Crossing Borders
The Thousand Public OfficesAmong the local people you will meet on you travels to far distant countries are the public officials you visit because you must conduct some traveler's business. This is most commonly concerned with getting visas and crossing borders; but may also include opportunities to extend a visa, get an exit permit, or an export permit, or unexpected confrontations with the police or military. Not to mention changing money, mailing packages, or trying to make phone calls.
This is what I call "The Thousand Public Offices that human flesh is heir to". Well, travelers at least, are certainly destined to spend way too much time visiting with bureaucratic officialdom. It is part of your job! But remember that the more often you do cross borders, the more bureaucratic nonsense you will have to endure. That's just another good reason to spend more time in fewer countries!
Your dealings with these official people can be helpful, or could turn into a real road-block in your trip. As at home, they are often overworked, underpaid, and not too happy with their jobs. There are a few who seem to enjoy their opportunity to make life difficult for an overprivileged foreigner. You may need to put forth all of the effort and charm you can muster just to get what you require.
First, you must have patience. Official business takes time for everybody in the Third World, much more than you would ever expect at home. You may queue up for hours and then wait days to get a document processed. If you are short on time, you may become very frustrated or angry; this will in no way help you to get what you want. Allow plenty of time for official business; don't put it off until the last minute, and don't plan a lot of other activities on the same day. Accept the fact that it is likely to eat up days, even weeks of your total trip, just to get a few visas and permits. Find a comfortable place to stay and take along a good book.
Crossing borders is a very important activity. Treat it like a job interview, because the outcome determines whether and how long you are permitted to stay in the country. Although it is often just a short formality, it can also be a patience-trying ordeal. Sometimes, the only unfriendly people you will meet in a country are the border officials. Be prepared for them.
Whenever you go from one country to another you must deal with the Immigration officials of both countries, and the Customs officials of at least the country you are entering. Make sure you have all the permission you need to enter the next country and the documents you need to leave the current one.
Look sharp and be sharp. You should have at least one set of presentable clothing for border crossings and visa applications. Wear shoes and socks, long trousers or a skirt, and a shirt with sleeves and a collar. Sandals look much more presentable with a pair of dark socks. Get your gear as presentable as you can; lots of pots and cups hanging off of your rucksack just makes you look like a "hippie". While this word died out a long time ago at home, border officials in many places are still on the lookout for "hippies" -- they are known to be very undesirable people.
If you know it will be a tough border crossing (ask around), men should trim their hair and beard to be as presentable as possible; wetting your bushy hair may not look attractive, but it keeps a lower profile. Your chances of being turned away from a border simply on appearance are slim, but looking like a poor "hippie" only increases the likelihood of luggage inspections, money checks, and much shorter entry permits.
Get plenty of rest or have a cup of coffee before crossing; you don't want to be grumpy or slow-thinking. Re-check your bag for anything that may be questionable. Don't take any illegal drugs across a border, ever, even if you hear that bags are never checked. The amount of trouble you can get into far, far exceeds any of the benefits. Know exactly how much money you have so you don't have to count it in front of them.
As with all other public officials, speak when spoken to, and answer all questions as accurately and succinctly as you can. Don't talk any more than you need to, it only arouses their suspicions; make the shortest answers you can. Be polite, do what you are asked, and don't ever get angry; this is not a place you can walk away from! Don't tell lies that you don't need to. You may think it helpful to tell them you are on a one month vacation, instead of a year's travel; but they only have to look in your passport to see that you are lying. ("Off to the interrogation room with him!")
The immigration official decides how long you are allowed to enter for. Sometimes it is specified on the visa you have, but an unfriendly border official has the authority to shorten this. Find out what the maximum and normally permitted stays are before you hit the border. When they ask how long you will stay, say something longer than you need, you may change your mind anyway. Sometimes asking for more than the maximum helps. For example, in one country, the maximum was two months, but most people only got one month on entry. Occasionally someone would catch an official in a good mood and manage to get two months by saying they needed three and a half!
