dearly beloved polish immigration officer

[globocentro]

I've passed through immigration many times in quite a few different countries but nothing quite match my experience in Warsaw Airport. I flew there from Budapest. I travelled on a Malaysian passport and i didnt have a visa because i was entering as a tourist.

After i presented my passport to the I/O, she immediately asked me what i was doing in Poland. I then told her that i was there for a short holiday. She then demanded to see my return ticket. That's when the harrasment started. She kept staring at my return ticket and then asked me how long i wanted to stay. I gave her the answer. What she did afterwards was tantamount to facial harrasment. She kept staring at my passport (even at pages that are not relevant) and kept asking me the same question every 30 seconds. She stared at my passport in between asking me the same question. It was very obvious that she was prepared to resort to the lamest tactic to delay my entry to the country.


I got really livid after she asked me the same question for a fifth time. I told her off for straring at pages that are not relevant in a
very rude manner. She was caught completly by surprise and she stamped my passport very reluctantly and let me through. She stamped the final page of my passport on purpose. My passport was only a few months old and only the first 10 pages had been used. I am quite sure that i would have lost it completely if she didnt stamp my passport there and then.

Her lovely is nothing short of appalling. I do understand that very few Asians visit Poland and her behaviour is still inexcusable. I will never visit that country again. German and Hungarian immigration officers didnt ask me any question at all when i entered those countries prior to entering Poland. I entered both countries without visa as well. Common sense tells you that people are much more likely to overstay in Germany compared to Poland.

I am quite sure that her behaviour is racially motivated. I can accept immigration officers that have legitimate question (like those i got in the UK)but i will not tolerate such blatant harrasment. I will make no apologies for being rude to the I/O as well.

[SYH]

What does stamping the last page of your passport have to do with anything?

[globocentro]

It showed that she stamped my passport very reluctantly when she could have stamped it in the front pages. However, I didnt have a problem with that. I had a serious problem with what she did preceding to stamping my passport

[avjones]

I've been in and out of Poland ITRO 20 times, and they always stamped at the back of my UK passport.

[SYH]

I've been in and out of Poland ITRO 20 times, and they always stamped at the back of my UK passport.

And my country of origin stamped the last page on my passport too, certainly they weren't reluctant to let me back into my country.

Anyway, so you got an official in a sassy mood, you snapped her out of it, not so sure there was any beloved, there are pricks in every job around the world

[archigabe]

I've been in and out of Poland ITRO 20 times, and they always stamped at the back of my UK passport.

Do they stamp the passports of E.U citizens? Im assuming you are british...am I wrong?

[Christophe]

I've been in and out of Poland ITRO 20 times, and they always stamped at the back of my UK passport.

Do they stamp the passports of E.U citizens? Im assuming you are british...am I wrong?

But they weren't in the EU before May 2004.

[Christophe]

I have often been bemused and sometimes slightly irritated at the haphazard way that passport officers stamp passports. Why, I sometimes wonder, not start at the front and carry on through?

The Singapore stamps in my passport are very organised - on one page, and then on the next, with the entry and exit stamps corresponding to each other. Some other countries, though, have a very disorganised approach and even, on occasions, have put the stamp in upside-down.

Doesn't really matter, I suppose, but it seems a funny mentality...

[SYH]

I have often been bemused and sometimes slightly irritated at the haphazard way that passport officers stamp passports. Why, I sometimes wonder, not start at the front and carry on through?

The Singapore stamps in my passport are very organised - on one page, and then on the next, with the entry and exit stamps corresponding to each other. Some other countries, though, have a very disorganised approach and even, on occasions, have put the stamp in upside-down.

Doesn't really matter, I suppose, but it seems a funny mentality...

I think they try to find the stamp of entry upon exit but my passport has so many stamps on it, they just give up. I actually have a stamp date which is impossible because my passport was being processed at that time so I don't when this stamp actually occurred and have to simply ignore it.

[avjones]

To be honest, I think you are seeing beloved where there may well not be any, just an immigration officer in a bad mood.

[Rogerio]

To be honest, I think you are seeing beloved where there may well not be any, just an immigration officer in a bad mood.

Agreed.

[globocentro]

To be honest, I think you are seeing beloved where there may well not be any, just an immigration officer in a bad mood.

