British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

It is interesting that Poland looks to be the only EU country that is not on the list of US Visa Waiver program - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_Waiver_Program#/media/Fil...

That should only apply to a non-immigrant visa I would hope. For dual-purpose it shouldn't matter. For an immigrant one, you should be rejected if it appears you don't actually intend to stay.

Wow really? Interesting! Citation needed please!

> Developed countries' citizens consistently outmatch people from undeveloped countries when in comes to immigration crimes almost everywhere

[Citation needed]

Just an example, it is assumed the US has around 11Mi undocumented migrants (rough number). Switzerland does not even have that many people.

I think that this is very unkind way to judge a person.

Funny you say that. It would seem to be standard to call the girlfriend to check his story. If she said she didn't want to see him, that would cast a great deal of doubt on his stated reason for coming.

Getting a green card would presumably reduce his border hassles. On the flip side it would require him to file US taxes as long as he retains it no matter where he lives.

In my case even with that I got hassled every time - multi hour delays on every arrival because of something screwed up in their records of me. Eventually I went so far as to get citizenship because of the hassle. That requires me to file US taxes for the rest of my life even if I choose to permanently reside outside the US.

To be completely accurate the Constitution doesn't apply anywhere within 100 miles of a U.S. border, which includes airports. This covers something like 60% of the population of the United States.

https://www.thenation.com/article/66-percent-americans-now-l...

https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone

Just a nitpick, but the Constitution still applies (and worldwide between US GOvt and US Persons), but the courts have decided its rules against unreasonable search and seizure don't apply for customs and immigration purposes with certain distances of a port of entry.

Plenty of laws apply. They thing to remember is that you can't give up something you don't have. Use a blank dumb phone when crossing, restore afterwards.

Travelling there or thinking of moving there (if you have the possibility to obtain a work visa/green card/etc).

This article suggests that its not "more welcoming to immigrants than any other place in the world by far" if a single private IM can get a guy banned for life.

Still a great place to visit, but I'll take a burner phone next time. Maybe a Huawei device :)

You must be joking or have never left the US for more than a few days.

When you say unmatched that implies that nowhere else in the world can give opportunities in those fields that are equal, and that is plain wrong, in fact the USA is slipping from being the top in those. When you say population that's more welcoming to migrants, as someone from Africa, my own and those I know, our perception of the USA has changed so much that many people I know would not even consider moving there due to your current attitudes towards Muslim, Latin American and African migrants. When you say outdoors with cleaner air and water, I hear of your fracking, of Flint, of mass open cast mines across your country, of your president leaving the Paris climate agreement. When you say cheap prices, I've been all over the Third World and the USA is not cheap at all. When you say optimistic, friendly and humble, most of what I know of the USA's international actions is warmongering arrogance, of your far-right movements, of mass shootings and crazy abortion laws. I have many lovely American friends but they are not representative of the country that pushes a gun-friendly, war positive, women controlling message. That's why I wouldn't move to the US as it currently stands.

I dunno if you have been to Europe but we have plenty of all that outdoors, clean air and water. From my location, it's less than 3 hours to the alps if you need even cleaner air and water with triple the outdoors.

And lots of diversity there too, almost any place has somewhere around 2000 to 1500 years of history on the books, you can walk from your current location to another place with wildly different customs and traditions within an hour.

You can say similar things about other parts of the world as well, not just Europe and the US too.

Don't underestimate the rest of the world.

As someone who, like you, was born in Europe, I feel like half of those points are open for debate and the other half are nonsensical. Are you saying that the nation that is the home of the Flint water crisis and has a weaker Environmental Protection Agency than ever is something you move to in order to get "cleaner air and water"?

What do you mean when you say "diversity"? Have you been to the mid west? There are "un-diverse" and "diverse" areas of almost every country. People in the US are "optimistic"? "Friendly" and "humble"? The claim that Americans are "humble" when compared internationally is almost laughable (probably even by most americans), and I doubt that "friendliness" is really something you see drastic differences in around the globe. For the the last one there's no need to ask your gut because there are studies made regarding in what countries people feel the most optimistic about the future. As a matter of fact, most of them have pointed out China as the most optimistic country, which may make sense in a perspective of economical relative growth, but it doesn't on its own make me want to buy an apartment in Shanghai.

sarcastic comments should have ~s after them. yours must be sarcastic as everything you have listed is fiction.

-Says CareerAddict, “The average scientist in Switzerland receives an annual salary of roughly $95,000 (in Euros, of course), making Switzerland the country with the highest salary for scientists in the world. The best scientists can earn over $100,000 per year, though that is primarily in the private sector.”

-An Investopedia article uses a World Bank report to rank Singapore as the top country for entrepreneurs (source: Best And Worst Countries For Entrepreneurs | Investopedia).

-The UK has scooped the first spot in The 2019 Best Countries for Education, maintaining its rank from last year, according to a study by US News & World Report.

-Japanese researchers have won many Nobel Prizes. Japan’s particularity lay down in the fact that they achieved results in every fields : from bio-technology to robotics.

