Show HN: How to be best friends with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol

I’ve been pulled in for secondary screening at the U.S. border many times. The following is what I wish I had known two years ago.

Some of what’s described will not apply to you, but if you’re planning on entering the U.S. on any visa, most will. I write about the specific scenarios I have experienced — the ball is ultimately in your court to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Applying for a visa

You’re applying for a category B visa, which is a visitor visa. You should read the relevant part of the foreign affairs manual (FAM) to be sure of the Department of State’s expectations for you as a visitor. The category B visa is all of 9 FAM 402.2. In it, you’ll see that “[Category B] visas are nonimmigrant visas for persons who want to enter the United States temporarily for business (B-1), or for pleasure (B-2), or a combination of both purposes (B-1/B-2).”

The two most important things to remember are:

1. B visas are NIV — non-immigrant visas. You cannot enter the U.S. on them with “immigrant intent”, they are temporary, and you need to leave after you do what you are coming to the country for.
2. B visas do not grant you work authorization, meaning you cannot be employed or make money from a U.S. company while in the country on one.

These are the main things you have to prove in your application and interview.

The NIV application form is called DS-160, and is online. It’s long, takes about an hour and a half, and asks you lots of questions like “what’s your name”, “where do you live?” and “are you a terrorist?”. You should apply for a joint B-1/B-2 visa if you can. Mine is valid for 10 years, but my Singaporean friends’ are valid for only 5 years. Since it’s a B-1 and a B-2, you can come back to the U.S. for tourism on the same visa after you are done with volunteering, for example.

After you’re done, you need to schedule an interview. It’s a separate step. Do this as soon as you finish your DS-160, as the appointment wait times are very long. When I was applying, I didn’t realise I had to schedule one, by the time I scheduled an interview the only date available was months away. Silly mistake in hindsight but I was figuring things out for the first time!

In-person interview

You must arrive at the consulate many hours earlier than your scheduled time. The line was hours long, both queueing to get into the building and inside. In London there was an airport-style security theatre at the doors. Don’t bring a bag, you won’t be allowed to take it inside. There will be lockers nearby if you do end up. I had to pay some random cafe, but my friend who went for an interview in Perth found lockers inside the actual consulate building. You should appear presentable; if you show up in sweatpants you will not be taken seriously.

It’s really important you’re assertive in the interview. If you appear unsure of everything you’re likely to get denied. It’s a game of demonstrating you’re someone they want to give a visa to.

You need to bring your passport, your DS-160 page, printed out, and your appointment confirmation letter, printed out. Put them in one of those clear plastic envelopes.

If applying for a B-1 to volunteer at a nonprofit, you also need to bring a letter, printed off, from the organisation inviting you to the programme, detailing information specified in 9 FAM 402.2-5(C)(2), which is;

• Your name, date, and place of birth,
• Your permanent address (outside of the U.S.)
• Name and address of your initial destination in the U.S.
• The duration you anticipate to be in the U.S. for.

The letter I gave the consular officer was missing a piece of the above information. They gave me a temporary denial (§221(g), as shown below), asking me to physically mail them the amended letter. This in itself was quite a process: I had to email them asking to unlock my account, then printed off a courier certificate, then took it to an approved courier location, along with my passport, amended letter, and my denial letter. In the letter you can actually see they cited the foreign affairs manual section as described above.

After a while (I forget how long, probably a week or two) they posted me my passport back, with the visa inside. It’s a sticker, and it takes up a full page of your passport.

I know people who were denied under 214(b). This is a more serious denial, and means they think you have “immigrant intent”. From the Department of State’s website;

Ties are the various aspects of your life that bind you to your home country. Strong ties vary from country to country, city to city, and person to person, but examples include:

• Your job;
• Your home; and/or
• Your relationships with family and friends.

