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One time I was detained for 3 hours at the Honolulu Airport after a summer trip that involved both Turkey and my birthplace, Kyrgyzstan. I have a Canadian passport.

They kept asking over and over again if I was actually Turkish or not, and asked me questions about Kyrgyzstan to prove if I was really from there or not (all the questions of which they clearly Googled because they mispronounced everything and had to keep referring to their paper after I answered correctly).

They detained my friend and also asked him if I was secretly Turkish and not from Kyrgyzstan.

To this day I have no idea what this was about, but I can only assume on a watchlist, somebody from Turkey resembled my profile?

EDIT: And my Canadian passport clearly states Bishkek KGZ as my place of birth too.

Crossing from Romania into Serbia on foot, I was asked if I had a gun on me because I might need it at a Gypsy wedding.

I used to live in the DC area. I arrived into the US via Miami, and the guy was giving a few standard questions, "How long were you gone...", " what were you up to?" "Where do you live?" "Oh... DC. Cool. I was there for a while - which metro line do you take to work?" It's an innocuous question, but can quickly reveal whether someone is pushing a stupid lie.

We were joking with the customs guy when we came back from Japan in March, just declaring what we had brought back, Kit Kats, knives, coffee, etc. Then, when it seemed like it was done, he randomly asked, still in a sort of sarcastic voice, "any drugs?" Kinda threw me because my instinct was to joke about it, thinking, "hell yes, lots" but then it seemed that joke time was over.

My favourite one- was crossing from Mexico into Texas and when the border agent saw my Canadian passport he asked “Rush or Nickelback?” I literally LOL’d and said “if anyone ever says Nickelback to that question arrest them right away.” He replied something like “right on” and sent me on my way.

Coming across the border visiting friends in Mexico.

Questions included:

Why were you there? (To visit friends)

Do you have hotel receipts (no I stayed with friends)

Where did you meet your friends (grad school)

Did you graduate? (Yes, in Feb)

What’s the name of your thesis? (You will not understand, it’s in chemistry and it’s very long)

I’m smart, try me. (Rattles off some approximation of my thesis title).

It took me 45 minutes to realize they thought I was running drugs, which is probably good because I would have been much more sarcastic than I was.

Yes, I once had a US border official ask me about why I had been arrested previously. Which was totally untrue.

He was just fishing for information to see if I would volunteer information...

This is totally on point for the Border guards getting a feeling. I knew a guy that was a border guard and he said they would totally ask people these sorts of questions just to see their reaction. He said that you do it long enough and you know how someone should respond, and can start asking more questions if needed if something isn’t right.

My favorite story from a friend who went to the US: “Who are you visiting here?” “I’m here to see _.” “How do you know _?” “I met ____ on Grindr. Would you like to know any other details, sir?” “No, please move along.”

Was an exchange student from the UK -> US for a year, joined a frat. Very fun.

Flew back home & Went back to visit the lads 9ish months later on a tourist visa, got pulled into an office by immigration upon landing. Bear in mind I’m barely 20 years old and shitting myself.

“Where are you staying?”

“XXX address”

“That’s a fraternity house boy” (I swear to god he said boy)

“Yeah… I’m staying there”

“… the hell you stayin there for?”

“I’m a member mate, like I said studied last year at X college”

“Recite the preamble” (a few lines you learn when joining) - guy was a member way back in the day at the same house!

Rattled it off, explained everything and even showed them pictures of me doing keg stands last year etc until we all ended up laughing. Then I politely suggested they actually look at my previous student visa & that I was purely there for a social call.

Finishing up, get to call my pal who’s picking me up and on the way out, one of em just goes “hope that accent works out for ya”

Hilarious in hindsight but good god I was scared.

A Lebanese official asked me if I had a boyfriend or husband with me and when I said no he asked if he could be mine.

Honestly, it probably was a coincidence. UK border guards are kinda chatty sometimes, when they're in a decent mood.

One time coming back into the US, the Customs guy was being more friendly than usual. When he asked what I did for work, I said I was a writer. He asked, "What do you write on?" I had just had a very long flight and was feeling kind of punchy, and without thinking I replied, "On my laptop." As soon as I said it, I was thinking Oh shit! Thankfully, he just laughed.

