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Sometimes you just can't win, though. I used to work for a Swedish company making training simulations for surgeons. There are of course special rules regardin

Sometimes you just can't win, though. I used to work for a Swedish company making training simulations for surgeons. There are of course special rules regarding customs declarations of medical equipment. Our salespeople often complained that when entering the U.S. it was basically a coin toss if the customs agent would be angry with them for declaring our simulator as "medical equipment" and wasting their time, or get angry at them for trying to sneak this medical equipment through customs without declaring it.

dwighttk 4y ago
Yeah I think the lesson I took out of the story was DO put that you have been investigated by the FBI and let the guy you give the form to tell you to leave it off…
mynameisvlad 4y ago
I had the same problem with something so much more benign than that. I was a Green Card holder. Technically, you need your card and foreign passport to enter the country. I got yelled at for giving them my passport once, with the guard claiming it’s useless and not needed. So then I started having it on hand but not providing it on the spot, at which point I’d get yelled at for not providing the needed passport upfront. It’s almost as if they like yelling more than consistently following rules.
- jkaplowitz 4y ago
  My understanding is that the passport is not actually required at the CBP checkpoint if you present a valid unexpired green card. But yeah, there's no way different officers should be yelling contradictory things at you. Side note: A passport may still be required to board an inbound international flight even if I'm right about it not needing to accompany a green card at the CBP checkpoint, depending on the rules of the airline and the departure country.
  - mynameisvlad 4y ago
    Is it? I've been yelled about doing or not doing it so much that I can't keep track anymore. That part of my life is behind me so now I get the next fun challenge: Which passport to use when going up to Canada and back as a dual citizen.
    - jkaplowitz 4y ago
      That one is clearer, at least. TL;DR for the easiest experience - bring both passports, enter and leave each country on the respective passport, and if anyone is confused, show both passports and explain that you're a dual citizen. To enter and leave the US, you're supposed to use a US passport and not a Canadian one. To enter Canada, it's smoothest and fastest to use your Canadian passport, but they do have an exception for US-Canadian dual citizens that allow you to use a US passport. If you use a US passport and claim to be a Canadian citizen at a CBSA checkpoint, they might send you to immigration screening to verify your claim, especially if you don't also show some evidence of citizenship like your citizenship certificate. If you use a US passport and claim to be a Canadian citizen to a commercial transportation company like an airline on the way into Canada, they're advised to do "due diligence", but there is no specific set of documentation required. The citizenship certificate would probably satisfy them, and in practice many times maybe the US passport by itself too.

dwighttk 4y ago

Yeah I think the lesson I took out of the story was DO put that you have been investigated by the FBI and let the guy you give the form to tell you to leave it off…

mynameisvlad 4y ago

I had the same problem with something so much more benign than that. I was a Green Card holder. Technically, you need your card and foreign passport to enter the country. I got yelled at for giving them my passport once, with the guard claiming it’s useless and not needed. So then I started having it on hand but not providing it on the spot, at which point I’d get yelled at for not providing the needed passport upfront. It’s almost as if they like yelling more than consistently following rules.

jkaplowitz 4y ago
My understanding is that the passport is not actually required at the CBP checkpoint if you present a valid unexpired green card. But yeah, there's no way different officers should be yelling contradictory things at you. Side note: A passport may still be required to board an inbound international flight even if I'm right about it not needing to accompany a green card at the CBP checkpoint, depending on the rules of the airline and the departure country.
- mynameisvlad 4y ago
  Is it? I've been yelled about doing or not doing it so much that I can't keep track anymore. That part of my life is behind me so now I get the next fun challenge: Which passport to use when going up to Canada and back as a dual citizen.
  - jkaplowitz 4y ago
    That one is clearer, at least. TL;DR for the easiest experience - bring both passports, enter and leave each country on the respective passport, and if anyone is confused, show both passports and explain that you're a dual citizen. To enter and leave the US, you're supposed to use a US passport and not a Canadian one. To enter Canada, it's smoothest and fastest to use your Canadian passport, but they do have an exception for US-Canadian dual citizens that allow you to use a US passport. If you use a US passport and claim to be a Canadian citizen at a CBSA checkpoint, they might send you to immigration screening to verify your claim, especially if you don't also show some evidence of citizenship like your citizenship certificate. If you use a US passport and claim to be a Canadian citizen to a commercial transportation company like an airline on the way into Canada, they're advised to do "due diligence", but there is no specific set of documentation required. The citizenship certificate would probably satisfy them, and in practice many times maybe the US passport by itself too.