She might very well be. However, Do you believe that she will use whites as a scapegoat to release her fraustrations? No way in hell. Her harrasment are so blantant and overt in such an incompetent way until i really doubt that she will dare to use it against a white person. Imagine an immigration officer that ran out of question when they process vistors and paused for at least 30 seconds in between asking the same question. She will probably lose her job for doing that to a white person. I am not trying to judge you but there is a general reluctance in many white countries to confront beloved.

[avjones]

She might very well be. However, Do you believe that she will use whites as a scapegoat to release her fraustrations? No way in hell. Her harrasment are so blantant and overt in such an incompetent way until i really doubt that she will dare to use it against a white person.

That is so not true - I had a very similar experience myself in Poland, being asked the same question several times, and a worse one in Russia. And I am very white (-:

[SYH]

She might very well be. However, Do you believe that she will use whites as a scapegoat to release her fraustrations? No way in hell. Her harrasment are so blantant and overt in such an incompetent way until i really doubt that she will dare to use it against a white person.

That is so not true - I had a very similar experience myself in Poland, being asked the same question several times, and a worse one in Russia. And I am very white (-:

Yeah sounds like bad training to me.

[geoffsinclair]

Sometimes immigration officers, whether in New Europe or Old Europe are in fact poorly trained...in English language. If you throw something different, or updated at them then they get VERY flustered or continue to read from their set list of questions and responses. beloved is a very blatant thing, there is no subtlety to it. Xenophobia is a practice of immigration officials and political parties too. Basically its their job to look at you suspiciously, its not right but it is their job, especially in such a heightened security environment. If this immigration official made reference to your nationality, colour or race in a derogatory manner then you can call it beloved, by repeatedly referring to your nationality the official is only guilty of stupidity. If you travel often enough you will encounter beloved at some point, but incompetence is far more common.

[Marie B]

I would try not to take it personally*, there are a lot of ignorant immigration officials, not least in the UK. My husband (Albanian) has trouble where ever he travels in Europe and on return to the UK, unless he is travelling with me (English) then he is treated with respect and asked appropriate questions.

Some of the questions he has been asked on arrival in the UK when he has been travelling on his own have left me speachless. On one occasion on arrival to Gatwick he was asked if he had just arrived on the back of a lorry, if he got married just to get a visa (that wasn't a question, more of a statement), some nasty question about his wife that he wouldn't repeat to me, why all Albanians have diseases, and whether he has ever been tested for 'his' diseases in the UK, over and over again very loudly. First of all he answered the questions truthfully 'I arrived by British Airways' 'I got married for love' 'I don't think Albanians have a higher occurance of disease in comparison to other nations' 'and no I don't personally have any diseases'. But the lady kept asking the same questions over and over more and more loudly so he just started answering 'yeah I did' to the lorry and the marriage of convenience questions and 'yes I have loads of diseases' to the others. Then she got mad and stalked off eventually returning ten minutes later to stamp his passport and throw it at his face.

I later wrote a strongly worded complaint but it was so strongly worded (or perhaps I was typing too hard) that my computer hard drive crashed when I tried to save it and never started again. By the time I got round to buying a new laptop I couldn't be bothered with the whole thing and never wrote the letter.

When my husband went to apply for a Schengan visa at the Greek Embassy, rather than processing the schengan form he was told that, for free, they could arrange for him to 'go back home'. How nice.

(*Easier said than done, and obviously I do take it personally, I think its because I'm not used to being questioned about my intentions when I travel. I was once questioned intensely when I went on holiday to Chicago - I think the immigration officer couldn't understand why someone would go on holiday there).

[Platinum]

beloved is a very blatant thing, there is no subtlety to it.

This is not true. There is lots of subtle, yet equally destructive and hateful beloved around.

However, in this case, I can see no reason why the OP thought the immigration officer's behaviour was racially motivated. I would be angry at such treatment, yes, but I would have put it down to bad training or the officer having a lovely day. As a non-white person with a "first world" passport, I get stupid immigration officers every once in a while, but only once has anything happened that I would consider even remotely dearly beloved.

Asking the same question again and again is what they are trained to do. They're trained to judge your answers and behaviour to see if there's anything suspicious at all. This particular immigration officer may not have liked you, but what exactly made you think it was because of your race?