Crossing the border

As a non-U.S. citizen, you must treat crossing the border into the U.S. as entering a hostile area. You will be questioned by a person wearing a bulletproof vest with a gun. You will be asked where you live, why you’re here, what you’re doing. Your hands will start to sweat and you will trip over your words. If you are entering for an extended period of time, or you are entering frequently, it is very likely you will get pulled into a lengthy secondary screening interview. If you say the wrong thing, you can be detained, your bags can be searched, your devices can be seized and forensically searched, your visa can be cancelled, and you can be banned from entering the U.S. for many years.

These are all things that have either happened to me, or someone I know. I say this not to scare you, but to set the scene of what you are walking into; more information is always better than less. Most border crossings are uneventful and quick.

You’ll need to bring printed out documents proving your purpose for coming into the country. In my case, volunteering for a nonprofit, this meant the same document that I brought to the visa interview, describing my invitation to the in-person programme at the organisation, along with my expected entry and exit date, on the organisation’s official letterhead, signed by my manager, with their contact details attached. My friends on F-1s need to bring a printed-out copy of their I-20 form. You should bring these documents with you every time you cross the border. My friends and I have successfully crossed many times without them, but it opens you up to a heap of questioning in secondary screening if you don’t.

You’re allowed to be in the country for up to 6 months at a time on a B visa. Every time you re-enter the country, you’re granted another 6 months. If you come in and say you’re only there for two weeks, but then your plans change and you end up being in the country for two months, you’re good! However, CBP keeps a record of what you tell them, and if you’re consistently telling them a week and staying for 6 months they’ll know about it and pull you aside.

If you’re not entering the country on a visa but an ESTA (electronic system for travel authorisation), you can stay for up to 90 days at a time. However, people rarely do this. I came on an ESTA for 3 months twice in quick succession, and I was told to get a visa the next time I came or there would be problems.

People volunteering for nonprofits on a B-1 is uncommon. I was questioned about this many times, one officer who had not read the law allowing this once threatened to cancel my visa. If I were to do it again, I would bring with me a printed-out copy of 9 FAM 402.2-5(C)(2).

Many people will tell you to minimize border crossings as much as you can. This is safe advice, though, and this is my opinion, erring quite far on the side of caution. Between 2023 and 2025, I successfully entered/exited the U.S. more than 30 times, though you should not blindly apply this figure to yourself.

Form I-94

(a letter i, not an L)

This is basically a document specifying when you were admitted to the U.S., and by when you have to leave. It used to be physically handed to you when you entered the country but now it’s just online: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/home

This is what it looks like (personal details redacted):

The Form I-94, “Arrival/Departure Record,” is a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document issued to nonimmigrant aliens at the time of lawful entry into the United States at an air or sea port of entry. The Form I-94 is evidence of a nonimmigrant’s term of admission and used to document legal status in the United States, including length of stay and departure.

On that website you can also see your travel history, which is pretty cool!

Profiling

I am a mostly-presentable, well-spoken, white British man. If you have brown or black skin, or if English is not your first language, you will not be afforded as much leeway as me.

I’ve collected refusal rates for category B visas. See the graph below.

This graph must be read carefully; for example, Canadian rates appear high because they are actually afforded more leniency than any other country in the world. Other countries must visit a consulate for an in-person interview prior to reaching the border, while Canadian citizens can just drive up to the checkpoint and get a visitor visa automatically. Their rejection rates are high because of small things like missing paperwork, not because they have higher overstay/security risk.

Visa refusal rates are heavily influenced by geopolitics. This is evident;

• Trump’s 2017 “Muslim Ban” (executive order 13769) combined with increased military tensions caused Iranian refusal rates to jump to ~90%
• Russian citizens enjoyed some of the lowest refusal rates in the world until the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.
• Chinese citizens’ refusal rates remained sub-15% for the duration of the Obama administration until the wake of the COVID-19-induced 80% spike in 2021 combined with Trump-induced geopolitical tension increased it to ~25%.

Some things to increase your chances of not being detained if you are from a significantly economically weaker country than the U.S. are speaking slowly and clearly, presenting yourself well (no tracksuits, get a haircut!), and bringing as much documentation proving you are being financially supported (i.e. you don’t intend to work while in the U.S.) and intend to return home.

