principle.

areyousure 10y ago

As an additional data point, in 2000, both a fellow traveler and I were asked mathematical questions by US immigration officers in Canada. He answered correctly, I was unable to do so, but we were both allowed to enter without further investigation. I thought the experience was fine. I have had less pleasant, aggressive questioning dealing with British immigration when flying into Heathrow as well as Irish immigration when flying out of Heathrow, though in the latter case the proximal cause was my fellow traveler choosing to lie. :(

TomMarius 10y ago
Ah, the good old prisoner's dilemma.
microtherion 10y ago
> He answered correctly, I was unable to do so, but we were both allowed to enter without further investigation. It's like that cliché often employed in coding interviews, but immigration officers are more serious about it: They don't need a correct answer, they are interested primarily in observing your answering process.
huxley 10y ago
It may be a bit dated nowadays, but from travelling through Central America back in the 80s, I made it a habit to never ever use the phrase "fellow traveler" around US border officials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_traveller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_traveller
- areyousure 10y ago
  Thanks for the reference! I didn't know about that euphemism.

yzmtf2008 10y ago

I was once traveling back from Italy after attending PKDD conference. I was really sick and had a really bad headache, so the following exchange really scared me: "Why did you go to Italy?" - To attend a conference. "Which conference did you attend?" - European Conference on Machine Learning "Machine Learning? (smile) How do you learn from machines?" I forgot the exact answer I gave, but I was pretty afraid that he had a Wikipedia page on "Learning from Machines" and would not let me pass if I failed.

squirrelgod 10y ago
Are you sure he wasn't just joking around? I've had a TSA officer joke around asking me if I hacked into their devices (I was wearing a hackathon t-shirt)
- kalleboo 10y ago
  A couple of times I've managed to defuse TSA officers after they're convinced I'm not a danger to the country, and they turn into humans again. Once I was visiting just to meet a friend and we were planning on a road-trip up to Canada. The officer quizzed if we were going in order to do drugs (which is a thing apparently?), and when I answered in the negative he sighed, said "ah, I was young once too" and let me in...
- yzmtf2008 10y ago
  Could be :) Unfortunately I was feeling really bad that day so I was a little paranoid.
- SideburnsOfDoom 10y ago
  > Are you sure he wasn't just joking around? One rule of thumb is that you Never joke with the airport security (1). So wouldn't that go both ways? 1) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkemans-blog/2012/nov/27/dynamite-advice-bomb-jokes-airports https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkemans-b...
  - 10y ago

peteretep 10y ago

I entered the US a few times on a visa waiver for business, and (truthfully) stated my business as "teaching dating advice to men". I got a lot of laughs, but luckily no actual in-depth questions.

jlg23 10y ago

> Usually I clear immigration in Ireland (one of the few places you can do the immigration before you leave), and those folks are always much more pleasant. FYI: It's not just Ireland that let's you clear US-immigration before departure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_precleara... I've been going through Dublin myself for years, and I can highly recommend it: In worst case, you'll be told to leave the terminal, but you won't go into a holding cell - and yes, officers there are much more friendly than their counterparts in the US (I guess they are all infected by the Irish hospitality).

huxley 10y ago
I've got some bad news for you, there's a bill being debated in Canada about giving US officials the discretion to hold or detain travellers at pre-clearance centres: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pre-clearance-border-canada-us-1.3976123 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pre-clearance-border-canada-... https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-23/ https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-23/ If it passes in Canada, it's only a matter of time before it happens in Ireland (or you lose the pre-clearance option).

xyzzyz 10y ago

He probably meant the problem of the seven bridges of Koenigsberg, which was solved by Euler, and is one of the easiest to explain to laypeople, which is good for making documentaries.

bane 10y ago

One time, while going into Panama, the border agent wrote a couple words on a sheet of paper and asked me to pronounce them: ship, sheep. Thinking this was some kind of shibboleth, I complied. She then wrote a couple more, I think they were chair and share, again I complied. Finally she wrote another pair, I don't remember what exactly, but I was getting very worried that this was some kind of bizarre profiling by accent and I was about to find myself in a Panamanian detention center. She looked up and laughed, and in very broken English explained she was trying to use the accents of incoming Americans to improve her accent to help in her job when dealing with English speaking foreigners.

xster 10y ago

I'm not saying we shouldn't resist these types of arbitrary unofficial screening processes whenever we encounter them but if I weren't such a confrontational type of person for these things, I would just listen to my lawyers and just bring employment verification letter and visa letters with me whenever I travel abroad.