Quote:
Originally Posted by vxf
Just a bit of perspective: I am a foreigner (Italian) living in the USA. Thanks to the non-easy immigration process, I have been here for 15 years (with a brief break) and I still do not have residency - but a working visa. I have always been here legally and done everything by the book. I have a PhD and I teach at a major University.
So my case might be a bit peculiar. But I remember my PC/phone and other electronic equipment often being swiped and I have been asked many times to turn things on and to log in - I think to demonstrate that the devices are actually what they look like. I think this happens more often in Europe, actually. So I say... welcome to my world. But I don't understand what has changed, since they seemed to be able to do with my devices what they wanted even before. Unless I received different treatment because of nationality, which is plausible.
And yes, the 100 miles zone is very real and very arbitrary. I live in Buffalo, NY now and being pulled over for no reason is not frequent, but it happens, because of the proximity to the border. I have never been given a hard time (I don't always have my passport and visa with me). But I was pulled over in south Texas once, close to the Mexican border (in South Padre) and the officers gave me a very hard time because I did not have my passport with me (despite the fact that I was far from the border and had no intention of crossing). They finally figured out that my employment authorization card was a valid ID for their purposes and let me go, but with considerable delay. But, not familiar with the area, I was surprised that they had these random road blocks checking every car. Here in Buffalo I have not seen road blocks, but I see them pull over cars randomly for checks.
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That is the nice thing about being a foreigner in Asia. Roadblock ahead -- they see me, I pretend I don't speak the local language and they wave me through without checking
Used to avoid getting traffic tickets this way, too. But somehow it doesn't work anymore, now they just silently write up the ticket without talking....