Losing your passport

Losing your passport is one of the worst things that can happen to a visitor in the U.S. The visa sticker in your passport is your only proof of legal status in the U.S.

If you lose your passport, you need to do the following ASAP;

1. File a police report with your local department.
2. Order a new passport from your consulate. Indicate an emergency if you’re leaving the U.S. soon.
3. Apply for a new visa and book a new interview in your home country. You can stay in the US until when you were going to leave anyway, you will just need to go through the whole visa application process again before you can re-enter.

If you don’t have a passport by the time you need to leave the country, this counts as an overstayed visa and you will find it very hard to return.

Airports are the most likely places to misplace a passport. Choose a secured pocket that is attached to you, and always put it there. Get into a habit of patting the pocket when you get off a shuttle bus, when you leave TSA, when you sit down at a cafe, when you leave the cafe. If you put your passport in your coat pocket/outer layer, it will get lost. I have lost more than one coat with valuable items inside by leaving it in an overhead locker on a plane.

When I lost my passport at Lisbon airport, I was saved because my friend’s Google voice number was attached to my airline booking. When I dropped my driving licence running for a plane at San Francisco airport, I was saved by my phone number being on my airline booking. Make sure your phone is charged and ready to take calls!

8 USC §1304(e)

8 USC §1304(e) (pronounced as “U.S. code title 8, section 1304, subsection E” (Americans will pronounce 1304 as “thirteen oh four”)) says that every foreign person over 18 years old needs to carry documentation proving they are legally in the U.S. This means you must carry around your passport and a printed-off copy of your most recent I-94 confirmation page. In practice though, this law is never enforced. I’ve never heard of anyone being penalized for not carrying this around.

Though I carry around my passport everywhere I go (I have a pretty nice passport wallet if you’re interested), you might not be comfortable with this. You’re probably okay carrying nothing around, but if you want a middle ground, I’d take a photocopied version of your passport photo page and your I-94 confirmation page in a little pouch if you’re going away from your house for a while, like on a road trip or something.

Moving around

Being happy

I love travelling. In Vermont, I lived, worked, hung out, and ate with the same ~10 people all day, every day. They are lovely people, and some, friends for life, though it can get a bit much. You probably don’t have many friends in the U.S., so finding spaces that are different than those you normally inhabit is super important!

Before moving, I had met some friends online that lived in Boston, a 3 hour drive away from my house in Burlington, Vermont. While I didn’t have a car, there’s a Greyhound bus that takes ~6 hours overnight. In 2024, I went on that bus down to Boston on more weekends than not. As such, I made lots of great friends there! I would attend Friendly Beans, a social coworking thing (a node of the ever-awesome Socratica) every Sunday, stay in a hacker house in Harvard Square, cowork with friends at MIT, go to endless social mixers/events/workshops and sometimes just spend weekends alone drinking coffee, eating pear tarts, and coding at Tatte. It was incredibly therapeutic to have a space I could escape to when things in Vermont were getting too busy or too quiet.

One of my biggest pieces of advice would be to geographically diversify your friend groups.

Driving

Driving laws in the U.S. differ in subtle ways from developed nations’. They vary quite significantly by state to state.

For example, in most states, you are not allowed to cross the double yellow lines in the middle of the road to overtake a vehicle. In Vermont though, you can.

Speed limits are usually ~15mph lower than what people usually drive at. In Europe, speed is enforced by speed cameras. If you’re pictured going even a couple of mph over the limit, you’ll get a ticket in the post. There are no speed cameras in the U.S., instead, speed is enforced by “state troopers” (angry men with silly hats) with radar guns. It is not uncommon to be going 20mph over the limit with the other traffic around you past police speed checks. The low speed limits let police pull people over whenever they want.

I’ve been pulled over twice. They will ask for your driving licence, car’s registration, and proof of your car’s insurance. You need these things in your car. Keep them in the glovebox. Smile and be polite.

