Without getting into too much detail, I pretty much go around feeling paranoid. When I think about it logically, I really have absolutely no reason to be this way.
I sometimes ask myself why I'm here and when the day I finally leave will come, if it ever comes.
One time a guy said "I don't have time for this" and sent me to secondary. After waiting about an hour I saw the secondary inspector and he told me the front line guys would send anyone back that they couldn't process in a couple of minutes and to expect it to happen again in the future.
What worked best? What would you recommend for someone else in that situation?
Last guy I had when coming into the US used to be a software developer as well (Fortran, Cobol, and Pascal) and was interested in what kind of work I was doing.
Haven't had an issue yet. I am on a green card, and even-though all my paperwork is in order I still find myself nervous while waiting to enter the US. Also, the whole fingerprinting/picture taking makes me angry and I feel like I am being treated like a prisoner rather than a tax paying citizen.
If you can show you have enough money to support yourself and get out again then it will make your life easier. However they will already need to be suspicious of you to take an interest in this.
I'm allowed into Oz with as little or as much cash as I like, for the next few yeas at least, which is quite nice.
So for the last 18 years, they've sent me back for questioning every single time, wasting countless hours of both my time and their time. They always ask me if I worked illegally in the States in 1995 and I just tell them, "No, I was nine years old." When I ask them if they can remove the flag on my account, they say it's impossible because only the government department that created the flag can remove it, and that department no longer exists.