Siouxie

They had cleaned up the harbour a lot by then, lol, you should have tried being there in the late 70's!

Yes, I have fond memories of looking in people's windows as we dropped down through Kowloon City to Kai Tak. If you happened to be in the market down there you could look up at the airplanes and literally count the rivets!

Happy days...

Former Lancastrian

And of course you have sufficient documentary evidence, court cases, charges laid etc etc to substantiate your claim?

Yes Ive had the racist card pulled on me as in You only sent me for secondary examination because Im Black, Native, Asian etc

No I sent you for examination because you have 4 previous convictions for possession of marijuana, trafficking, distribution etc etc.

As for discriminatory shennanigens please elaborate or is it possibly because the traveller is in breach of the regulations or adopting a less than ideal demeanour when being questioned legally of course.

Almost Canadian

I don't understand what you mean. Are you alleging that two travellers with British Passports, one white and one black, for instance, would be treated differently, or are you suggesting that an Englishman and, let's say, an Afghani would be treated differently?

Alan2005

Oh, I'm sure that individual immigration officers, like the police, are very good at hiding their racism behind institutional processes and systems.

Yes to both - on average.

I very much doubt I'm the only one who groans at the almost inevitable delay when they see they are behind a south asian or black family in an immigration queue. I think this way because of my experiences travelling through airports around the world - I'm not singling out Canadian IO's.

Almost Canadian

Maybe, and I don't know, it is more related to the nationality of the traveller rather than their race. Have you experienced such delays behind Black Americans or Black Brits or has it been behind Black/Brown people from nations with a history of fraudulent behaviour or those that are struggling with language issues?

Have you experienced such things while travelling to countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria, or is it just a "white" thing?

What about Black IO's, are they racist too?

DigitalGhost

Not personally encountered them in Canada but I would say that from experiences in America, yes they can be and so can the Asians there.

'Minority' immigration and customs personnel in that country seem to have a serious attitude problem.

Almost Canadian

Towards their "own" race or towards others?

DigitalGhost

Sadly, towards white people. I couldn't really comment on how they treat their own race because I have experienced it first hand.

Alan2005

Obviously I haven't done any detailed analysis and this is all anecdotal, but my observations are this:

behind white people - usually no delays
behind south asian and black people - often delays

I've not been to India or Africa so I don't know what happens there. I have, however, travelled a lot in north america, europe, east and south east asia and yes, it applies in those places so it's definitely not just a white thing.

Former Lancastrian

So in other words dependent on where you are travelling and who you are behind in line you could or could not face delays.
The reasons for the delays could be attributed to language problems, documentation requirements.
IO's in all countries could have prejudices against certain ethnic backgrounds.

DigitalGhost

The one place I saw it being obviously put into practice was in Korea. Black people were even led off to a small room beside the immigration counters at the airport or, if they were lucky, just questioned for a while before being waived through (most of the ones I saw who received that treatment were American).

White people and the Japanese on the other hand seemed to just receive a smile and a stamp without any trouble at all.

Bali2010

my experiences seem quite variable

NY one time - horrendous, but it was in the during a hurricane - can't recall, sometime in 90's
NY - last yr - quite pleasant & smiley

Van - generally smiley/chatty whilst still being nosey as I stay with family & they like to query that

Manchester - very smiley/chatty - I am convinced they forget they are international & not just there for locals

LHR - grumpy

Me - can be either grumpy / happy / sick - depends on the journey - I am not always sweetness & light either after 24hrs on the go


I do prefer to queue behind solo travellers & as once told by airport staff to avoid the line that took the plane from somehere in africa

Alan2005

They could, but I doubt it. Occams razor is applicable here.

DigitalGhost

I'd expect nothing less.

Alan2005

I wouldn't know. Whenever I go through LHR the interaction has always taken less then 5s. No inane questions, just hand over passport, get it back and then I'm on my way. Not been able to tell if the IO is grumpy or not.

Actually now I think of it, canadian and US immigration is more onerous than that of china. Pointless questioning must be a north american 'seen to be doing something' thing.