Never fill in the immigration forms like I did...
You'll end up wearing women's clothes!

I lived in California for 6 months, and I actually got married there. My girlfriend (now wife) did not fly with me to San Francisco immediately, but would fly over a couple of weeks later. However, as she wanted to bring some extra stuff with her, she asked me if I could bring some of her clothes with me in my suitcase already.

Flight was fine, I was waiting in line at customs/immigration. At the counter I handed over my form, which I filled in in the airplane. Being the honest guy that I am, I had written down that I was bringing stuff with me that was worth more than USD 750 (or something like that). That was not because of the clothes, but the wedding rings.

Because I had written that down, the customs officer told me to step aside and open my suitcase. I explained to him that it was the wedding rings, but I still had to open my suitcase.

There he saw my girlfriend's clothes. So I explained to him that she would arrive later.

He than said: "Sir, if this is not yours, and if the total value is more than xxx USD, you'll have to pay import duties".

I ended up signing a statement that the clothes were indeed mine, and that usually would wear them. Luckily I didn't have to put them on right there and then, although I had to put on both mine and my girlfriend's wedding ring so that they would be exempt from import duties (being used and all...).

The customs guy very friendly told me when I was leaving: "You shouldn't have filled in that form like that..."
(nassie999, Tue 7 Mar 2006, 11:13, Reply)