hey student, in this English video I am going
to show you how you can speak English more confidently at Customs & Immigration. This is another English at the airport video. Make sure to stay until the end. Hey student, teacher Prix here to help you
talk to anyone anywhere anytime in English. Thank you so much for watching this video. Traveling abroad is something that many of
you want to do or maybe have to do at some point in your lives so in this video I am
going to be giving you some ideas, some strategies so that you can feel more comfortable when
you are at Customs answering important questions to the immigration officer ok? With that in mind, the first tip that I would
like to give you in this video is prepare yourself in advance. Even though the questions the officer will
ask you are very simple, it is important to have some kind of preparation and you can
do that now by watching this video and studying and when you have a trip, you know scheduled,
booked then it is a good idea to start preparing yourself for that situation because it is
going to happen. For some people it is going to be a very quick
interview for other people like me for example, the last time I traveled, I spent quite some
time with the officer, answering questions and having a very nice conversation with him. So it is important to be prepared for that
situation. The second tip I am going to give you and
stay until the end because I am gonna show you some important questions the immigration
officer will ask you and also weird questions that the immigration officer might ask you. The second tip that I want you to take into
consideration is accept that you may not understand some words at the time you have the interview,
ok? This is going to happen to all of us whether
you are a false beginner, a pre-intermediate speaker, an intermediate speaker, an advanced
speaker, a fluent speaker, especially due to the emotions we are going through, we are
feeling at that moment. Some of us get very nervous, very anxious,
very worried. Some of us are super excited so all of those
emotions may impact your comprehension. Not to mention there is a lot of background
noise, people talking, things happening so that may impact your listening comprehension. And if that happens, and it is going to happen,
ok so it is just a matter of when that happens, ask the officer to repeat. They know English is not your native language. Prepare yourself and accept the fact that
you may not understand everything they say and then make sure that you express that politely
and calmly. I am sorry can you say that again? I am sorry can you repeat that please? My English is a little rusty. It is completely natural to misunderstand
immigration officers and they are trained for those situations and remember you are
a good person visiting America, or visiting Canada, Australia or another country, there
is no need to feel like you did something wrong. So it is important to calm down cause the
more anxious you feel, the more nervousness you show, the more questions the officer may
ask, ok, depending on your body and facial expressions, ok? Now, tips number 3, there will be specific
questions they are going to ask you, ok? So, it is important to know how to answer
those questions immediately and to do that, you need to prepare, that's why in tip number
1 I say prepare yourself because they're going to ask specific questions so a few examples
of those questions are. What's the purpose of your visit? Basically they want to know why are you here? Are you on business? And be prepared to answer more questions if
you're going on business. I am on vacation, I am a tourist. They may ask you where you're going, why,
how long you're staying, ok so, for pretty much any tourist, they may ask those kinds
of questions. I am a student. I am going to study "blah" at "blah blah". I am going to study English at this school. I am going to take a certification at this
place. I am going to participate in an Academic Conference
at that university. So it is important that you prepare that part
of the answer because only you know the reason why you're visiting that country, but teacher,
I am going to America because I want to find a job, be careful! Because there are legal ways to do that and
you need the right documents, you need the right visa to be able to do that. I get a lot of questions asking me that. Teacher, I wanna find a job in America, guys
there are proper visas that you need to apply for before going to America if that's your
goal. It is actually very complicated to do that. In many cases when people contact me asking
that question, it is because they intend to go to another country and find a job illegally
and that I cannot help you with. Another thing you can say is I am visiting
a family member. You will need to answer more questions. They may ask you who that person is, if that
person is legal, of course that person should be legal, what the person does, you know,
is that person married, where they live, they will ask you more questions depending on your
goal, ok. Important advice here: never lie. Be as honest as possible. There is no reason to lie, ok? Next question is pretty much connected with
the first. They wanna know, ok, you're gonna be here
as a tourist, how long are you going to stay here? A week, two weeks, three weeks. They may ask you the same question but in
a different way such as how long are you going to stay here or how long do you intend to
stay here but at the end of the day, that's basically the question they are going to ask. I was asked that question the last time I
went to New York city. And I just said, well 7 days, no, 8 days. I stayed there for 8 days. You don't need to give a very long answer,
just say the number of days that you're going to stay in that country. Next question, what do you do? What do you do means what's your occupation? What is your job? What do you do? When I was in New York city, the last time
I was in New York city, I answered this question. I am a teacher. Oh my God, he asked me a lot of questions
about my job. Oh are you a teacher? and then I remembered,
oh man I used the wrong word. I shouldn't have said teacher because usually
they connect the word teacher with a school, you know, elementary school and I had to explain
and then I was like, oh my God, I am a private tutor. When I realized what he wanted to know, I
was like, no no, I am sorry, I am a private tutor, ok? I teach English on the internet to adults
and he was like, oh ok! So that's why you can travel, because you
are online and I said yes, yes, that's why. So be careful with the way you answer the
question what do you do? because they will ask more questions especially if you look
friendly they will want to make conversation, depending on the officer, ok? In my case for example, he asked me a lot
of questions, with my friend he didn't ask so many questions. My friend got another officer, not the same
as I did and his interview was very fast. Actually my friend was worried about me because
I was there talking and talking and having a conversation and my friend was like where
were you, what happened? I was worried about you and I was like, dude,
I am fine. We were just, you know catching up. I have the time of my life when I am traveling
so for me, I was really enjoying the conversation actually, to be very honest. Now, the next, oh ok, so as I said, depending
on what you say that you do, they may ask a few more questions. So it all comes down to your job, ok? So be as specific as possible, you don't need
to be, to give a very long explanation, ok? Be objective, be specific but don't speak
for too long because that's not the goal, ok? And hey, if you are enjoying this video, make
sure to hit the like button and if possible subscribe to my channel because when you do
that, YouTube understands that this is a good lesson, that this is a good environment and
then it recommends my lessons to other English learners like you. And now let's keep going. The next question, do you have any relatives
here? Do you have any family? So this is another possible way to ask that
question. Do you have any family here? Do you have any relative here? And if the answer is yes, again, they will
ask who they are, where they live, what they do, how long they have been in the US or in
Canada, or in Australia because these are important questions for them, they may wanna
know the answer to those questions ok? Next question. I was asked that question: how much money
do you have available for this trip? How much cash my friend? Well, I answered what I had. I had about 2000, 2500 $ in cash plus a credit
card. So I said, well about 2500$ plus a credit
card and then he smiled and said wow you are planning on doing some shopping, right? And I was like, yes, I wanna go shopping. I can't wait. So be prepared for a joke, maybe they will
joke about it. Oh so you're gonna do some shopping? Yes. I am. So how much money do you have available for
this trip? You don't need to give a very long explanation,
simply say how much you have. 2000$ 1000$, credit card and 2000$ and that's
it. You don't need to make a very long sentence
to answer this question. Another important thing: who is paying for
this trip? They may ask you this question. This is a weird question. Is it your boyfriend paying for this trip? Is it your mom? Your dad? Your husband? Your wife? So they may ask you this question but this
is a weird question to ask. They may ask you this question if you look
very young, ok, they may ask you that question, who is paying for this trip? Ok? Especially if you say I am a student. Then they may ask oh ok, who is paying for
this trip? Oh my parents. Oh my grandparents. Oh my family got together and paid for this
trip, huh nice family, so it is ok, don't worry about it. It's a little off the usual questions but
if you are too young, if you are a student, they may wanna know ok? And if you are a student who paid it by yourself,
then you say. Well, I saved money before this trip, now
I am taking a break and I am here to study. Don't be afraid of giving this kind of explanation
if it is true. ok? And then the next question Are you traveling
alone? Nowadays it is very common for people to travel
alone so don't be afraid that the officer may think you are a weird person, no! Or in my case for example, I answered, no
I am traveling with a friend and he was like oh that's wonderful and then he asked where
are you staying? which is another possible question, so you see, there is not really
a specific sequence; depending on what you say, they may remember what kind of question
they should ask. So when I said I am traveling with my friend
from college then he was like oh ok and where are you guys staying? At an airbnb, we rented a house. Oh Where? In Queens. Oh, that's wonderful, great! So don't worry about that, ok? So if they ask, it is pretty standard. On the other hand they may ask you some weird
questions so what I showed you now were pretty much standard questions that pretty much every
officer may ask you, ok? They may not ask you all these questions. They may not ask you these questions in the
particular order I've shown you here but they may ask you. Now these questions on the other hand are
different, they may or may not ask you because they are a little bit weird, ok? The first question they may ask you is: Can
I see your return flight ticket? They may ask to see that. If you don't have the copy, the physical copy,
then you can show it on your phone, you know, open the app, make sure that you have your
flight ticket, your return flight ticket saved on your cell phone that you can easily get
access to because they may ask you, ok? This didn't happen to me in New York but when
I was traveling around Europe, many years ago. They stopped me before, not even at Customs,
ok? But I was stopped before boarding the plane
and they wanted to see all my return flight tickets from all my trips around Europe. Was I worried? Yes! Was I afraid? Of course. But I had the freaking flight tickets, so
I showed them, ok? So it is ok to be afraid, to be nervous but
be prepared, so this is something that they may ask you so it would be interesting to
have the flight, the return flight ticket in hand or that you can easily get access
to and another weird question which you should absolutely say NO! Are you carrying any illegal items? I know it is weird but they may ask you. The answer is NO! Ok? They are testing you! Maybe they are just curious to see your reaction,
to see if you panic and then they ask: are you carrying any illegal items? No ma'am, no sir! So it is a weird question, but that hardly
ever happens, ok? So relax, you're ok! In addition to the standard questions I've
shown you, they may ask you these questions: Can I see your return flight tickets? or Are
you carrying any illegal items? They may even repeat the question? Hey do you know anyone here? Do you know anyone in America? Do you know anyone here in Canada? They may wanna know! So they may cut to the chase and say, how
many people do you know here? And then you could be like, well I am, I don't
have any friends here, I don't know anyone. Or maybe you are traveling on business and
you can say: well, I know some colleagues but I don't know them in person, we have conference
calls, we have meetings every week but I don't really know them in person. This is a more unusual kind of question they
may ask, ok? Seeing your flight tickets, checking if you
have anything illegal with you, you obviously don't but they may ask and it is weird. That's why I am saying that. To finish up this video, we are going through
pandemic, if you're watching this video in 2021 probably in 2022, you know that there
is something happening around the world that is changing some procedures at airports; security,
health screening medical screening, so be prepared for additional steps, additional
questions or medical screenings at the moment you arrive at your destination, so be prepared
for additional questions connected with your health but don't worry about it, I have some
friends who have already traveled to the United States during this pandemic and the process
was pretty much standard, ok? Other than that, share this video with your
friends if you enjoyed it, make sure to hit the like button and I will see you next time! Bye!
