Sydney Customs

Yet another airport blog from an airport - this time Sydney in transit to Adelaide. Am beginning to find airplanes a bit more familiar than my apartment in Singapore.

I made it to Auckland last night without much trouble. It was a 10 hour flight and thankfully it wasn't very full so I was able to have a center row all to myself. This allowed me to lie down (sort of) and sleep most of the way from Singapore. I arrived at 11 pm and promptly fell asleep at the hotel. This morning I was in the Auckland office early for a bunch of meetings. I left the office at 1:30 pm to head back to the airport.

As mentioned above, I am currently sitting in the Sydney airport...this almost did not happen. As I was talking with the nice lady at customs, she informed me that I am traveling under a tourist visa and not a business visa. I was promptly attended to by yet another customs officer and taken to 'the area' and asked to have a seat while she disappeared through a door.

This was all quite alarming to me for a couple of reasons: a) I am a rule follower and would never intentionally try and enter a country illegally (when entering the US I always tick yes to the food question when I only have chocolate...they always tell me I don't have to but chocolate is food) & b) I have been to Australia 3-4 times under this same visa without any previous problems.

I only waited for about 5 minutes and she came out from behind the special door. She once again told me that what I am doing is quite serious and should not be taken lightly. I apologized profusely and told her I had no idea and would resolve it immediately (which incidentally cannot be resolved immediately - I have to wait until I am no longer on Australian soil). She was letting me in the country 'this time' but that I must apply for the business visa prior to entering the country again. She also told me that I have been 'flagged' in their system. I believe this was meant to be a bit of a threat and believe me, I have taken it as one. How the heck did I, the total rule follower (again, I don't jaywalk in Singapore because it is illegal) end up being flagged in the system with the possibility of being rejected entry into a country???

I guess this was bound to happen at some point. The last time I had customs issues was in Canada of all places. That time it was just due to the woman thinking I made a snarky comment when it was really just an innocent mistake on my part. This time it was because I allowed Qantas Airlines to complete my visa application on my behalf and because I was honest in filling out the entry form and ticked business. Regardless, I have already emailed my travel department to give them notice that I will need a new visa for Australia. It will be applied for on Monday - my first business day off of Australian soil.