-The claim that the USA is the best for immigrants is hard to disprove in terms of study's. but, sociopolitical it is quite clear The USA isn't as welcoming as seen. cough trump cough

-"outdoors" another almost impossible metric to prove/disprove, but i know for a fact that NZ (New Zealand) is held as the best place for adventurous activities.

-Finland sits at the top of the list with a 90.68 EPI score.(EPI = Environmental performance index.) https://improb.com/top-cleanest-countries-in-the-world/

-do you know about the flint water crisis? Switzerland has the cleanest water levels in the water, to the point that many places don't even treat their water with chemicals.

-cost of living is what i'll use to debunk the claim that america is "cheap" most expensive is Switzerland at COI= 121.16, USA is 20th at 69.91. below the USA at 99 countries, including at 24th the United Kingdom at 65.28, at 48 is Fiji with 50.93 and plenty more. https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.js...

-Papua New Guinea is the most diverse, There are thousands of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own languages and customs.

-supposedly china is the most optimistic, "The survey found that 94% of Chinese youth – defined in most cases as those aged 12-15 – were optimistic about their own country’s future, compared with 64% of their American counterparts. "

-Portugal is the most friendly "Friendly attitude towards expats: 94%, Ease of making local friends: 58%, Expats likely to stay forever: 47%" https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennysouthan/2018/03/21/the-wor...

-i couldn't find any stats or studies about humble, but if you have to boast about how humble you are, you probably aren't.

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Now let's talk about some things America is the leader the way in:

-the US, Lesotho, Swaziland and new guinea are the only countries in the world that doesn't have paid mandate leave for mothers of newborns.

-also the only country to not require companies to have paid vacation.

-there is also no guarantee workers will get paid Sick days.

-The US's education budget is the largest, but the results are shocking poor.

-the US exports the most weapons in the world.

-have the highest incarcerate % in the world.

-highest healthcare costs, by a staggering amount.

-babies death rate is the highest than any other industrialised country.

-the wage gap between the "uber" rich and poorest is the biggest in the world.

no hate, just don't enjoy the spread of false information.

We're allowed to do most things in the UK except communicate privately or talk about David Furnish.

First amendment - yes, in most cases. Second amendment? Hell no.

Apart from the right to bear arms, what is different? Many people even see that as a benefit to the UK.

UK has freedom of speech, as defined in ECHR. That right isn't total, it's balanced with other people's right to life and protection from genocide.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventio...

This list is so ridiculous that I can't bring myself to do a point-by-point rebuttal.

I live in London, have visited the US and have friends that live there. Almost all of these are wrong or simply things I don't value. The only one I don't dispute is the likelihood of success in business. To be fair I'd rather take the healthcare (and slightly more sane political environment).

- Better TV. Who watches normal TV as opposed to Netflix?

- Much Better Food. Dispute this. US food standards are demonstrably lower than in the EU. You might be able to get bigger portions and a larger variety of junk food but so what.

- Higher paying jobs. In SF maybe, but the cost of living is correspondingly much higher.

- Bigger cars, bigger roads. Why do you need this if you can comfortably get places via modern public transport?

- Second Amendment. Unnecessary in a country where no one has guns

- First Amendment. We have comparable laws

- Lower Taxes (income and sales). I'd rather pay taxes to get healthcare free at point of service and a safety net for people who lose their jobs

- Ability to not talk to the Police and not have that used against you. We have comparable laws

I'd agree if this were most other countries - but the man was British. The freedoms we get here, disregarding gun and drug law, are the same in my eyes. The only reasons I'd be able to think of moving there would be if I was keen on a big city life that doesn't == London, if I was looking to work for a FAANG company, or as in the case of the article, for a girlfriend.

I feel much more free travelling and living in many other countries besides the US. Everyone seemed on a knifes edge while I was there. Don't get me wrong I loved it - everyone was wonderfully friendly and incredibly welcoming to guests - but there seemed to be this underlying unease and I was forever being told not to do this-or-that-or-else. I suppose I've always thought it was a bit ironic that the 'land of the free' has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world.

Personally, my envy is directed at those in the Nordic and Oceanic countries. They seem to have it pretty good over there.

EDIT: Just checking out some freedom index scores just to see whether my experience differs then that of the mean, but it seems to be about what I expected. The Freedom House report definitely covered it very well I think. Reference material below.

[0]https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/united-st... [1]https://freedomhouse.org/report/countries-world-freedom-2019... [2]https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking [3]https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/human-freedom-index-... [4]https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table

Sounds like you were in London / South-East. I've lived all over the UK and your description perfectly describes why I left London (for another country), but my childhood/university life growing up in the north of England could not have be more different.

ESTA doesn't waive the requirement to prove non-immigrant intent when applying for admission.

If he really was banned for life there's more to the story than his inability to prove non-immigrant intent (e.g. fraud, criminal history, etc.). Even people present in the US illegally for extended periods of time are not banned for life.