My policy of saying little to officials backfired on me once. The Immigration official had asked everyone in front of me how long they wanted to stay, but he never asked me this question. I ended up getting only one month although I probably could have gotten more if I had asked. Once it is stamped in your passport, however, there is no use arguing; "just get an extension".
Among the few small lies you may need to tell are how much money you have (more on this later), and where you will be staying. Most entry cards ask you to specify your "Address in the country". Do not leave this blank, and don't put "poste restante" or your embassy. Find a reasonably good tourist hotel in your guidebook (do this ahead of time) and put that down. You don't really know where you will be staying, anyway -- maybe you will just decide to splurge -- so this is not necessarily a lie.
If I am staying with friends, I sometimes do not say so. It could make you look more respectable, but it may make your friends look less respectable -- in a few countries, the less their government knows about their foreign contacts, the better for them! Anyway, it's easier just to write in "Hotel Ritz".
Occupation, Purpose of Visit: These are very, very important at border crossings and on visa application forms. Thousands of teachers come for tourism and are just waved in; don't get cute and give border officials an opportunity to distrust you. If you have a well-known and respected occupation then use it; if not, use teacher, accountant, carpenter or other recognizable, honest, and harmless profession, especially if you have ever been one.
About the worst thing you can profess to in many countries is being a journalist, writer, photographer, or anything else possibly connected with journalism. Journalists are the ones who slip into the country to report on and photograph poverty, corruption, human rights abuses, and other embarrassing situations in the country. They are definitely undesirable people, and some countries just won't let them in!
If you look young enough, saying "student" is fine, although you may be expected to be poor and asked to show money. If you are planning on using a (bogus) student discount card and the Tourist Permit you carry says "banker", you may get called on it once or twice.
If you have a tourist visa, the purpose of your trip is "tourism", always! Not travel, adventure, work, photography, research, or even visiting friends. Always write in "tourism"; tourists are good people, they may help prop up a faltering economy and provide jobs for the relatives of those immigration officials. Anything else is open to suspicion.
Different entry points to the same country often differ in their policies. Some have serious baggage inspections and allow only a minimum initial stay, while others give longer stays. Try to get this information from other travelers along the way. Airports are not necessarily easier than land borders.
In many countries, you can extend your stay up to a maximum by applying at the Immigration department after you enter. This is usually another hassle and it is much better to get the most you can on entry. Sometimes it is easier to just leave and come back in again, rather than applying for an extension.
Several countries give two or three week "tourist permits" at the border without needing a visa; these may or may not be extendible at the Immigration Office. You can save yourself this hassle by getting a good two or three month visa before you arrive. This still takes time and money, but if you know you'll be staying longer, then handle the bureaucracy when it's more convenient for you, not in the middle of your stay in the country.
By the way, don't use your favorite pen when filling out immigration papers. Border officials have a knack for keeping pens. Sometimes they just ask you for it, before they stamp your passport; of course you are advised to smile and say "of course". One Indian border is famous for this. I carried a cheap and leaking Pakistani pen up to the border. Before I even began doing any business, the first guard walked up and asked me to give him a pen. When I produced my shoddy instrument, he turned up his nose and gave it back to me!
Some countries will not let you in unless you have a reasonable amount of money to "support yourself" as a "bonafide tourist"; they have already determined what is "reasonable". If you are at the end of your travels and almost broke (why else would you go home?), you may need to lie and hope they don't check. An air ticket out of that country, or perhaps a credit card sometimes helps. Another trick is to borrow some travelers checks from a more solvent companion, and hope they don't check the signatures.
I once knew a few moderately unscrupulous travelers who carried "flash money". At the beginning of their trip, they would claim to have lost some travelers checks and get them replaced. Then they would keep the 'lost' checks only to impress immigration officials at the end of their trip. Unfortunately, the temptation to actually spend some of this "flash money" can be great. It is illegal to fraudulently declare lost checks and you must have a good strong story; but you could claim to have "found" them later. Actually spending or selling them, however, will get you in some very serious trouble. When the "lost" checks get spent, the Legal Division of the traveler's check company will contact you with some very serious legal documents. It's much better if you have ways of getting more money from home.
