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I got stopped at immigration. I'm going in a different room and I started panicking. We recently flew from South Korea to the US and even as an American, I get very nervous entering the US, going through security, going through immigration. It can just be very nerve-wracking and usually we have no problem, but recently for the first time ever, he got pulled into the secondary room. Can you tell me a little bit about that experience?

Yeah, I thought I had no problem because I was talking to the first immigration guy and then he was asking me all the questions. I answered correctly and then he said, um, it's not biggie, but follow me. What the heck is going on?

So even though we're married, we have to go into two separate lines because he doesn't have his green card yet, so he is still on a tourist visa. So I go through the line for citizens and I was waiting at baggage claim and it was taking forever and I was like, what the heck is going on? And then I got a text from him saying, I got stopped at immigration, I'm going in a different room, and I started panicking.

I was on ESTA visa, which is tourist visa. This time I only visit for 90 days and I think they knew it, but I think they randomly choose couple people to investigating if there's any possibility of illegal entries or something like that. So I went there. There were, I think, like 7, 8 people from the same flight. One of the guys, they were talking to him. He didn't really speak good English. So they had to put one interpreter on the phone. Some of them was in the separate interview room. And then I overheard what they're saying. The problem they have— Oh, hi, Nelly! You want to be on the camera again? They didn't really have a proof that they are working for a company in America. Not a paper or a specific phone number.

Like contact information for their company.

Yes.

I was waiting out by baggage claim and it is a smaller terminal and I was standing there by myself forever and ever. And finally I went up to try and track him down. And I saw a security officer and I just asked, I said, "My husband got pulled into the secondary room. I haven't seen him. I haven't heard from him. What can I do?" And he was actually very friendly and helpful. He led me over to the room. Of course, I could not enter the room, but he stuck his head inside the room and came back out and just reassured me that you were there and that you'd be out in a minute. So that was pretty much it on my end.

So they had to even go through my luggage again just in case I sneak something.

Did they think you were a spy with all your camera gear, all the vlogging gear?

Maybe that's why they stopped me.

So what kind of questions did they ask you?

Oh, they usually ask, what's the purpose of visiting US? And I usually answer, I'm visiting my family, just shortly. They also ask, uh, where do you stay? I usually take a screenshot of the address I'm staying in advance, right? Yes. And also they usually ask me like, what do you do for a living? I'm guessing that is because there's any possibility of me doing some illegal money-making, like side jobs. Well, yeah, so I usually answer I'm teaching IT. And then they usually also ask me the further question, you don't go to office? "while visiting US to?" And then I usually answer as like, "Oh, I'm working online." Are they ever suspicious because you're here for a longer amount of time? As long as I have the return ticket, they usually don't give me a hard time at all.

Do they ask any like odd questions? Anything really unexpected?

They didn't ask me any weird question, but I overheard in the secondary room to a guy who didn't really speak English very well. Like what is your mom's name, what is your dad's name, what do they do for a living. What I'm guessing is they have a lot of information actually they can access to a person, so they, they trying to double-check if there's any illegal, uh, issue.

So overall, how did you feel during this experience? Because I would have been panicking. I was panicking, and I wasn't even the one in the room.

I was pretty nervous actually because, uh, they were big guys in the room and all cops.

I think the scary thing is like the worst case scenario is that you can get sent back, right? They might not let you leave the airport and you might have to go back to Korea. But it all worked out well.

It worked out.

But this has never happened before. He has visited the US many times for 3 months at a time, and this was the first time he's ever been given a hard time at immigration. So I'm hoping I'm hoping that if you're watching this, it never happens to any of you guys, but if it does, maybe can you give them some advice?

So there's 3 tips that I can share with you. First thing is you need to prepare all the documents. You don't need to prepare like the actual paper, but make sure to save it as a screenshot. Of course, you will have your passport, you'll have your ESTA visa thing, any address that you're staying, or phone number. That you can contact with. Whenever they ask you a question, you just need to show the screenshot.

That's smart. So that can probably, yeah, help prevent, um, more questions and more probing, right? Even if you're staying in a hotel, have the name of the hotel, the address of the hotel, um, any and as many pieces of information you can prepare in advance.

And also the returning flight information too. So when are you going back? You don't need to talk. What are you saying?

Probably even if you're going to a work conference or something, you could show the details of the conference, right?

For sure. Second one, I think this is important one. The most important thing here is you don't want to make an impression that you are going to work here and make money. That's what they want to prevent the most, staying here more than 90 days illegally. So Even if you're coming here for business, like work, don't say, "I'm gonna make some American dollars." Nope, nope, nope, nope. That's something that you don't want to say.

So to be on the safe side, "I'm here on a business trip with my company," something like that.

The final tip is don't say too much when they're asking you a question. Yes, no, date, name.

Don't elaborate.

Don't elaborate.

And don't say, "I don't know." Maybe you could say, "Let me check. Let me double-check." Where are you staying? Let me double-check. Can I check my reservation? Something like this, right?

When you couldn't understand what he's saying, you can also say, "Could you repeat that again?" So that you can answer it correctly.

Exactly. Don't make up an answer just because you feel like you can't explain it well. Yes.

Never lie.

I know sometimes in Korean, I catch myself just saying, "Nay, nay." Don't do that if you're in the secondary room. Be honest, but short and simple.

If something is going wrong, you can request to have a Korean interpreter there.

I hope we didn't intimidate you all or scare you all away from coming to the US. I swear he's been coming here for so long, like 10 years, and this is the first time it's ever happened. So it's not a common occurrence, but we're just sharing his experience so that if it ever does happen to you, you know what to do in that situation and you don't panic.

And enjoy the trip in US.

I hope you found this helpful. Although again, I hope you never ever need to use this information, but if you do, now you're prepared. If you like this video, make sure to subscribe to our channel, check out the pinned comment below, and if you want to take your English to the next level, check out our membership option. Thank you everybody and see you next time. Bye!