Canadian here, I always get the jokers

• driving down to the US to go hiking, border guys said it was dangerous and u should take one of them with me

• arriving into Newark with my boyfriend, border guy offered to deport home for me (in a jokey tone, it was obviously not serious. Also this was like 15 years ago)

• Johannesburg the border guy said I couldn't leave until I showed him my half-sleeve tattoo

-Coming back into Canada, border officer asked why u had gone to Iceland. I said to run a marathon. He asked how I did..."well....I finished it" and that was it for questions

-Driving back into Canada with some girl friends, got asked what we had been doing. "Hiking and camping", "oh that explains the smell"

of all the immigration officers i've faced, the UK had the most polite and professional..

it could have been him gauging your reaction, sure. or it could have just been him being friendly.

I am American but I was living in Mexico and had to go to El Salvador a few times a year for my job. At one point I had an emergency passport for a year which is unusual so they asked me tons of questions when I was leaving El Salvador. I was able to explain the whole situation but they told me that I shouldn't come back to El Salvador with an emergency passport.

As an Asian born and raised in Brazil, Thailand immigration officer couldn't believe I was Brazilian, they asked for my local id e so on.

I'm an American and I've lived in South Korea for 13 years. The first time I visited the states in 2014 after living here for 2 years, immigration asked me "Which Korea are you teaching English in? North or South?"

This one's funny. I was 17, my first time going through immigration. The agent asked the questions you'd expect, and then started writing on his computer and asking "me" how the flight had been and other more personal stuff. I thought it was weird but answered to the best of my ability, and after three or four of those questions I realized he was actually talking to the guy next to him, not me. 

I wanted to crawl into a ball and die.

Driving into Canada the officer asked me why I crossed the Stop line. I didn't see a stop sign or line and kept saying that. Eventually I had to say " Sorry I didn't see any line, if I did I would of stopped because I want to get into your country", they let me go after that.

Doing US pre-clearance in Dublin the officer asked if we had any alcohol and we said we had some Vodka, Whiskey and Gin. They asked what brands and when we told them they said they didn't like any so we could keep them.

Customs and immigration officials don't care what your answer is they are looking for your reaction to the questions.

border agents be like 'let’s play two truths and a lie

I was the only white person on the bus from KL to Singapore and I got a trainee immigration officer whose trainer was a misogynist shithead and the two of them held up my bus for almost half an hour asking me stupid questions about my dating life and joking with one another. I was terrified the bus would depart with all my stuff on it.

I am white, have a US passport but was in Brunei for a few years for work.

Immigration flying to US, I think it was in Amsterdam, asks where I live, I say Brunei. He, as most people, has no clue where that is. I say Borneo Island, he is still clueless. I say South East Asia. How do you live there, a work visa.

Was way too tired from the travel for 20 questions game.....

Shortly after 9/11, a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who trains for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai was held up at customs and a day late coming to America for the Breeders' Cup. When he arrived finally, the press was asking him about it and he smiled and shrugged it off. He admitted it was understandable, as an Arab with a UAE passport, who had multiple trips back and forth to the UK ( because that's where they train from April through October), and multiple trips back and forth to the same places in Europe for very short stays of only two to three days ( because of taking horses to races) and back to Dubai several times. On the surface, a passport with those series of stamps was highly suspicious.

This is a long, long time ago, back of my parents car travelling to Germany. Back then there was still a border between Germany and the Netherlands, for most people not a big deal, but it was the first time my parents went abroad, so they didn't have a clue how it worked.

Got to the Dutch checkpoint and the guy said, I'll let you through, but I'm not sure my German colleague will as you didn't add your kids to your passport. My parents had literally just paid for passports a few weeks before, so that annoyed them as they hadn't been aware they had to add us.

There was a bit of a queue so waited for ten minutes or so until we got to the little window. Dad winds his window down and lots of their cigarette smoke escaped the car. The German border officer said something like 'Muss das jetzt? Schweinerei und mit drei Kinder im pkw!' (Did that have to happen? pigsty and with three kids in the back!)

