Trouble at the Guatemalan Border
Working in a foreign country has its perks and downfalls, and it also has some unconventional aspects. One of those unconventional aspects is that I'm currently a legal, non-resident alien. I'm living here on a Visa, applying for Visa extensions, and applying for a temporary residency. Because of my alien status here, I often face difficulty in completing certain tasks. For example, negotiating rent with my landlady was hard because I don't (and cannot) open a bank account, I can't pay in USD, and only some banks will process my rent. Getting into some national parks proves challenging because most places don't accept my 'papers'.
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These papers I'm referring to are the legal documents that prove I have applied for residency and that my application is under review by the Honduran government. My 'paper' dilemma actually leads into my first big story of how I was almost detained when I was crossing the Guatemalan border...
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Almost Detained
This past weekend I travelled to Guatemala with some friends. I didn't have much trouble crossing into Guatemala, but coming back was a different story. When it was time to cross from Guatemala into Honduras, a friend and I got pulled aside and sent to 'the backroom'. I've never gotten pulled aside at an airport or any other security checkpoint, so getting pulled aside at a border where I had to dust off my limited Spanish skills was not something I was looking forward to. When it was my turn with the immigration agent in the dreaded 'backroom', I politely told him that I didn't speak much Spanish so I needed him to speak slowly. He looked at me as if to say, 'well that sucks for you' and continued talking to me at a native-level of Spanish. He began rudely and impatiently asking me for my documents and residency card. Since I'm still applying for my Honduran residency, I gave him my legal contract that shows I'm applying for residency and hoped for the best.
He told me that he wasn't able to accept my papers and called for backup. Next thing I knew, I had 3 immigration agents scouring my paperwork and they had closed off the backroom. This is when I started getting extremely anxious and worried about my current situation.
What if they detain me?
I don't understand what they're saying...
Can I call my manager or lawyer for help?
Who even IS my lawyer?
The three agents kept telling me that they can't accept my paperwork. It wasn't 'official' enough or didn't prove anything. They told me they were going to have to call someone... I could only hope they were calling an English speaker to explain what was going on, but I knew they had no intentions on helping me. Instead, they pulled up the calendar on their phones and began doing math. I immediately knew what 'math' they were doing- they thought I had overstayed! The agents were ready to detain me and not let me into Honduras because they thought I had overstayed my Visa. I knew in my heart that I hadn't overstayed. I had 6 days left in the country but these agents didn't believe me. I started getting even more nervous at this point
Honduran immigration doesn't want me to enter...
What if they do the math wrong and detain me anyways?
Would they purposely do that to me?
Can I ask for one of my Honduran friends to translate for me?
I didn't know what to expect and I couldn't think clearly in Spanish to even try and argue back. Luckily, it didn't matter since the agents stopped looking at my time stamps and decided to grill me with more questions. They were intentionally asking me trick questions in the hopes that I would mess up. Even worse is that they kept asking the same questions over and over like they didn't understand me. Or maybe they were waiting for me to give them contradicting information! Whatever the case may be, I was struggling with the language and they weren't accommodating in the slightest.
Eventually they accepted my answers and told me I could enter only after I paid a fee. Again, struggling with the language, I didn't comprehend that this was a mandatory entrance fee for tourists and not some sort of punishment. I tried explaining that I'm not a tourist and that I'm applying for residency so this fee shouldn't apply to me. The agent wouldn't take my answer since one of my passport stamps said 'tourist'. I begrudgingly obliged and started searching for my wallet. He told me the entrance fee and I prayed I had the correct currency in my wallet. Thankfully, I did. I paid the fee, received my receipt, and wanted to run out of the backroom as quickly as possible. The agent however, withheld my passport so that he could scold me and intimidate me one last time. Shaking in my boots, I grabbed all my papers, shoved them into my backpack, and ran out of the room to the safety of my friends.
Reflection
After this experience, I was definitely on-edge for a short portion of the bus ride home. In all honesty, this experience shouldn't have made me this anxious. I was completely in the right and was carrying all of my legal documentation. My passport had the correct stamps, I had 6 days left on my Visa, I had an Illinois ID, and I had my approved application for Honduran residency. I had all the proof in the world that I was legally going through the residency process, but I still felt uncomfortable and scared.
