Do you guys have a chip in your passport for speedy entry into your respective home countries? My passport is old (10 year passport needs to be renewed next year and doesnt have a chip) but when I went back to the UK there is an express lane for immigration. UK passport holders can swipe their passport and go straight through. We also have the green and red customs channels so with the right passport probably takes about 10 minutes to get out once you have your checked in bags.
we don't have a chip in our passports, but you can get a "gold star" on your license now by providing the DMV with extra information (copies of utility bills), and that gets you a fast pass through customs.
Last time I went back to UK with the chip passport I landed at 8:30 a.m. - left the plane at say 8:35 a.m. and was sitting in my rental car with all my luggage by 9:05! No need to go up to an immigration agent, just swipe the passport, look at the all-knowing camera and you're in!
I've been several times and have never waited long in Customs line either but you watch now that i have said that i will be in line forever next month !
Steve in Canada we do not have a chip in our passport. I'm pretty sure USA is the same. I have the next step up from a passport which is a trusted travellers card. I'm enrolled in the NEXXUS and Global Entry program. That card I have has a chip in it of some sort. In order to get that I applied and then had an interview with both Canadian Immigration and American Immigration after they did a background check. What that gives me is when I am flying out of Canada or USA I go thru a different security line which is reserved for both of those programs I'm enrolled in. When I fly into Canada or USA and it does not matter what country I came from instead of talking to a customs agent I do a retina scan at NEXXUS airpots and finger print scan at Global Entry airports. It costs me 50.00 Canadian dollars for 5 years. It's well worth it in my opinion for somebody who travels quite.
We don't have any special entry permit, landed in CUN around 5pm on UA from LAX in August. We got the red light at custom so had to do the bag search. On the way out, even talked to the timeshare people who arranged the shuttle ride to hotel and furthermore, we went the the bathroom. All this took a grand total of 20 minutes!!!! About half an hour after arriving at airport, we were on the shuttle to hotel. So I guess it depends on the time of day and 5pm is the time to arrive, or maybe we just got lucky
It does depend on the time of day and terminal. Flights to and From Uk usually use t3 and this year from getting off the plan to clear Immigration, baggage and Customs took about an Hour. More waiting for the bags than anything else. Steve I have a new Uk passport and it does allow you to use a scanning machine at Gatwick and the q is shorter but you do need to have the passport open at the ID page first and stand in the right sport, marked by foot prints.
Last week in T3 took me 20 minutes at 11am to go through immigration. Customs took a minute. Pushed button and all ok. No more scanning. Couple in front of me got green light and also go scanned. Go figure. They had larger bags then myself.
Hmm. A family has to hit the button one time and you are all in or all out as far as getting bags inspected. Might be different if you don't have the same last name. If the same last name you would have had only one Aduana form to fill out. This is why they only give you one Customs form per family if all have the same last name. Or maybe wifie hit the button for both of you and you got the big red.