My dad assumed he was saying something bad about us three boys not being on the passport and told him in his best Swamp German 'Was moest du juh! Mijn Kinder sind Prima!!!' (Wat do you want, my children are fine!).

He said it so aggressively that the officer was taken aback, assuming he had been insulted. So we drove the long two and a half hours back, failed in our mission to visit Leer for some shopping and my parents constantly bickered all the way.

On the way back from Curacao to the US, the immigration officer asked me what languages they spoke in Curacao. Definitely trying to see if we were legitimate travelers.

Answer: English/Dutch/Papiamentu

Why wouldn't it be true?

I was passing through immigrations in Frankfurt, and at the time was a German permitted resident. When I got to the queue, I handed him my passport and visa card. He looked them over and out of no where started asking me about guns (in German). I was so stunned, I had to ask him why he was asking me about guns.

He saw I was from Wyoming and knew it from wild west cowboy movies and wanted to know if I had ever shot guns. He did apologize and realized how that must of have sounded. I had time and there was no line so we talked about my upbringing for a while.

The agent next to him was not having a good time trying to guide someone who overstayed their visa on to answers that would get him through the check point.

Georgian immigration asked my teenaged Colombian stepson, "What do you think of Gabriel Garcia Marquez?"

He replied with, "Uhh..who? All cartels are bad I guess?"

I hurt myself face palming, though immigration guy nearly fell off his chair laughing.

Edit: the country.

When my husband was working in China, I went over to visit. They asked me why I was there several times (to see my husband). Finally I pulled out my husband's business card (English on one side, Chinese on the other) and presented it, that was apparently good enough and they stamped me through.

I was in Turkey with my wife (I am also a woman). We are colombian, but we live in Germany. For some reason, when leaving Turkey, we did immigration separately, so she went first, got asked about her trip, her visa to enter Germany etc. was told to wait. Then it was my turn: I got asked the same questions, asked if we were traveling together and also told to wait.

Then a guy came to interrogate us about our trip, check if our colombian passports were legit etc... He seemed confused as to why two colombians had been for holidays at a resort in Turkey. So we got questions about where we had been staying, our activities, etc... Then even more confused, checking our residence permits showing the same address "Why do you have the same address?" Hmm, cause we live together?

Anyway, we found it weird that it was when leaving the country and can't really understand what exactly about our trip was suspicious.

I landed in Belgium off a red eye, got to the customs guy who asked about my plans, told him I was there as a tourist so he asked what I was most excited to see. Told him honestly I was more interested in roaming the chocolate shops. He then launched into a 10 minute lesson on how chocolate is harvested, and how Belgium chocolatiers are different in both recipes and technique from other well-known chocolate producers in other counties.

It was so bizarre, I’m exhausted and he’s just rambling on while the crowd behind me gets more and more shuffling/angry. He’s holding my passport hostage while droning on, I have no idea if I was being tested in some way but apparently repeating “wow, that’s so interesting” is code for “I’m not here for nefarious purposes, please let me pass.”

Coming back into Seattle from Cabo with a terrible sunburn and even worse montezuma's revenge and the agent told me “I hear you visited some pharmacies and got some drugs”- I looked at him in complete confusion for five seconds before declaring “oh yes! I needed Imodium badly!”

He immediately sent me on my way.

Also got flagged to pull over at road stop in Jordan. Got our passports ready and the second we spoke they were like “OH AMERICANS! We thought you were British” “enjoy Jordan!”and waved us on without looking at the passports. Not sure why being American instead of British got us a full pass but I’ll take it.

Once when on my way to Austin TX from Canada for a weekend festival:

"Why are you visiting Austin?"

"To see a music festival."

"Which festival?"

"[Name of festival]."

"What is that?"

"...a music festival?"

I’m also an American (and U.K./Australian) citizen born in Asia, but living in the U.K. A couple of years ago I drove from the U.S. to Canada and Canadian border patrol ended up wanting to see all my passports for some reason (can’t remember) and she was definitely curious why a white person with a French name and an American accent was born in Asia but living in the U.K., lol

One time when crossing the border from Canada to the United States, after confirming that my father was born in Afghanistan, the American border guard directly asked if my father was a terrorist or not. This seriously confused me because why would he answer yes, but apparently this is done so they can prove he lied if it turns out to be true or something (it was explained to me a long time ago on Reddit but I forget the details).