"Black Markets"Know what the currency laws are in the countries you visit and make sure you appear to obey them. Some Third World countries limit the import or export of their own currency. That's because their money is way overvalued officially (it's basically worthless) and can be purchased very cheaply outside the country. For you to take advantage (or not) of this currency over-valuation in such countries, you have three choices:
1. Buy their money outside the country and bring it in (hidden) illegallyClearly, your decision to do something illegal (1. or 2.) depends on whether you'll save 10% or save 500%!
2. Deal with the (illegal) black market inside the country
3. Use only the legal bank system and lose 10% to 500% on your money
If you have too much local currency on entry (# 1.), hide it somewhere on your person. Tucking it into a separate compartment of your money pouch is a reasonable ploy -- in the rare event that your money pouch is searched, you can just say you forgot about it (not as plausible an explanation if it shows up in your shoe or underwear). They will ask how much local currency you have so know what to say. The same goes for undeclared (US$) cash that you plan to use on the black market (# 2.), if currency declaration forms will be filled out. Surprisingly rarely are you asked to show all of your money, even when filling out currency declaration forms -- but it does happen.
Having too much money is another problem that usually involves the black market and currency declarations forms. A Currency Declaration Form is filled out on entry, listing all the money you brought in. It is updated by banks every time you change money, and (sometimes) checked again when you leave; don't lose it!
A few countries with "currency valuation problems" (= their money is worthless), require you to declare all foreign currency on entry, and require you to carry a Currency Exchange Declaration, which is stamped and filled out every time you change money at an official (government) bank. You must show this declaration on exit. In theory, they compare the amount of money you brought in, the amount you have on leaving, and expect all the rest to be accounted on your official exchange declaration. Any discrepency indicates your participation in the black market, and could get you into trouble you do not want to be in, especially in a Third World dictatorship!
Just the threat of this possibility keeps many tourists and travelers honest. But in practice, not all of the steps are often followed. You may be required to show your declaration on exiting the country, but they may not bother to make you show all your foreign currency! This, of course, defeats the entire system. In any case, the usual way around this situation is to -- illegally -- bring in foreign cash that you do not declare. It may be in your shoe, or down your underpants, but quite often, they don't even bother to ask you to show it on entry anyway!
Now also note that even if they do not check your money on exit, turning in a Currency Exchange Declaration that is completely blank can also make them very unhappy. If they want to get mean, they can say that you are required to change at least a certain amount (per week) at an official bank, and this can make the country quite a bit more expensive (Syria used to do this). But sometimes just having a couple of entries on the official form (like $20 each) is enough to pass a cursory glance as you pass through the immigration lines.
If you bring in cash which you do not declare (and is not found on you), then you can use it for exchanges on the black market. If you declared all of your cash, then the money you used on the black market is unaccounted for when you leave. Sometimes they hardly check, but where they do, you may be in several kinds of trouble, all of which will be time consuming and cost you money. Know the ropes before you go. Keep some of your cash in a separate place just in case they ask to see your money.
After reading all the above about black markets, you will see that a reasonable amount of advance planning and research are needed to know when these situations exist, in which countries, and how lucrative and risky they are -- ask plenty of other travelers who just came from where you're going! Otherwise, there is always option #3. -- just play it safe, be legal, stay out of trouble, have a clear conscience, and pay a bit more.
Is there a Black Market? You should find this out from other travelers before you get there, and learn what a good rate is. Note that even in countries that have no serious black market in currency, you may be approaced by clandestine money changers offering very attractive "black market" rates. These are con-men! Ignore them! Dishonest money changers do not gain their profits by virtue of the black market rates. They make their my money by cleverly stealing it from greedy tourists! See "Fast Change" in my chapter on Travel Safety and Security for the shocking details.
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