Travel English: How to go through customs at the airport

1,309,930 views ・ 2014-12-05

Adam’s English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:01
Hi. I'm Adam. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. Today's lesson is a little bit specialized.
0
1439
6628
00:08
We're going to talk about going through customs at a U.S. airport, more specifically, at an airport.
1
8093
6517
00:14
Now, before I begin, why am I doing this lesson? Not too long ago, I flew... I had to go out
2
14610
5930
00:20
of town and I had to fly through the States. I flew through Detroit, it's a big hub. In
3
20540
6000
00:26
case you're ever flying through a hub, a hub is a central area where many flights come
4
26540
4550
00:31
and connect to other flights. And I was in line at the customs, and ahead of me was a
5
31090
6347
00:37
couple, they were tourists, I think. And I could see the panic on their faces when the
6
37463
7050
00:44
custom guy... Customs guy started speaking to them and asking them questions, and they
7
44539
4851
00:49
were so nervous, and they could barely speak. And the more nervous they became, the more
8
49390
5570
00:54
questions they got from the customs guy. So, I want to make going through customs as easy
9
54960
5189
01:00
as possible for you by giving you a few tips.
10
60149
3847
01:04
First thing you have to remember when you come to the customs guys: have all your forms
11
64339
5461
01:09
completed properly. So, if you're coming into a States, you're going to be given a form,
12
69800
4730
01:14
I think it's an I-94 form with all kinds of questions. Fill out everything correctly,
13
74530
6700
01:21
properly. If you're not sure what something means, ask a flight attendant to help you,
14
81230
4750
01:25
they will. Fill everything before you get to customs. Have all your documents; your
15
85980
5590
01:31
passport, your return flight ticket. If you're going as a student, have your Visa. If you're
16
91570
5790
01:37
going there to work, have your Visa, your work permit, whatever you need. All documents
17
97360
4420
01:41
ready, all forms complete, ready to go.
18
101780
3650
01:45
Then the most important thing that you can do when going through customs at an U.S. airport
19
105430
6680
01:52
is relax. Okay? Very important to relax. Now, one thing you will notice about American customs
20
112110
8814
02:00
officers, they never ever smile. They will never smile. They are always going to look
21
120950
6984
02:07
mean, and tough, and questions, questions, questions. That's their job. They're nice
22
127960
4910
02:12
people. Don't think anything badly of them. They're doing their job, they want to scare
23
132870
5120
02:17
you so that you give them the information that they need.
24
137990
4032
02:22
So, relax. Answer all their questions quickly and as short as possible. If they ask you
25
142240
7684
02:29
a yes/no question, answer yes or no. Almost... In most cases, in 99% of the questions, don't
26
149950
9004
02:38
say: "I don't know." You do know. You know everything that they're going to ask you.
27
158980
4900
02:43
Yes, no, there, there, this long, that person, done. Okay.
28
163880
5340
02:49
So, they can ask you any number of questions, but here are a few of the more common questions
29
169220
5720
02:54
that they might ask you. Okay? So, be prepared, answer them quickly, go on your way, enjoy
30
174940
5390
03:00
your vacation in the U.S.
31
180330
1958
03:02
What is your final destination? It means: where are you going? Where is your last stop?
32
182444
5684
03:08
So, if you're flying in to New York and then you're catching another flight to Kentucky,
33
188261
5188
03:13
your final destination is Kentucky, not New York. So, you're going to Kentucky. If you're
34
193667
5953
03:19
going to another country, so for example I was coming back to Canada. What is your final
35
199620
4670
03:24
destination? Toronto. I was just flying through the U.S.
36
204290
4859
03:29
How long will you be staying in the U.S.? Again, never say: "I don't know." You do know.
37
209547
5383
03:34
You have a return ticket out. If you have an open ticket, say you have... "I have a
38
214930
5510
03:40
one-year open ticket. I'm not sure when I'm going to go back, but within one year." Have
39
220440
5750
03:46
that ticket ready to show him or her. Okay?
40
226190
3317
03:49
How long will you be staying? Two days, a week, two weeks, whatever.
41
229533
5097
03:55
What is the purpose of your visit? Why are you here? To visit family, work or business,
42
235114
7833
04:03
tourism, vacation, or transit. Okay? I was there, just transit. Transiting. I was just
43
243205
9338
04:12
catching a flight to my next place, which is Canada. I was just here to transit. No problem.