Not uncommon:

• at the pre-baggage addl. security check the US sometimes requires when coming from intl., I’ve had them try and trick me by asking questions like “how long are you vacationing in the USA” after I tell them I live there and am going home
• global entry interview has a lot of innocuous questions like: “oh cool man you’ve lived in Seattle and New York. Do you root for the giants or the Seahawks?”
• crossing into Canada by car: “have you ever had your fingerprints taken?” - I assume a roundabout way of asking if I’ve been arrested, have a concealed carry permit, etc

I’m an American with a Norwegian last name. Transiting through Amsterdam on my way from the US to Norway the agent asked me why I didn’t have a Norwegian passport. Um, because I’m American……

a funny one: I was once passing border control at Schiphol while the Marechaussee in question (40M) started flirting my friend (35M) that just was in the queue in front of me. Like, very obvious and in front of all the people waiting to go through immigration :). I was slightly disappointed when he did not flirt with me when my turn came.

[deleted]

We are Americans living in the UK now. Last time we went home the border agent had the most annoying roundabout way of asking if we had any fresh produce on us.

'Oh you're visiting home? You must be bringing gifts back.'

'no gifts'

'No gifts? Are you bringing anything back to sell to anyone?'

'no...'

'Do you have anything edible on your person?'

'Just sugar for diabetes control'

'I don't mean candy. Do you have anything else?'

'no?'

'Im trying to find out if you're bringing fresh produce in'

Still don't know why they did it this way! We were expecting weird questioning with how immigration has been recently but that was super odd.

Canadian Border agent asked friend and I how we knew each other. We said college. He wanted to know what dorm so we rattled off a ton of stuff about living in the dorm together. He let us through

Visited the UK several times. The first 3 the officer barely looked at me. Just stamped my passport in a very perfunctory manner and moved on to the next person in line. The 4th time I had new eyeglasses whereas I hadn't worn anything in my passport photo and the officer held up my passport to compare for a moment. At no time did they say one single word to me. These were all times I flew into Heathrow.

The fifth visit I was coming in on the Eurostar from Paris and leaving on a transatlantic cruise. I rather suspect no evident departing flight booked for me in their system raised flags. You deal with UK Immigration before boarding the train in the Paris station.

It was a very good thing I'd gone early as I was questioned extensively for nearly 30 minutes. I didn't mind the questions as I could see the concern, but she was very loud and harsh about how she asked them. Others waiting behind me quickly became visibly uncomfortable and shifted to other lines, all the while casting wary glances at me.

She first grilled me on when I'd arrived in France, how I'd arrived, what time of day was it, and where had I stayed in France. She demanded to see my boarding pass from my incoming flight and confirmations. Then she asked did I have a copy of my bill for my hotel in Paris. I hadn't expected any of that line of questioning so I hadn't kept my boarding pass, but luckily was able to bring up the email where it was originally provided to me.

Then she grilled me extensively on my plans for the UK. Where would I go once I got off the train, where would I be staying, did I have any tours or tickets booked there, how many days there, on what date would I arrive in London and on what date would I leave, where would I be going next, did I have tickets booked to get from London to there, how long would I be there, what tickets and tours did I have booked there, and how would I be leaving the UK to return to the US were just a few among the many questions she asked. Of course she wanted to see confirmations of each and every item I listed. She even made me show her my flight booking home from New York City after I disembarked my transatlantic cruise.

When I boarded the train a couple who had been directly behind me in the immigration line shifted to empty seats further away from me immediately after the train started moving all the while side-eyeing me.

They asked me my profession as I re-entered from Mexico this time, and when I said nurse she started asking me questions about bringing back various biologics.

I recently drove into Canada from the US and the guy asked me 4 times "why now?" Questioning why I was taking a weekend trip 2 hours from home over a holiday weekend.

I've had to show an immigration officer some of my sport videos because I arrived on an event visa. He said he didn't know the sport and was looking to doing something this weekend. So here I am, in a long ass queue, showing some super eager guy my insta.

