Flying a private plane around the Caribbean in spring 2004

On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 17:26:44 GMT, Martin Hotze
wrote:

On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 16:44:33 +0000, wrote:

Second time I got the most awkward immigration guy you could imagine.
He wasn't pleased I gone out of the hall back to the aircraft
unaccompanied to get my passport.


well. their rules; you may find them silly, but it is their game.


No objection to rules but a sign on the door to say no exit would be
helpful. Instead they left me filling in the forms and then went into
the next room. No sign of them when I looked.

He complained about me stepping over the line when nobody else was
ahead of me


another rule. you broke it.

As nobody in the hall so I called out and stepped towards the voices
in another room. No reply for a while until I moved forward!

He decided my permanent Visa was no longer valid as the regulations
had changed so he cancelled it! This was despite being accepted on my
arrival to the US a week earlier.


maybe the regulations changed within this week?

No, they apparently changed some considerable time before (2-3
years?).

He asked why I had not checked with immigration on departure (not
possible, nor suggested, at Titusville, Florida). He said I should
have contacted them anyway though the first time I went to the Bahamas
no comment was made.


you did ADCUS? you informed them of your planned arrival time?


Yes, but I had officially I left USA for Bahamas and not had any
documentation stamped. Now he wanted to know why. Not unreasonable but
nobody had suggested that's required and was not a problem on the
previous trip some years previous. I've not seen anything in any
documentation that I needed to leave from Florida at a Port of Entry.

He wanted the address where I was staying but as I was late back I
still needed to find a hotel.


then tell him "I will check in at the Holiday Inn (or whatever chain)"


I still had to fly back to Titusville so had no idea where I was
staying so I put then following nights address, at a resort. But I did
not have the complete address available with me!

Despite recommendations of ease of customs/immigration I won't ever
use Fort Pierce again.


David


This guy was unhelpful when asked and was simply being officious.
No sign of 'sorry but you should have done it another way'. Just being
as B*** awkward as he could have been!!!



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