I was overseas for a few weeks at the start of this year, and I’ve recently been musing about the various formalities travellers have to go through at every stop.
Specifically, landing cards and departure cards. Is there any actual point to these things? All the information a country might reasonably want to know (who you are, what country you’re from) is there on your passport. Why do they want to know your address? Your job? (I had to fill in one of these for my then-3-month-old daughter too. On the way out of Oz her occupation was “sleeping”, on the way back it was “drooling”) Your intended length of stay? (since 90% of the time they can get that information more accurately by looking at your return/onward ticket - and IIRC they do that too in any case)
Who uses all this stuff? And what for?
Subsidiary question: does any country not do this?
There are normally two type of cards (IIRC). One is a customs/quarantine declaration and the other, which you are talking about, is for immigration. Yes they could probably get most of the information by checking your ticket dates, your passport etc. But that would be a lot more hassle for them than just reading a card with all the information on it. The cards we get going in and out of Australia, state that they are for statistical purposes.
I shuttle back and forth between germany and the us, and one foem [the DoT card] is required by our government to identify american citizens on the flights. i guess that is in case they are shot down they can complain that we got gakked…these are required both directions.
Into germany, no paperwork required.
Back into the US, there is a customs form about purchases made that you are bringing back into the country. You have to fill that one out. There is also an immigration form that as a US citizen I didnt have to fill out, but any non US or visa holder does have to fill out.