I'm an American with an extensive travel history to the Middle East. So like 90% of the stamps in my passport are from the Middle East. The Lebanese stamps raise the most questions in the US, but not that frequently (once each in Denver, Seattle, and Salt Lake City). My fianceé is Lebanese so I go to see her a few times a year. They always try to press me if I've either a) been to the Beqaa Valley (I have) or b) gone to Syria through Lebanon (I haven't). Once I tell them that I'm engaged to a Lebanese woman they always drop it.

Surprisingly the Iraqi stamps never get questioned.

The only time I ever felt uncomfortable at immigration was actually entering Lebanon. The officer was convinced I was a spy or something. Kept asking me why I only travel to the Middle East. I convinced him that my beautiful fianceé and the delicious food is what kept me coming back.

US Border coming by car from Canada.

I was repeatedly asked for my "citizen code".

The border agent only relaxed once I managed to ask her to look at my passport and see that I am a German citizen and have no idea what she's talking about.

I have since found out that neither Americans nor Canadians know what that might be.

I was sent to secondary inspection at LAX when visiting the US (on a British passport). The officer asked me how long I was going to be staying, what my plans were, who I was travelling with, and what I did for work back in Australia. He asked to see confirmation of my return flight and car rental details, luckily I'd printed everything out so I could just hand him the papers. After I'd answered the questions and shown him what he asked for he just said "Welcome" and handed me my passport back and said I could leave.

I was travelling with my partner (who has an Australian passport), and they didn't ask to see him. We went up to the first officer at arrivals together and that guy handed him back his passport and said "you can go" then looked at me and said "we need to speak to you, follow me" and took me into the secondary inspection room. Luckily the whole thing only took about 15 minutes because my partner was just standing downstairs not knowing what to do.

I don't have a criminal record or any previous visa overstays or anything. I think because I'm in my 30s and was taking two months off work they may have thought I was looking for work. Also my partner is quite a bit older than me so maybe they were suspicious of the age difference.

Going in and out of Israel you get a lot of creative questions, lol. They ask the normal questions of where you are going and staying, then will ask follow ups. I said I learned Hebrew in school, so they then just asked a bunch of questions in Hebrew to check. Then one in Arabic (which I don't know). Not sure if it helps at all, but it definitely gives the impression that they really care about the answer.

When flying into Israel through ElAl, you get the most through questions

Where are you going?

Did you pack your own suitcase?

Are you bringing gifts for your hosts?

What are they?

Did you pack any weapons?

Did you pack any drugs?

Did you pack any alcohol?

Did you pack any sharp objects?

What part of Israel are you flying to?

Are you staying at a hotel?

Are you staying with family?

Are you staying with friends?

Where do they live?

This (pointing to an item that looks suspicious)you can’t take with you!

And so much more….

Or he was just you know...actually making a quip. Not everyone is out to give you the 3rd degree.

One time I was leaving customs in Asia and the officer looked at my passport, looked at me, and exclaims "wow how much weight did you lose?!" I had lost a lot of weight between that photo being taken and using the passport… That's some creative questioning or perhaps just a passing comment?

The UK border guards are interesting to deal with. Have been asked the same question twice, without even a blink or stutter. Just expected me to answer again.

Other times, it was some fun chat about how rubbish the flight was, but at least I got to cut the queue.

We went on vacation in upstate New York, then drove to Niagara Falls, then entered to US at Port Huron. CBP asked why we went to Canada and we said to see Niagara Falls. You drove all the way from Illinois to go to Niagara Falls- well , yes. People come from all over the world.

As an American dual citizen who has only lived there a total of 18 years out of my >50, I get a lot of questions when I show up at U.S. immigration.

Why are you visiting?
Who do you know who lives here?
Who will you be seeing?
Where will you be staying?
How long will you be here?

Worse was when I brought my toddler American dual citizen child who didn’t really speak English yet for his first Thanksgiving:

Who is this adult you’re with?
(Papa, what did he say?)
Only speak English!
(Papa what did he say?)
Only English! Why are you here?
<Thinks hard> “Grandma party.”
What will you eat at the party?
“Rice?”
Wait over there while we get a translator. No speaking to each other.