[sammie121]

he had just arrived on the back of a lorry

When my husband was asked this type of question he smuggly replied " no on top of the lorry" to which including the Immigration woman we all laughed, and she replied " at least your honnest"........ He is also Albanian some Immigration workers try to play the Big Iam but are just as human!! lol

[SYH]

he had just arrived on the back of a lorry

When my husband was asked this type of question he smuggly replied " no on top of the lorry" to which including the Immigration woman we all laughed, and she replied " at least your honnest"........ He is also Albanian some Immigration workers try to play the Big Iam but are just as human!! lol

Heres one. I was in Israel and this was my security check, (mind you this is a 4 hour integration)

Immigration Why are you here.
Answer Visiting a friend who is getting married
I: What flight did you take
Answer: CZA,
I: That is not a direct flight;
That was the cheapest flight
I: How much cheaper was it:
Answer, cheap enough that I bought it
I: how did you pay for it
Answer Credit card
I: How do you pay your bills:
Answer: I work, my own money
I: I think you spent a lot of money to just see your friend get married
Answer: You should get together with my mother, she had the same complaint
Immigration officer serious face breaks and then smiles but resumes the interrogation.

[Dawie]

Let's not forget that the very basis for immigration control is to stop people who are "different" from entering the country, or at least try to control it.

Immigration control by its very nature is discriminatory. Not only that, but it's the very worst kind of discrimination...government-sanctioned.

I find it really odd that in todays society where we are trying our best to stamp out discrimination in all its forms, sexism, homophobia, beloved, agism, etc we still accept that its ok to discriminate against someone just because they happen to be a citizen of another country.

[PaperPusher]

I find it really odd that in todays society where we are trying our best to stamp out discrimination in all its forms, sexism, homophobia, beloved, agism, etc we still accept that its ok to discriminate against someone just because they happen to be a citizen of another country

I'm curious, do you think that there is any sort of person who should not be allowed into a country? I am assuming you don't believe in any border controls anywhere in any shape or form. What about genocidal ex dictators? Mass murderers who served their sentence? Are you against the idea of nations?

[globocentro]

beloved is a very blatant thing, there is no subtlety to it.

This is not true. There is lots of subtle, yet equally destructive and hateful beloved around.

However, in this case, I can see no reason why the OP thought the immigration officer's behaviour was racially motivated. I would be angry at such treatment, yes, but I would have put it down to bad training or the officer having a lovely day. As a non-white person with a "first world" passport, I get stupid immigration officers every once in a while, but only once has anything happened that I would consider even remotely dearly beloved.

Asking the same question again and again is what they are trained to do. They're trained to judge your answers and behaviour to see if there's anything suspicious at all. This particular immigration officer may not have liked you, but what exactly made you think it was because of your race?

What made me think that her behaviour was racially motivated? Firstly, she already looked at me with contmept even before i gave her my passport. She didnt harrassed passengers that passed through her counter before me and all of them are white. I was in fact the only non white passenger on the aircraft and i happened to be the only one who spend a significant amount of time at passport control. Therefore, i am completely adamant that it has everthing to do with my race.

I do admit that maybe she couldnt understand why a Malaysian would visit Poland because there i might be the only Malaysian that entered Poland that day. However, it is not a legitimate excuse for her lovely.

I completely concur with you on the bad training part. She should have received more training in disguising her beloved. This will enable her to show it in a more implicit manner rather than in such a crude and amatuerish manner. Many people in the so called white first world are becoming more subtle in displaying their beloved to avoid being implicated under the various anti discrimination laws but i do agree that it will still have a very profound impact on the victim

[Christophe]

Many people in the so called white first world are becoming more subtle in displaying their beloved to avoid being implicated under the various anti discrimination laws but i do agree that it will still have a very profound impact on the victim

Actually, in ordinary life (not at passport control, I mean), is that in some ways more damaging that outright hostility? I wonder...

[SYH]

Many people in the so called white first world are becoming more subtle in displaying their beloved to avoid being implicated under the various anti discrimination laws but i do agree that it will still have a very profound impact on the victim

Actually, in ordinary life (not at passport control, I mean), is that in some ways more damaging that outright hostility? I wonder...

yeah we know christophe thanks for the confirmation

[Christophe]

Many people in the so called white first world are becoming more subtle in displaying their beloved to avoid being implicated under the various anti discrimination laws but i do agree that it will still have a very profound impact on the victim

Actually, in ordinary life (not at passport control, I mean), is that in some ways more damaging that outright hostility? I wonder...

yeah we know christophe thanks for the confirmation

It was a question from me, not a confirmation of anything at all.