If you get a speeding ticket, you are at risk of your visa being cancelled. No less than six of my friend’s friends have had their student visas cancelled during Trump’s deportation push for speeding tickets. They all have brown skin. If you’re white, you will experience much more lenient treatment by police during traffic stops. Speeding tickets stay on your record and can come back to bite you — the next time you go for a visa interview you should be prepared to answer for them, however, if you never got arrested/convicted for them you don’t need to declare them on your DS-160. I wouldn’t worry about them too much.

Americans will tell you how great the interstate system is. The quality and safety of motorways in Europe is better, and they do not know or care to know. If they tell you it’s because the U.S. is the size of Europe, don’t bring up the G.D.P. per capita delta they quote when it suits them - they don’t understand. Just go “wow yeah”. I’m joking.

Road surfaces, especially in more rural areas, can be poor. Grooves caused by heavy trucks in the surface of the slow lane can collect water and be slick during rainfall or icy conditions. If it’s raining really heavily, turn your hazards on. Heavy rain in New England (the very northeast of the U.S.) frequently reduces vision to mere feet in front of you. Drive very slowly and watch for flashing hazard lights.

AAA is great. It’s cheap and you get roadside assistance and some included tows to nearby garages. Keep the card in your car. I’ve made use of this numerous times.

Unless posted, there are no rules on undertaking vehicles going slowly in the left lane. Only going ~15mph over the limit in the middle lane on the Massachusetts Turnpike will have you being overtaken and undertaken at the same time.

Colloquially agreed upon driving ability varies by state. California drivers are silly, Boston drivers are angry.

Getting a driver’s licence

You should apply for a driver’s licence as soon as you arrive in the U.S. if both apply;

• You anticipate being in the country for an extended period of time
• You do not already have a licence from your home country

Each state has their own DMV (department of motor vehicles), along with their own website and procedures.

What you need to apply for is a Driver’s Privilege Card. This is not a REAL ID. In fact it says NOT FOR REAL ID PURPOSES at the top. You cannot use it to fly domestically, or cross the Mexican or Canadian border. It’s good for proving your age at bars though.

It’ll not only let you drive in the U.S., but probably let you drive for up to a year in your home country (but between you and I, how will the police in your home country know when you started driving on it?). It’s good to have some sort of identification on you in place of your passport day-to-day.

While having a driver’s privilege card is legal for those on visitor visas, it’s probably not something you want to advertise to border agents when entering the country, though if they ask, don’t lie. When you next go for a visa interview, operate on the assumption that they know about it.

Lines at the DMV (department of motor vehicles) are notoriously long. Expect to wait like 3 hours. Bring a book to read.

In order to prove your address, you’ll need two pieces of mail. Ask your DMV for details. I was subleasing my house from my organisation, so it was a bit trickier, though I brought a utility bill with the organisation’s name on it, along with a letter from an authorised signer at the organisation saying I am living there (along with their contact details), along with a random piece of mail to get to two.

First, you need to apply for a permit. Then, take the written test, and practice driving with someone in their car. Depending on the state, the person accompanying you might need to be at least a certain age. In Vermont it’s 25. Check. When you’re ready, book a driving test on the DMV’s website

On the day of your test, turn up early. You need to bring a car - they don’t provide one. It must be insured, have a valid safety inspection sticker, and be registered. They will ask for proof of all of this. I’ve been turned away before because my friend did not have an inspection sticker on his windscreen. If they spot you yourself driving to the appointment with someone who is not old enough (25 in VT, check your state), they will turn you away.

Download the driver’s handbook for your state and read it.

The actual test is easy. In the UK it’s really long, but in Vermont I basically just drove around the block. You can sometimes find the routes they take you on on YouTube. It varies by state, but they asked me to parallel park, do a “Vermont stop” (3-point turn out of a quiet street). The usual driving test rules apply. Constantly check your mirrors and so on.

I did not take any lessons in the U.S., but did in the UK. I basically figured out how to drive on American roads during my test. I failed, then took the test again and passed.

Flying domestically

You’ll see your American friends flying domestically with just their driving licence or “passport card”, which might seem strange. This is because those are examples of what’s called a “REAL ID”. As a visitor, you’re not eligible for one - they’re reserved for citizens and green card holders.