44
252569
6752
04:19
Where will you be staying? Now, this is a very important question. If you are staying
45
259641
5649
04:25
in the U.S., make sure you have your hotel address ready to tell the customs officer.
46
265290
6601
04:31
If you're staying with a friend, have your friend's address ready to tell the customs
47
271917
5373
04:37
officer. If you're staying in a dorm, if you're a student, say the name of the school, the
48
277290
5035
04:42
dorm, have the address ready. Never say: "I don't know. I haven't figured it out yet."
49
282351
4939
04:47
They want to know where to find you if they need to find you. Okay? Make sure you have
50
287290
4960
04:52
an actual place to stay.
51
292250
2902
04:55
How much currency are you carrying? Or: are you carrying with you? It means: how much
52
295332
4248
04:59
cash? Traveller's cheques, they don't care. Credit card, they don't care. How much cash?
53
299580
6321
05:05
You are allowed $10,000. Hopefully, you're not carrying $10,000 because they will take
54
305994
9750
05:15
you to the back, and see it, ask you more questions, etc. If you have $100, say you
55
315770
7284
05:23
have $100, that's it.
56
323080
2322
05:25
Now, in some countries, for example, when I go somewhere and I have to go through the
57
325900
3880
05:29
States, in Canada, we go through U.S. customs in Canada, so they will ask some security
58
329806
5893
05:35
questions. Who packed your bags? Only one answer: "I did." Sorry, if you heard that.
59
335725
7000
05:42
I did. Nobody packed my bags. I packed my bags. That's it.
60
342900
4100
05:47
Did anybody give you a gift? No.
61
347000
3074
05:50
Did any...? Did you leave the bag alone at any time? Did you leave it unattended that
62
350100
3940
05:54
somebody else could touch it? No. Okay? As soon as you say yes, you're going to the back,
63
354040
5260
05:59
they're opening your bag, they're looking around to make sure.
64
359300
3149
06:02
Are you carrying any guns or knives? If you are, you probably don't want to be going through
65
362449
6371
06:08
customs anyway, so, no.
66
368820
2390
06:11
Do you have anything to declare? Now, this is a very tricky question. You need to know
67
371444
4776
06:16
the rules. Okay? If you're bringing plants, you have to declare them. If you're bringing
68
376220
5229
06:21
more than $10,000, you must declare it. If you're bringing any meat or other food items,
69
381449
6560
06:28
you must declare it. Before you travel to the U.S., get on their U.S. government website,
70
388009
7000
06:35
customs website, find out what you're allowed and what you're not allowed to bring, what
71
395035
4474
06:39
you have to and what you don't have to declare. You don't want trouble later if they open
72
399509
4771
06:44
your bags. Okay?
73
404280
1570
06:45
Now, they may ask you many other questions. The more nervous you are, the more questions
74
405850
5830
06:51
they will ask you. I generally get these questions and they let me go. Okay? Everybody has a
75
411680
5140
06:56
different experience. Some days, they're looking for more, so they'll ask people more questions.
76
416820
5028
07:01
Some days, they will take a random search. I'll just put it here. They will just take
77
421874
6676
07:08
somebody at random, and take them, and open their bags, and look, and let them go.
78
428550
3890
07:12
There's something called a secondary... A secondary questioning. If they think they
79
432440
7314
07:19
want to ask you more questions, they will take you to a room in the back, they will
80
439780
4330
07:24
ask you more questions. Again, relax. If you have nothing to hide, then they have nothing
81
444110
6020
07:30
to find. Okay? So don't worry about it.
82
450130
2700
07:32
So, if you're travelling through the States, remember: it's not... Don't worry about the
83
452830
3574
07:36
English. Keep your questions short and answer them quickly. You don't need full sentences.
84
456430
5980
07:42
You definitely don't need perfect sentences. Answer the question, go on your way. Okay?
85
462410
6080
07:48
I've put a few of these... A few examples of answers and questions that you might face
86
468490
4850
07:53
on www.engvid.com's quiz section. You can ask me questions there as well. And don't
87
473340
6229
07:59
forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. See you again. Bye.
88
479569
3116
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7