Rete

As for your abbreviation "GCH" if this is actually what you told the examiner you should have said LPR -- legal permanent resident. GCH could mean you are a Conditional Permanent Resident. See what I'm getting at. As for stating Venice, why didn't you come out and say Venice, California as a GCH can actually be residing in Venice, Italy as a employee and like the examiner mentioned, why didn't you give him your Residency Card instead of your Global Entry Card or at the very least both cards at once.

Were you super annoyed because the terminals were down and you had to stand in line and wait to be examined by an agent?

PetrifiedExPat

Both sound like a couple of bell ends

Pulaski

Agreed 100%, and I got that right in a subsequent post on this thread, but was able to go back and correct my first post on the subject.

Former Lancastrian

Now thinking outside of the box has anybody considered that the USCBP officer thought that being posted to Calgary initially would be a better gig than say San Ysidro or Nogales. Perhaps the officer was born in Arizona or some other State that has very mild winters. He wakes up one morning and checks the weather forecast and sees that with the windchill factor it will be a balmy minus 30 C. He then goes outside to his vehicle to drive to work and lo and behold he had forgotten to plug it in overnight and no it is not an EV. Car won't start so now he needs to either find someone to give him a boost or call a local tow truck that will give him a boost while he shovels the overnight 15cms of snow that fell onto his driveway.

Use the scene from the movie Cool Runnings (Jamaican Bob Sled Team) to see what it is like for a person who is used to a warmer climate arriving in Calgary

Pulaski

Whatever he thought, it is highly unlikely to have involved Celcius or centimeters!

PetrifiedExPat

There is a hope some Canadian education rubbed off. Given his behavior though, doubt it.

tht

destone has not posted again, maybe he was detained after posting here...

Still his experience could have been worse according to this...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pre...rder-1.5429662

kimilseung

My only negative experience with US customs/immigration was LA. Rude, lazy gits who didn't give a toss, but enjoyed watching any unfortunate fall outs.
I've been taken in to secondary in Seattle and it was professional and courteous. LA was just minutes, but left a sufficiently sour taste that the flight discounts will have to be substation to get me to go through it again.

destone

Haha, still around, just had a long week. The officer in question treated me like a foreigner, a tourist, and certainly not someone who calls the US “home”. I probably should have asked him at the end of the exchange: “Officer, are you going to say ‘Welcome Home’?”.

S Folinsky

I just activated my new Global Reentry Card this morning. Much to my surprise, the renewal process proceeded at light speed. I did the on-line process on Jan 18, approval e-mail three days later. New card received yesterday. Out of professional caution, I read the accompanying instructions on use of the card.

The physical card need ONLY produced at a LAND port of entry on the Canadian or Mexican borders. (Having crossed the border from time to time via ferry before I had global entry, I wonder if that counts as a land border, but I digress).

As a U.S. citizen, at other than a land border, I would be required only to present my passport or passport card. LPR’s as yourself, are required to present their I-551 green card. One does NOT present the Global Entry Card.

Inasmuch as the Global Entry kiosks were down, you were NOT using the global entry procedures. I can’t speak as to the tone of voice used by the border guard, but otherwise you describe a perfectly appropriate set of questions for a border inspection.

Also, you were still on the ground in Calgary Airport, not arriving at LAX, so “welcome home” is premature, no? (BTW, there is case law that inspection is not complete until one leave the immigration/customs enclosure.)

destone

Congrats on your card renewal! It was not my intention to present the physical Global Entry card. I travel between England and the US every six weeks to see my daughter who resides in England. And so the only reason I presented the physical Global Entry card is that whoever was controlling the Global Entry line at the Calgary Airport would let me enter the Global Entry line only if I showed him the Global Entry physical card. When the Global Entry kiosks are in service I do not need to present either my passport or GC. It just scans my face and that’s it. I traveled between England and the US countless times over the last 10 years and I have never come across a rude officer such as the one encountered in Calgary. Someone made a point earlier on this forum that the officer was probably pissed off that he was stationed in Calgary. That that life he had chosen for himself and should not take it out on customers.

destone

By the way, I have gone into the DMV today to update my address to Venice, and as you can see on the picture below, it says “Venice” and not “Los Angeles”:

S Folinsky

Venice is part of the City of Los Angeles but L.A. is not the postal address. Just north of Venice is Santa Monica which is its own city. Take a look at Los Angeles City Council District 11 - Pacific Palisades, Venice, Playa Del Rey and LAX. Get south of LAX and you start the cities of El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Pablos Verdes - none of which are in the City of Los Angeles.

My favorite dichotomy between political and post office borders is 90210. That is one of the ZIP codes for Beverly Hills, but the northern part of it is outside of the Beverly Hills city limits and is within the City of Los Angeles. The realtors call it “Post Office” to indicate you may have the mailing address, but not the school district.

destone

DMV put “Venice” and not “Los Angeles” on my driving license. When I lived on the 34th St in Manhattan, my license said “New York” and not “Manhattan”.

And so on if I get grilled again by CBP about my address and Venice, I’ll just hand them my new driving license which makes zero mention of “Los Angeles” unlike my Manhattan license did of “New York” back in the day.

tht

Manhattan does not issue DL’s neither does New York City, if you had a New York DL, it was issued by the State…. Generally they won’t care about / accept a DL unless it’s an EDL..

https://www.dhs.gov/enhanced-drivers...-what-are-they

You had a bad experience at CBP, that’s not unusual (but also not the norm), normally I would put it down to a bad officer / officer having a bad day… but given your tone here it could have been brought on by your attitude or other factors in your file he sees..

With an attitude you have already set yourself up for failure… just be calm, say/do what your asked (unless it’s unlawful, then ask for a supervisor) and if your response to what is asked is not what they wanted/wrong, say sorry (even if you are not) and provide the information requested.

It’s a fine line, and I know the advice her is only answer what’s asked, but that’s also subjective…

If your asked “do you know what time it is” saying “yes” could come across as evasive, but saying yes, it’s 8:43 and 6 seconds EST” could come across as fresh..

If you are in Canada pre-clearance say… Venice Beach (because he may have heard of that) in California. If you’re at LAX say Venice Beach… just give the appropriate amount of information…

I have had interactions where the officer will only say “right hand” and “look at the camera” and others where he notes how frequently I traveled (back in the day) and we get in to a conversation about how it’s nice to be able to visit my mother for her home cooking (its not, my father is a much better cook) but I just go with it… I also had an employee on a visa who said an office got deep in to questions about a highly technical part of automated trading… turns out he was a coder in his spare time and interested…

What you have to do is understand who you are talking to… and give answers in that context.

Given you now an LPR you have no reason to be evasive… you are both allowed to live here and work for nearly any employer… if you piss them off they can make a note on your file… I saw an interaction like that where a USC was entering without a US passport and the officer said there were notes about what he was told on multiple previous entries…

play the “game” get home and forget about it…