5 ms·

Is there one? Are you looking for: * Don't leave the country? * Refuse and have the phone cracked anyway? * Refuse letting go of the phone and get arrested?

wutbrodo 8y ago
I would say "don't go to Canada", but I'm not sure how common this is across the world. Does anyone have a sense of how common this draconian approach is? I have a US passport and have been to about 25 countries on six continents and have never experienced this, but borders see such mind bogglingly high numbers pass through that I wouldn't say I have a robust set of data points.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  I would say "don't go to Canada", but I'm not sure how common this is across the world. The more you travel, the more common it is. The phone thing is somewhat new, ever since certain companies started selling devices to governments that let them crack, examine, and archive your phone. But being hassled at the border has always been a risk. Before it was terrorism, it was drugs, or just the change in culture. I've had problems getting into Japan because of my heart medication. I've read that if you have stamps in your passport from certain Middle Eastern countries, you can't get into some other Middle Eastern countries. I've also read quite extensively recently that it's become very difficult for Indians to get into Georgia. Entire families, and even planeloads of people have been turned away, if you believe what you read on TripAdvisor.
  - wutbrodo 8y ago
    > being hassled at the border has always been a risk. Before it was terrorism, it was drugs, or just the change in culture. Right, I'm aware of this, and borders in general suck. I've had a fair few bizarre experiences at borders, some of them funny (like the Lebanese border guard who insisted on speaking Spanish to me) and some quite shitty (lookin at you, Israel). But to me, the above story is quite the outlier in terms of sheer hostility, from a country that I didn't think of as being particularly draconian at the border.
  - blattimwind 8y ago
    > I've read that if you have stamps in your passport from certain Middle Eastern countries, you can't get into some other Middle Eastern countries. Normally you can get two/three passports for that reason.
    - angry_octet 8y ago
      Really? I've not heard of countries issuing multiple simultaneous passports unless you have official or diplomatic status. Previously the Israelis stapled a piece of paper with a stamp on it, you take it out before you go to the GCC. Now its not even stapled. (They photograph your passport & stamp pages though...) https://www.touristisrael.com/the-israeli-passport-stamp/9747/ https://www.touristisrael.com/the-israeli-passport-stamp/974...
      - blattimwind 8y ago
        > Really? I've not heard of countries issuing multiple simultaneous passports unless you have official or diplomatic status. Germany and I think most other EU countries with heavy industries absolutely do this, because it is necessary to do business in the middle east.
        angry_octet 8y ago
        What a practical solution. Deeper googling shows that this is possible for many countries (DE, AU, US, UK, FR at least), often called a concurrent or second passport. I wish I had known about this when various countries had been taking their sweet time about getting me a visa. https://pointstobemade.boardingarea.com/2018/02/22/getting-a-second-uk-passport/ https://pointstobemade.boardingarea.com/2018/02/22/getting-a... https://www.passports.gov.au/using-your-passport/concurrent-passports https://www.passports.gov.au/using-your-passport/concurrent-... https://photos.state.gov/libraries/france/45994/pdf/second.pdf https://photos.state.gov/libraries/france/45994/pdf/second.p... https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21517 https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21517 https://www.rapidevisa.fr/actualites/174-comment-obtenir-officiellement-un-deuxieme-passeport.html https://www.rapidevisa.fr/actualites/174-comment-obtenir-off... Learn something new on HN every day :-)
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- iforgotpassword 8y ago
  Your home country is pretty good at this stuff too. Had this happen to me in 2016 on a business trip, but I just had my work phone and laptop with me and didn't care too much. What was annoying were the comments I got when stating I'm a software dev and visiting for work (along the lines of "we have our own capable people so we don't need you taking our jobs"). I was at that time working for a US company's branch in Switzerland. Not too fond of visiting again. Luckily I'm not working there anymore.
  - wutbrodo 8y ago
    > Your home country is pretty good at this stuff too. Oh yea, I have no illusions about this, and I met more than a few people during my travels who deprioritize going to the US for tourism because of this, in the same way I'm discussing Canada here. I didn't imagine that Canada was the _only_ country that did stuff like this, since I assumed we (and a couple other famous outliers like Israel) had similar stories. I was just wondering how common it was overall.
- davidzweig 8y ago
  I've been to probably 60-70 countries on a UK passport. The only unpleasant border experiences I recall were in Israel, UK, France, and the USA. (Rude and intrusive).
  - Symbiote 8y ago
    What unpleasantness can happen to a British citizen at the UK border? (Or France, for that matter.)

