Pre-clearance negative experience
 

I flew from Calgary, Canada to Los Angeles today. As you know, when you fly from a Canadian airport, you do pre-clearance in Canada. I have Global Entry membership, and the kiosk were all out of service.

And so I had to see an agent. I’ve given him the Global Entry card, which is associated with my Green Card, alongside my passport. He then tried to process me as a visitor when I told him that I’m a GCH. He gave me a hard time as to why I didn’t give him the permanent resident card as it was more important than the GR card. Then he started to grill me with questions such as who do I work for and whether the employer matched my previous L-1A visa, and where I lived. I told him that the visa was not valid anymore, and he replied “yes, I know“. When asked about where I lived, I just said “Venice”. And then he was like Italy? And I was like no, I am a GCH, it is Venice, California. Eventually he let me go, but I never had such a negative experience since I got my GC. This was a weekend trip in Canada, I was away for 3 nights.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

Did something change? I always had to use my “GC” on the Global Entry terminals. Dont recall ever using the GE card for much.

He was right that the GC is the most important document for you now traveling back to the US.Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) of the U.S. must present a Permanent Resident Card ("Green Card", Form I-551), a Reentry Permit(if gone for more than 1 year), or a Returning Resident Visa (if gone for 2 years or more) to reenter the United States.


United States (U.S.) LPRs do not need a passport to enter the U.S. as per 8 CFR 211.1(a), however, they may need a passport to enter another country. Please contact the embassy of the foreign country you will be traveling to for their requirements.
https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Artic...language=en_US

He probably started processing you based on the visa and got pissed having to undo it.

Interesting he asked about the employer, have heard about that for people when they apply to become USC, but not at entry, have you changed jobs or was he just “fishing”?

Did you check your entry record on i94.CBP.gov ?

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

I guess you should have said “Venice, California” right upfront, since that is the normal format in the US if someone asks where you live. I mean, even if I was in New York, if an official asked me where I lived, I’d say “Canton, New York,” not “Canton.”

But the basic problem remains - some officials are power-hungry fools, and everybody sometimes gets out of the wrong side of the bed sometimes.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

At least you made in. The agent may just have been having a bad day. I used to travel internationally a lot on business and renter to the US was always a concern in my mind. When I became a USC with passport all that became a lot easier yet there’d be times when the border agent would ask a load of questions especially if he could find no stamp in my passport to show where I had been. (I had to have extra pages put in my first passport for the visa stamps and there was absolutely no order to them)

Much of the time it was a simple “Welcome Home”.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

Why just say Venice? Seems you were both winding each other up.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

AFAIK there is only one "Venice" in the US, and it's in Florida. The municipality in California is "Venice Beach", so I am inclined to side with the immigration officer and say that a clarifying question was entirely appropriate under the circumstances.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

What is a GR card?

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

Google thinks otherwise… it has it as a neighborhood, but either way the context is more important… if he had been at LAX the officer likely would not have questioned that… but they preclear for all US flights in Canada… so it is a more valid question in that context, he would assume LA as the L1 employer location based on previous entry stamps… I forget now if you give your boarding pass at pre clearance , I think the you do, so he should have know general area base on US airport like LAX assuming a direct flight.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...36650e4cb.jpeg

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

No need to ram the point home! :rofl:

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

That was more of a jackhammer than a ram…

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

I used Google Maps, and Google only finds Venice in Florida, because Venice, CA was merged with LA in 1926 and no longer exists as a separate municipality.

You apparently used Google to find a Wikipedia page, and I wouldn't bet the price lunch on the details of a Wikipedia page being correct. As you noted it exists but only as a neighborhood, and therefore is not a legal municipality nor part of a standard USPS address. Referring to your neighborhood as if it would be unambiguously understood is quite a rabbit hole to go down in the US.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

No Google and Google Maps also shows it…

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...6d1f62300.jpeg


Just because USPS does not separate it does not mean it’s not real, on that basis their are no neighborhoods in Manhattan… No Soho, no East Village, etc…

but back to OP thread, I agree that it is not commonly used…

I had similar negative experiences mainly under VW, from either arriving to fast (and disturbing 2 officers “natter” season) and imprecise language… the former of which had me go to secondary only for the next office to question why I was there and send me on my way…

This whole topic is exactly why I got GE ASAP (was not available to L1 in my day) and I used it alone even when traveling with USC wife and children when available.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

"Real" I would argue means legal entity. Nobody is paying property taxes or applying for a permit to Venice town council.. Neighborhoods can be ephemeral and elastic, and often seem to be dreamt up by realtors or snobs. :rolleyes:

You seem to have at stumbled into the practical matter of giving the level of detail appropriate to your audience. If you're speaking to someone local then neighborhood is fine - in the case you cite, someone living in the five boroughs might be interested in the neighborhood, but I'm fairly sure that someone in, say, Albany, NY would only need to know you live in New York city.

In my case I would commonly tell someone outside the US (who knows I live in the US) that I live in NC; to someone in the US I would typically say that I live in Charlotte (even though I don't); to someone in NC I would say I lived in Podunk (even though I really don't), and only when speaking to someone in Podunk or the county where I live would I give anything more specific.

All that said, when ever dealing with any government agency (IRS, USCIS, police, etc.), or an official thereof, I always give my standard USPS address as it appears on my (Real ID) NC drivers license, despite its inherent flaws.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

I always chuckle when I see advice here to only answer the question asked, such as "Do you know the time". As someone who for one reason or another has stopped more people than I expect most on here, including at the immigration controls at Heathrow, when someone starts those games the preconceived goodwill with which I approached them ceases. A friendly and pleasant attitude works both ways and makes the day so much more enjoyable, but if you make the job harder to do the longer it takes to do it.

Re: Pre-clearance negative experience
 

Actually, the Municipality is City of Los Angeles. The community name is plain Venice; the actual beach is Venice Beach. The postal address can vary. I live in Los Feliz, but my mailing address is Los Angeles. (BTW, Los Angles mailing addresses will have the ZIP code of 900xx.). Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, I was in the City of Los Angeles but my mailing address was Sherman Oaks.

Here is a link to the municipal borders. FWIW, the borders are related to access to Los Angeles City water and development of San Pedro Harbor.

The DHS border guard may not have been the brightest, but OP strikes me as having an attitude problem. Rule of border crossings is to be excruciatingly polite.