Coming from Calgary Canada back home to the U.S., I encountered a US customs agent in the Calgary airport. He saw my home address and said that he used to be a police officer in that vicinity. He asked several questions about roads and traffic problems in the area. He was very satisfied that I was from that area. I wonder when AI will equip any agent with such detailed knowledge?

I was flying from India to Taiwan and the immigration officer asked for my number so he could later ask about good electronics deals in Taiwan.

He never contacted me after that, though :/

I was called by name over the intercom in Paris, in front of all the passengers, and asked to do a language test. The test had multiple languages on it, including Greek and Russian, and was asked to answer as much as I could. To this day I have no idea what that was about.

Dc immigration returning from Egypt asked what I had brought back. I said “usual stuff, scrolls little statues necklaces” he replied angrily “some people bring bombs”. I really wanted to say “if I brought a bomb on the plane wouldn’t it have gone off by now?”

In Cambodia the guy looked at my mother's passport (American), looked at her, and wordlessly opened his right hand, palm toward the sky. My mother played dumb and stared awkwardly at him in a "I don't understand what's going on" kind of way.

He was 100% gesturing for a bribe, unless our instincts are way off base.

Since she wasn't responsive he just let us through shortly after.

US citizen flying from Munich to San Francisco, a United agent quizzed me and my family for about fifteen minutes. Why we were in Munich, what countries we'd been to, who was at the wedding we attended, what type of food was served, what sights we saw, where we worked, what we did for work, who was the CEO of each of our companies, what I was studying at uni, what type of car we drove, etc. It was CRAZY. Very casual and relaxed but clearly a grilling. I still wonder why; none of us are at all suspicious and no one in the wedding was either.

Flying from the UK to Israel with my husband. We were separated after check in and asked questions like the name of our in laws, where they lived, how long had we been married etc.

After searching our bags thoroughly they let us go through security. We compared questions and hadn't even been asked the same things. Our answers weren't corroborated by anything. I have no idea what the point was.

I was stopped in Portugal due to my EU family card. They started to ask a bunch of questions. Then a supervisor came over laughing and confirmed my card was valid. During Covid we were stopped in the US as my husband is non US… we were questioned. My toddler said she never met my husband and didn’t know him.

I don't understand what could they possibly infer from your reaction there?

A few times but always good natured, usually why are you taking a strange route or only here for one day.

I don't know - that could be as much "bored immigration guy" as any actual questioning.

My husband plays tuba for a military band, and while going through customs/immigration for a layover in Iceland, the officer couldn't believe it and kept asking me more and more about it. Finally he starts cracking up and goes "Oh no, we're under attack! Quick! Someone call the tuba player!" and waved me through.

A two-part experience in Charlotte…flight from Grand Cayman.

We had a long layover, so reason to rush/compete. Was last in line.

Part I: the couple in front of us.

Nothing to declare, male Customs Agent isn’t quite believing it and is going through stuff with the husband. Female Agent chats up the wife…compliments a necklace she’s wearing. “oh, thanks! My husband just bought it for me..”. Female Agent: “BOB, LET ME SEE THEIR DECLARATION FORM”. Yeah, nailed.

Part II: Ok, we’re up, and just watched this go down.

Agent: “Anything to declare?”

Us: “Nope.”

“Really?”

“Yes. We’ve been there before.”

“Are you sure you’re declaring nothing?”

“Sure. Besides, we went to an out-island where there’s no shopping”

“Because you’ve been there before? How many times?”

Me & wife give different answers.

(Agents start salivating)

We start to bicker with each other, ignoring the Agents, pull out our passports & start counting stamps. We resolve the count (it was like 8 trips).

Agents: “okay, okay.. get outta here”.

I dunno if that was questioning, I think that was just small talk

Brown person here, you should see the visa application form we have to fill up. Immigration is a whole different story,

German here born in India. At Johannesburg airport the staff wouldn’t let me on the Lufthansa flight, they didn’t know where my birth city in the German passport is, when I told them it’s in India they thought it’s a fake passport. So they called three other people to check it out, googled to see if it’s a legit place. And then asked me looking quite pissed, if I was born in India how am I a German. They specifically came and checked me, I was one of the very few brown guy on the flight!