Beachey Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 Here was my father-in-law's experience yesterday, maybe a few lessons learned and one question. We flew my father-in-law from Guangzhou into LAX on China Southern's A380. Due to a bunch of stuff going on with us we only bought a one-way ticket (less than half what a round trip normally costs) with the full intention that he will stay six months and go back, exactly how to be determined. This is his second visit here and so I honestly was not very worried as he got though customs last year relatively easily. He said last year that the immigration officer just grabbed another passenger to translate as my father-in-law speaks no English. My wife and I drove to LA from Phoenix and arrived before the plane was scheduled to land but the flight was a little early so we got there about 15 minutes after he landed. I told my wife given the size of the A380 and based upon last year I figured it would take a good hour for him to clear customs. Well after no Baba after an hour and a half , my wife finally got a phone call from immigration (he had her number on him) inquiring asking her a bunch of questions including what was his name, who she was and how long we have lived in LA (we don't, we live in Phoenix) and why he was flying to only LA when we lived in Phoenix. The last question being I can't imagine my father-in-law successfully transferring planes in almost any US airport let alone LAX which for those unfamiliar is 8 separate terminals so the only option is for us to do the six hour drive there and back. Finally they said he would be out in 20 minutes and after two plus hours he comes out. He had been taken to secondary inspection and been there for over an hour. He said the original line he got in had had a Mandarin speaker who seems to have been pretty harsh. It appears the issue was not having a return ticket. My father-in-law also have a a couple thousand dollars in his wallet (much less than $10K) that is my wife's money that he had converted in US dollars in China. During the conversation, he brought out his wallet to show the officer my daughter's picture but I am sure the officer saw the money. In retrospect, I am sure the office is thinking my father-in-law could plan on disappearing into LA never to heard from again. He told my father-in-law that he would give him two months or he could get back on the plane back to China. My father-in-law said he needed longer which got him to secondary inspection. Given this was his second trip, I expected no issues but never again will he come without a return ticket booked. On top of that, they opened each of his bags and confiscated about 300 RMB of Harbin Sausage that he had brought for my wife and I don't think he declared it. Are you really not supposed to bring in meat into the US? I have never been stopped at all but I am a US citizen. So I think my father-in-law was pretty shaken by the experience but he was focusing on the sausage. I told my wife to tell him I really don't care about the sausage but he did a good job as a two month stay would have have been an issue. Made a long day even longer but we got home safely at 4:30 this morning and he is here, gets to see his granddaughter and I guess we will have to wait until we go back to China for Harbin Sausage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) Here's what the Customs and Border Patrol says https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/944/kw/cured%20deli%20meats Except for not declaring the meat, good job on his part! Edited October 25, 2015 by Randy W (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachey Posted October 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 I posted this on Visa Journey and most said we were lucky. I guess I was blind to how this would look especially since this was his second trip. Roundtrip tickets from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnoblett Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 My mum in law traveled over on a RT, last year, once here we canceled the return trip and got a refund from Air China, and later bought her the return tickets when we were ready to send her home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachey Posted October 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 Dan, in retrospect I was thinking about that but I have never seen a fully refundable fare and even the fares that are changeable are really expensive. How did you get a refundable fare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnoblett Posted October 26, 2015 Report Share Posted October 26, 2015 My wife got on phone and worked over the agent for the airline in Mandarin, they then cut a refund of the return tickets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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