The big airlines like United, Delta, and American will rebook you for free if you miss your flight. Budget carriers like Frontier, Spirit etc will not.

I have a very large Cotopaxi clamshell bag that fits a week’s worth of clothes. Airlines will accept this as a personal item, even though it definitely does not fit under the seat, because I wear it on my back. If you’re going on lots of trips, consider getting one.

There can be some really funky routes. I found a $69 ticket between a tiny Vermont airport and Boston Logan airport - I was allowed to sit in the copilot seat!

Bank accounts

This is pretty simple. If you’re on a category B visa, don’t apply for one. If you’re on a category F visa, apply for one once you’ve been given an SSN. Talk to a lawyer if you’re unsure. This is something that can fuck you up if you get wrong.

Do not apply for an ITIN (individual taxpayer identification number) if you think it’ll get you one without an SSN. You’ll get denied entry the next time you enter the country, or you’ll get denied a visa next time you apply for one.

Open a bank account in your home country, and use Wise to accept U.S. payments. You can get Venmo without an SSN. Do that too.

While I was volunteering, I had a pretty unique situation and was getting living expense reimbursements so I could pay for rent and groceries. I’m not going to go into the intricacies of it here but if you’re volunteering for a nonprofit you’re allowed to get reimbursed for your expenses. This is not payment - you are not allowed to take the money home or keep it after you leave. Because it’s not income, it was not taxable, and I did not have to deal with headaches regarding income and employment etc. This is not a loophole, it’s explicitly legal, and applies to a very, very small number of people.

Healthcare

I did not have health insurance for 2 years. Do not follow in my footsteps. One accident can have you literally a million dollars in debt. It can ruin your life. The healthcare system is set up to penalise those without insurance.

Even ambulances in the U.S. are expensive. This should never deter you from calling one. If you see someone lying down on the street, call an ambulance. Social trust in the U.S. is low and most people will walk past someone passed out on the street. You will not be responsible for the bill if you call it for someone else. Sometimes the fire department will respond; they operate ambulances. It’s weird.

If you happen to get injured without insurance, just call 911. Bills can often be negotiated down to ~10% if you’re not insured anyway. Call the billing department immediately after getting the bill and ask for financial aid or charity care programmes. They’d rather get something than nothing so will often work with you.

In any case, if you are admitted and released from hospital, ask them for an itemised bill. They often inflate prices and back down when asked about specifics.

Carry Narcan (generic: naloxone) in your day bag. You can get it for free at pharmacies. If someone is overdosing on an opioid drug (fentanyl, heroin, oxycodone (“oxy”)) and not breathing, call 911 then spray it into their nostril. If they don’t respond in 3-5 mins, give them another dose. Keep doing this until they wake up. It’s very uncomfortable but not dangerous. It does not work on drugs like meth, cocaine, or cannabis. I was once questioned by Canadian border authorities over carrying narcan in my bag; she asked “why are you going somewhere where you think people will overdose?” and “I live in Burlington Vermont, have you been there?” was an acceptable answer.

Weed is legal in some states. You can purchase it from dispensaries if you’re over 21. It is federally illegal though, so it’s a federal crime to take it between states (even if both have legalised it), or to fly with it. Weed from dispensaries is very likely to be safe, and you cannot overdose. Just watch a movie with ice cream or something.

If you’re going to take drugs other than weed, test them with fentanyl test strips. You can get them for free all over the place. They’re small, so stick some in your day bag. Street drugs are often laced with much stronger drugs like fentanyl in the U.S. to reduce costs for the dealer, and you can easily die if you aren’t careful.

Phone

If you’re in the U.S. temporarily (like, a week), or you just arrived and you’re at the airport and need something now, download Airalo. It gives you an eSIM. It’s great for when you only need data. When you’re settled and have some sort of U.S. card (remember about Wise!), sign up for a Visible plan. Don’t bother with full-fat Verizon. It’s really hard to cancel and you’re paying for stuff you don’t need.

Have fun!

Although what’s described above sounds scary, you’re probably going to be a-ok. Remember to enjoy yourself!