Learnt from guide books and many travelers that it'd be a problem getting into Israel if I had been some of their "enemy" countries especially Iran. I thought switching passport at Israeli immigration was the perfect solution to it so they wouldn't know exactly where I had been. However I didn't feel totally comfortable the day before crossing the border from Jordan, since I didn't know how to explain if they tried to trace it down. If that's the case, they might think I wanted to hide something.
I looked up internet for hours by using my i-touch through the free wi-fi in the hotel (Thanks god they had free wi-fi in this cheap hotel in Amman). Found out it was feasible to get into Israel with all the visa stamps I had although it would have high possibility of being interrogated and thorough bag searching. Their questions would probably be why, how or where I had been in those countries. The advice was just be honest. So I decided to take a shot.
After going through layers of security check at the border of Israel side, the immigration officer asked me some preliminary questions about my visit to other countries and Israel as well. Then she asked me to wait in the waiting area. After almost two hours waiting, there was another officer dressed in casual wear guided me to another side of waiting area where we sit side by side. She politely said sorry for the wait before introduction. As expected she asked me loads of questions about my trip to those countries, like: why was I going there? how long did I stay? where did I go? did I have friends there? did I stay in locals' home? how did I go there? any contacts? was it dangerous?
So I was just being honest (90%) answering all her questions. All they wanted to find out was if I was about to make trouble in their country. Guess she was happy with my reply. Then she said it shouldn't take too long to give me the stamp. After another half hour waiting, the first officer came back to me and handed me back the passport. Have a good day she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment