Having removed his shoes, coat, gloves, hat, jacket, wallet and keys, your correspondent walked through the metal detector. It beeped. He had forgotten to remove his belt. The two security guards began to shout and make disparaging remarks about his ability to perform simple tasks.
This scene occurred outside the American Embassy in London last month, when he was renewing his visa. The rest of the process passed smoothly, but those boorish security guards were a poor advertisement for the greatest country on Earth.
Americans are, by and large, a courteous bunch. Interactions with strangers are typically sweetened with a generous frosting of "Sir," "Ma'am" and "Excuse me." Yet in a survey commissioned by the travel industry, more than half of visitors found American border officials rude and unpleasant. By a two-to-one margin, the country's entry process was rated the world's worst.
This is not a problem only for whining journalists and other foreign riff-raff. It is also a problem for America.
The system is geared towards keeping out a tiny number of terrorists. Fair enough -- such people should indeed be kept out. But there should be a trade-off.
An immigration official lives in fear of admitting the next Mohammed Atta, but there is no penalty for excluding the next Einstein, or for humiliating tourists who subsequently summer in France.
External Source - For the complete article click here.
Source - Winnipeg Free Press
Reader Comments:
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US Immigration needs to get real
My experience with US immigration has been varied. Them major airports are efficient, but officious, but at least you know the rules. In 2008 rossed the border from Canada and the experience was neanderthal. These officers clearly had poor understanding of the international world and treated everybody including Canadian passport holders with acute suspicion. Our bus driver explained that the processing time "depended upon their mood" which is outrageous. Please explain why it takes 45 minutes to process 25 passengers? One got the impression that they were exerting the old, old vestiges of raw power and their behaviour had nothing to do with securing the integrity of the USA. Get real guys. The USA lives in the modern world and you have to learn to manage the realities of international travelers, with their differences and nuances. 2010-01-31 don birch |
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