#TTOT Round-Up: Visa & Immigration

Every Tuesday it's Travel Talk on Twitter! Follow the #TTOT hashtag to see what all the commotion and Tweets are about! There are two sessions to join, one at 9:30am GMT and the other at 9:30pm GMT.

Here's the round-up of this week's #TTOT: 

Q1 via ae_carhire: Ever been stopped at the Airport Immigration? What happened?

• directflights: Worked with a guy who bought a replica hand grenade cigarette lighter on holiday. He almost got shot at Dubai Airport
  
• GFexplorers: To the amusement of my friends I was stopped at NZ immigration for taking a tent with me from OZ. They needed to check for bugs
• ILoveMyTrips: I find when travelling with 4 screaming kids - no-one stops you at customs
• AnisIbrahim: In India and in Myanmar. They saw my journalist visa and wanted to know why I was in their country
• EverywhereTrip: I was denied entry into the nation of Kiribait because the ink on the visa bled off the page of my passport
• AnthonyOFlynn: Once in new York- questions about black eye in the the visa photo!

Q2 via mezzarino: Most treasured visa in the passport and why?

• SteveWBT: Turkmenistan, via the Caspian Sea ferry. Quite rare
• jdeheij: My chinese visa in my previous passport. It took me 3 weeks and a fake plainticket to get it
  
• LifesGreatAdv: I love the fact that I have a Pakistani one as it's something a lot of people are wary of getting these days
• worldswaiting: I am very fond of my triangular Zanzibar visa stamp!
• Reserve123: My first one - England. It was weirdest feeling when he stamped it. It was the sound of uncertainty and adventure
• sillyamerica: I love the one for Stewart, BC. We had to ask them to stamp it for us. It's cute, and not many people enter Canada from there
• LandLopers: Not a real visa but in Galapagos you can have a fun'stamp put in your passport One of the prettiest I have and always get comments

Q3 via himalfootsteps: What's the funniest question you ever got at immigration?

• AnisIbrahim: US visa app- I said I was visiting my boyfriend and the lady asked, "Have you actually met him, sweetie?"  
  
• mobilelawyer: My most recent Russian one: "Do you have any experience in specialized weapons training or manufacturing explosives?"
• 25travels: Have you ever smuggled reptiles or birds illegally?
• emmaumiller: Don't have anything funny, but they made me pull cash out of an ATM at Heathrow - they sure don't like 1 way tickets
• hjortur: I often get funny looks ... Iceland? Is that a country? 
• roniweiss: When I was a kid, the question at the Canadian border: "Why are you here?" 'Hockey." "OK, you can go." 
• anyaosk: US consul asked me what was my favorite type of ice cream, with a very serious face expression
• sweetcarolinepb: Why did you continue to travel by yourself in South America after your family returned to the US? Me: It's fun
• qiranger: "Do Twinkies have meat in them?" From an Australian Immigration Officer.

Q4 via ae_carhire: Have you ever been refused a visa and been given the weirdest reason as to why?

• travesseclub: Chinese border officials wouldn't let us in carrying the Lonely Planet guide book - it lists Taiwan as a separate country
  
• SaraKateTravel: My friends & I almost weren't allowed in Slovakia because we didn't have some sticker on car. $ worked though
• milkayeanne: Got rejected 3 times when applying US visa after 9/11. Reason from the embassy: Nobody would fly to US at that time
• SookeTravel: Refused entry because the people I was travelling with tried to bribe the border guard
• idilika: Yes, at the French Consulate in Istanbul for arguing with them about the way they were treating headscarved people: like shit
• thesarahbot: Was in India when they suddenly decided tourists can't reenter too quickly after leaving

Q5 via crashpadder: Do you think it's fair that the world is not open to travel by everyone?

• whereisyvette: Fair? No. Can I understand why countries worry about migrants sneaking in? Yes
• fourjandals: The problem is that illegals still scam the system while legals try to do it right and still fail sometimes
• packurpassport: I think in an ideal world this would be amazing. Unfortunately we live in a world where some can't be trusted/don't have respect 
• roniweiss: Oh, boy. I wish I was here live to get into this. Of course it's fair. We live in a world of countries and laws. Deal with it
• littlegingerkid: Some places are being spoilt by unrestricted tourism. And clearly politics plays a part. I don't like it, but I understand
• claudiabia: No! I have 4 nieces that had their dreams of coming to visit US crushed by an official that denied their Visas 
• luxtrvlwrks: Travel opens minds about the world in ways that no other experience can. I wish entire process was easier for all

And there you have it, "Visa & Immigration"!    

Next week's #TTOT topic is "Group Travel." Submit your questions HERE! Don't forget to follow the #TTOT hashtag every Tuesday at 9:30am and 9:30pm GMT to chat about all things travel!

As always, a HUGE travel community thank you to our #TTOT hosts and organizers: traveldudes, roniweiss, toddwassel, traveldesigned, insidetravellab, WildJunket, tbloggersunite and mobilelawyer!

Have YOU got anything to add to the Visa & Immigration travel discussion? 

© Connie Hum 2011