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Travel Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [officials]

Dealing with bureaucrats, guards, officers, and other official employees you will meet in your travels.

91 questions
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Tactics to avoid getting harassed by corrupt police?

In Uzbekistan I was stopped, searched and questioned six times in one day. At the border with Tajikistan, one official tried hiding my paperwork to elicit something from me. In Kyrgyzstan, I was physically harassed and detained by the police, and…
Mark Mayo
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Immigration officer that stopped me at the airport is texting me. What do I do?

Yesterday my cousin arrived to Chicago from Mexico, she is visiting family there to spend the holidays, this is not the first time she visits. She was stopped by immigration, because they thought it was weird that she was spending the holidays away…
DiegoJ
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Should I say hello to the passport control officers, or just quietly give them my passport?

What is the etiquette? What do the passport control officers expect? I’m asking from the point of politeness and efficiency.
Vadim Eisenberg
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Does a US immigration officer really have the power to deny entry to the country at personal will?

Quite some comments exist that in the end it is the individual immigration officer that has the final call to let you enter the US or not and that there is no way of objecting that decision. Given the major effects of such a decision - you have a…
user141
49
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1 answer

Is it possible to insist on having your ID checked at the police station, not in the street in Austria?

I am a non-EU citizen and I understand that I could be stopped in Austria and asked for my passport (and visa). Moreover, as far as I know, there are police officers in Austria dressed in civilian clothing. At the same time, searching the web…
alisianoi
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Wrongfully held at Italian passport control for over an hour (EU citizen): can I get financial compensation?

Background for anyone who may not know: I, an EU citizen, have the right to enter any EU or Schengen state (in this case Italy) using either a passport or national ID card. It doesn't matter whether I fly from the UK, Turkey or even the US; Italy is…
Crazydre
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What is the meaning of a police car with no department or logo in the USA?

While traveling in the Southwest, I saw on two different occasions police cars that were painted all black, with no writing or logos on them. One was an older style of a police car, the other was a muscle car that looked brand new. They had all of…
Village
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How to deal with the fake police scam in Spain?

I have read so many internet articles about safety in Spain, and the fake police scam is one of the most mentioned problems. Most of those reported cases are that the victims are surrounded by group of undercover 'police', accusing you of having…
RAY
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4 answers

Creepy situation: I'm staying at a hotel, but my hosts disappeared a week ago and aren't responding – what should I do?

I'm a digital nomad staying at a hotel in Albania. The hotel is a three-story villa with a few studios, managed by private hosts—a man and a woman—who have been very kind. Initially, I booked a studio through booking.com for a few nights. After…
Coala
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Why do UK border officers question EEA nationals entering?

I am aware EU citizens can stay in the UK unconditionally for up to 3 months, and permanently if they study, have a job or otherwise can support themselves. That makes me wonder why UK Border Force officers frequently question EEA nationals? Not in…
Crazydre
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What should you do if you get arrested in a foreign country?

If a traveller - for whatever reason, is arrested on charges (valid or otherwise), what steps should he/she take to ensure their safety, local and home legal aid and security? How can one make sure your family and country knows about the situation?…
Mark Mayo
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1 answer

Can I call 112 to check a police officer's identity in the Czech Republic?

I'm travelling from the UK to the Czech Republic soon. The UK foreign travel advice for the Czech Republic includes the following (bold emphasis is mine): Beware of bogus plain-clothes policemen, who may ask to see your foreign currency and…
LJD200
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How to contact border authorities in EU/Schengen countries?

For questions about entering a country, people are usually referred to the embassy of said country. Unfortunately, except regarding visa issuance, these often prove rather uninformative. So how would one contact the actual border authorities of the…
Crazydre
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5 answers

Does my government know in which country I am at when I travel?

I guess this is the type of question I should start with "a friend of mine wants to know..." but I was wondering if in general governments keep a record that gets updated each time you go through inmigration in another country in some sort of…
JordanBelf
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Are there plain clothes police patrols in Warsaw, or was I a victim of a scam?

I was walking along the river in Warsaw in the afternoon and was approached by two men who claimed to be police. They showed me ID, but I have no idea what Polish policja ID is supposed to look like, much less how to tell if it was fake. They said…
user53593
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