Unfortunately, I realized that many other people are going through similar experiences every day. Some experiences are much worse than my own and don't have a happy ending. I realized that I am fortunate to be going through this application process with the support of a lawyer, my coworkers, and fellow expats. Other people aren't as fortunate to have the same support system and are having to go through the residency/citizenship process on their own. I wish I could say that this will be my last negative experience as a non-resident alien, but I know I will probably encounter similar situations in the future.
This past weekend I travelled to Guatemala with some friends. I didn't have much trouble crossing into Guatemala, but coming back was a different story. When it was time to cross from Guatemala into Honduras, a friend and I got pulled aside and sent to 'the backroom'. I've never gotten pulled aside at an airport or any other security checkpoint, so getting pulled aside at a border where I had to dust off my limited Spanish skills was not something I was looking forward to. When it was my turn with the immigration agent in the dreaded 'backroom', I politely told him that I didn't speak much Spanish so I needed him to speak slowly. He looked at me as if to say, 'well that sucks for you' and continued talking to me at a native-level of Spanish. He began rudely and impatiently asking me for my documents and residency card. Since I'm still applying for my Honduran residency, I gave him my legal contract that shows I'm applying for residency and hoped for the best.
He told me that he wasn't able to accept my papers and called for backup. Next thing I knew, I had 3 immigration agents scouring my paperwork and they had closed off the backroom. This is when I started getting extremely anxious and worried about my current situation.
What if they detain me?
I don't understand what they're saying...
Can I call my manager or lawyer for help?
Who even IS my lawyer?
The three agents kept telling me that they can't accept my paperwork. It wasn't 'official' enough or didn't prove anything. They told me they were going to have to call someone... I could only hope they were calling an English speaker to explain what was going on, but I knew they had no intentions on helping me. Instead, they pulled up the calendar on their phones and began doing math. I immediately knew what 'math' they were doing- they thought I had overstayed! The agents were ready to detain me and not let me into Honduras because they thought I had overstayed my Visa. I knew in my heart that I hadn't overstayed. I had 6 days left in the country but these agents didn't believe me. I started getting even more nervous at this point
Honduran immigration doesn't want me to enter...
What if they do the math wrong and detain me anyways?
Would they purposely do that to me?
Can I ask for one of my Honduran friends to translate for me?
I didn't know what to expect and I couldn't think clearly in Spanish to even try and argue back. Luckily, it didn't matter since the agents stopped looking at my time stamps and decided to grill me with more questions. They were intentionally asking me trick questions in the hopes that I would mess up. Even worse is that they kept asking the same questions over and over like they didn't understand me. Or maybe they were waiting for me to give them contradicting information! Whatever the case may be, I was struggling with the language and they weren't accommodating in the slightest.
Eventually they accepted my answers and told me I could enter only after I paid a fee. Again, struggling with the language, I didn't comprehend that this was a mandatory entrance fee for tourists and not some sort of punishment. I tried explaining that I'm not a tourist and that I'm applying for residency so this fee shouldn't apply to me. The agent wouldn't take my answer since one of my passport stamps said 'tourist'. I begrudgingly obliged and started searching for my wallet. He told me the entrance fee and I prayed I had the correct currency in my wallet. Thankfully, I did. I paid the fee, received my receipt, and wanted to run out of the backroom as quickly as possible. The agent however, withheld my passport so that he could scold me and intimidate me one last time. Shaking in my boots, I grabbed all my papers, shoved them into my backpack, and ran out of the room to the safety of my friends.
Reflection
After this experience, I was definitely on-edge for a short portion of the bus ride home. In all honesty, this experience shouldn't have made me this anxious. I was completely in the right and was carrying all of my legal documentation. My passport had the correct stamps, I had 6 days left on my Visa, I had an Illinois ID, and I had my approved application for Honduran residency. I had all the proof in the world that I was legally going through the residency process, but I still felt uncomfortable and scared.
Unfortunately, I realized that many other people are going through similar experiences every day. Some experiences are much worse than my own and don't have a happy ending. I realized that I am fortunate to be going through this application process with the support of a lawyer, my coworkers, and fellow expats. Other people aren't as fortunate to have the same support system and are having to go through the residency/citizenship process on their own. I wish I could say that this will be my last negative experience as a non-resident alien, but I know I will probably encounter similar situations in the future.
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