wutbrodo 8y ago

I would say "don't go to Canada", but I'm not sure how common this is across the world. Does anyone have a sense of how common this draconian approach is? I have a US passport and have been to about 25 countries on six continents and have never experienced this, but borders see such mind bogglingly high numbers pass through that I wouldn't say I have a robust set of data points.

reaperducer 8y ago
I would say "don't go to Canada", but I'm not sure how common this is across the world. The more you travel, the more common it is. The phone thing is somewhat new, ever since certain companies started selling devices to governments that let them crack, examine, and archive your phone. But being hassled at the border has always been a risk. Before it was terrorism, it was drugs, or just the change in culture. I've had problems getting into Japan because of my heart medication. I've read that if you have stamps in your passport from certain Middle Eastern countries, you can't get into some other Middle Eastern countries. I've also read quite extensively recently that it's become very difficult for Indians to get into Georgia. Entire families, and even planeloads of people have been turned away, if you believe what you read on TripAdvisor.
- wutbrodo 8y ago
  > being hassled at the border has always been a risk. Before it was terrorism, it was drugs, or just the change in culture. Right, I'm aware of this, and borders in general suck. I've had a fair few bizarre experiences at borders, some of them funny (like the Lebanese border guard who insisted on speaking Spanish to me) and some quite shitty (lookin at you, Israel). But to me, the above story is quite the outlier in terms of sheer hostility, from a country that I didn't think of as being particularly draconian at the border.
- blattimwind 8y ago
  > I've read that if you have stamps in your passport from certain Middle Eastern countries, you can't get into some other Middle Eastern countries. Normally you can get two/three passports for that reason.
  - angry_octet 8y ago
    Really? I've not heard of countries issuing multiple simultaneous passports unless you have official or diplomatic status. Previously the Israelis stapled a piece of paper with a stamp on it, you take it out before you go to the GCC. Now its not even stapled. (They photograph your passport & stamp pages though...) https://www.touristisrael.com/the-israeli-passport-stamp/9747/ https://www.touristisrael.com/the-israeli-passport-stamp/974...
    - blattimwind 8y ago
      > Really? I've not heard of countries issuing multiple simultaneous passports unless you have official or diplomatic status. Germany and I think most other EU countries with heavy industries absolutely do this, because it is necessary to do business in the middle east.
      - angry_octet 8y ago
        What a practical solution. Deeper googling shows that this is possible for many countries (DE, AU, US, UK, FR at least), often called a concurrent or second passport. I wish I had known about this when various countries had been taking their sweet time about getting me a visa. https://pointstobemade.boardingarea.com/2018/02/22/getting-a-second-uk-passport/ https://pointstobemade.boardingarea.com/2018/02/22/getting-a... https://www.passports.gov.au/using-your-passport/concurrent-passports https://www.passports.gov.au/using-your-passport/concurrent-... https://photos.state.gov/libraries/france/45994/pdf/second.pdf https://photos.state.gov/libraries/france/45994/pdf/second.p... https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21517 https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21517 https://www.rapidevisa.fr/actualites/174-comment-obtenir-officiellement-un-deuxieme-passeport.html https://www.rapidevisa.fr/actualites/174-comment-obtenir-off... Learn something new on HN every day :-)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
iforgotpassword 8y ago
Your home country is pretty good at this stuff too. Had this happen to me in 2016 on a business trip, but I just had my work phone and laptop with me and didn't care too much. What was annoying were the comments I got when stating I'm a software dev and visiting for work (along the lines of "we have our own capable people so we don't need you taking our jobs"). I was at that time working for a US company's branch in Switzerland. Not too fond of visiting again. Luckily I'm not working there anymore.
- wutbrodo 8y ago
  > Your home country is pretty good at this stuff too. Oh yea, I have no illusions about this, and I met more than a few people during my travels who deprioritize going to the US for tourism because of this, in the same way I'm discussing Canada here. I didn't imagine that Canada was the _only_ country that did stuff like this, since I assumed we (and a couple other famous outliers like Israel) had similar stories. I was just wondering how common it was overall.
davidzweig 8y ago
I've been to probably 60-70 countries on a UK passport. The only unpleasant border experiences I recall were in Israel, UK, France, and the USA. (Rude and intrusive).
- Symbiote 8y ago
  What unpleasantness can happen to a British citizen at the UK border? (Or France, for that matter.)