It's gotten to the point where the authoritarian feel of US immigrations is actively deterring me from wanting to visit.
I wonder if anyone has done any research on whether/how much this is measurably affecting the US economy.
I wonder if anyone has done any research on whether/how much this is measurably affecting the US economy.
It's just not worth the effort at that point.
Over time, my views have gradually relaxed, and usually once or twice a year I consider returning to the US. Stuff like this puts me right off, but sadly I know the UK will no doubt follow suit.
Also if you think this is ok because it doesn't apply to US citizens, it doesn't apply right now. When it's declared a roaring success, there will no doubt be an attempt to extend it to US citizens.
As far as the UK, their processes are just as stringent but less public. It is interesting that the UK allows in some radical Islamic clerics but banned an American talk show host who talked about radical Islamic clerics.
The U.K. Has some of the strictest immigration in Europe for non Europeans. I am not defending the US or DHS, I am only providing some perspective that the US isn't particularly unique, just more public about it.
I agree. I strongly dislike the US proposals discussed here, but the fact is travelling abroad means you've already given up much of your privacy.
Those of us in Europe and the US have a somewhat contradictory attitude toward privacy - opposing certain rules or regulations, while happily ignoring others. Take the UK, where the British government has intrusive surveillance laws. A self-serving and apathetic media discourages discussion or opposition to such laws. On the other hand, there was strong opposition against mandatory ID cards when the idea was proposed a few years ago, possibly more to do with the cost of the scheme and little trust in the competency of the government to carry out such a proposal.
So, yes we do have a somewhat inconsistent attitude to privacy. Even in Continental Europe (if the country is part of the Schengen area), biometric passports are common. Applying for a passport often means providing your fingerprints - something a lot of people might be uncomfortable doing.
Yes and thanks for correcting me otherwise I probably would've gone around saying that.
I agree about the UK. It wasn't always this way and I know lots of people who have headaches coming over. I deal with some of these headaches each year working on 44CON - in fact we had one speaker have their visa declined, which has never happened before.
Unfortunately the way the UK is going at the moment it seems isolationism is preferable, and I suspect things will only get worse.
Even though the social media question is optional, it raises a flag that you didn't fill it in and you run a higher risk of getting questioned/interrogated at the airport.
It saves time for the agents that they don't have to search for someone on social media, but it also makes everyone aware that this is being done. (potentially hurting security because before sending the form a terrorist will now clean up his facebook if he has a dirty profile) This is part of mass surveillance, and at what point will the form say that you have to add agent X to your friends list on social media, so they can snoop around more??
-Where does it stop? For me it stopped a long time ago, I just won't go there. Instead I enjoyed holidays elsewhere around the world. edit- some spelling mistakes.
We were thinking of a family holiday and ruled out the US because of how complicated he visa process is. I'm sure we're not alone.
For people like you and me, we are aware of this before we get overexcited and commit to the holiday, giving us the freedom to easily choose another destination.
However, this policy is entirely dumb because social media profiles will be created specifically for travelers to be 'clean.'
I imagine that in future we will hear about travelers being denied entry because they- "fraudulently stated wrong social media accounts"... or something like that.
It will have measurable impact on the millions of people who have to give up privacy to enter the US, some proportion of which is likely to be further negatively affected by having something "suspicious" in their profile. Like being idiots who once liked something offensive as a joke, or being friends with some idiot who is connected to ISIS on some social network.
Consider that this is someone's first experience on US soil and it sets the tone for the whole trip. Nothing like this has happened in any of the other countries I've been to, including India, Vietnam, Cambodia etc.