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Visitors To US Now Required To Register Online
mytrip sends a reminder that starting today, visitors to the US from 35 visa-waiver countries will be required to register online with the Department of Homeland Security in advance. The DHS is asking people to go online for the ESTA program 72 hours before traveling, but they can register any amount of time ahead. Approval, once granted, is good for 2 years. DHS says that most applications are approved in 4 seconds. If an application is rejected, the traveler will have to go to a US embassy and get a visa. CNet reports that information from applications will be retained for 12 years, and eventually up to 75 years.
..especially as I find the American people on the whole some of the most freindly welcoming and interesting people to visit. Sadly however I simply cannot stomach the attitudes and actions of their Govt. I made up my mind never to visit again after a 5 hour wait in Dulles to get through immigration, and was greeted by the most pig ignorant downright hostile group of people I've ever met at the DHS/TSA desk or whatever. You want my fingerprints, you want my details, sorry. Convict me of a crime first. Wanting to visit and spend my dollars in your country is not a crime I'm afraid - I'll go visit Canada instead.
Afaik, no state on this planet has my fingerprints yet, and I do not plan on handing them over any time soon. If that means not to travel to foreign countries where I would love to go to, so be it. I'll watch documentaries instead.
I have my principles, and a change of law will not change them!
Meme of the day: I browse "Disable Sigs: Checked". So should you.
If you are going to be deterred from coming to the US over the requirement that you register online and cough up some fingerprints I suppose you really didn't care that much about coming in the first place anyway, did you?
This is a fallacy. If he cares about not handing over his fingerprints to foreign Governments, that doesn't imply he doesn't care about going to the country. On the contrary, if he didn't care about going, why would he care about the requirements?
but our entry/exit requirements still aren't that onerous compared to other countries I can think of.
Ah, it's the "But there are worse countries!" argument. Well sure there are worse countries - not exactly a ringing endorsement. Chances are the OP doesn't go there, either.
The one true problem with this is that it is basically a one-sided reintroduction of a visa-requirement. The visa-waiver countries are in bilateral agreements not to require visas from each other's people for short visits. Since the new requirement isn't just an "at the time of entry" border security procedure, but instead requires the visitor to get a permission to enter the country at least 3 days prior to the visit, it is essentially a form of visa-requirement.
When I started college 3 years ago I was actually planning on spending a year in the US just to see what the standards and discussions are like and to see whose history I'm studying here. Since then, each year, the American governments makes one shit move after another and my interest in actually visiting this country dwindles with every one. I'm not having my fingerprints be stored for almost two decades in your "potential foreign sleeper terrorist" list and I'm not going through the silliest questions ever invented -again- (the actually DO have that "Did you come here to kill the president" question, I had to answer that when I was 14).
... locked away in his castle on the hilltop shooting at the mailman scared for his life. Congrats America, if that's what your freedom looks like ... no wonder "they" hate it. I do too. The USA used to be a symbol for immgration, diversity and -hell- freedom. Now it's become a symbol of lies, deception, bigotry, intolerance and paranoia. It makes me sad actually.
One more time the bigotry triumphs. Leader of the world, biggest and strongest army
When I came to this country in the early 1970s it was required that we get visa's and passports, present them at the U.S. border, fill out extensive forms documenting our stay etc.
Sure - but saying that the political clock's been turned back 30-40 years isn't exactly something to be thrilled about. That's an immense step backwards. I'd like to think we'd move towards a society with easier movement in time, especially given that there is far more intercontinental communication between people (both business, and personal) than decades ago.
I have to agree with another poster that I'm not surprised at the amount of anti-America bashing this generated. However, those of you who live outside the USA and are not American citizens should probably consider the following.
1. Most Americans never travel outside of North America and have no desire to do so.
2. The US government regards everybody except Canadians as potential illegal immigrants. Yes, even you EU guys and gals. Trust me when I tell you that while there are certainly American businesses that do want your money, my government really doesn't care if nobody comes over to visit.
3. Probably less than 1% of Americans know the visa requirements for foreigners to come here. Almost everybody I've talked to in the USA had no idea how difficult to impossible it is for citizens of non-Visa Waiver countries to get visas to come here. Almost all Americans think that Mexicans and others need only apply for visas to come here legally and they are simply too lazy to do so. I've seen shocked expressions on the faces of many people when they found out how difficult it truly can be to even visit here as a tourist. I've known of cases of legal immigrants who were unable to get tourist visas for family members to come here to visit.
So if you non-USA people expect us to "fix" our broken system, well, good luck with that because the truth is that almost nobody knows how it really works and almost nobody cares if it discourages you from coming here. That is reality. If you don't want to fill out an online form to come neither my government nor the vast majority of my fellow citizens care if you don't come because you don't like the rules. If you think this is some sort of meaningful protest, you are mistaken.
Our DNA database contains thousands of people who have never been criminally convicted
Then vote the fucking assholes in the Surveillance^WLabour Party out of office. In my home state the police have to destroy your fingerprints/DNA if you are arrested for a crime and later cleared (via dismissal or acquittal) of having committed that crime. I'm growing weary of hearing Britons whine about your surveillance soceity while you keep electing the same assholes who are busy setting it up. Contrast this to the outage in the US over the Real-ID scheme. We've actually had quite a few states come out and say they won't take part in it. Where's that spirit in the mother country?
I find it ironic that your unelected upper house is the voice of sanity in the UK. Perhaps you made a mistake when you stripped them of all their power?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
So getting past Saint Peter is easier than getting into the US...
Exactly. All you have to do is have your sins forgiven, and you can get into Heaven. As for getting into the States, even if you've done your jail time for your crime, you can still be barred.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
"I'm growing weary of hearing Britons whine about your surveillance soceity while you keep electing the same assholes who are busy setting it up."
78% of Britons did not vote for Labour in the last election. More than three quarters of Britons did not want them, but they got them anyway.
If you understood that minor little fact, and that the Tory party got more votes than Labour in England but lost to Labour nation-wide because of Scottish Labour voters, and that the current Prime Minister was not elected to that role but merely placed there by his party, then you might understand why so many Britons -- particularly the English majority, who are now the only ones who don't have their own Parliament -- are a bit upset with their government.
The assumption that all foreigners are (potential) terrorists is a slap in the face of hospitality.
And it totally disregards the fact that there are quite some criminals among USA residents.
And then consider that the USA owns a prison where you can be held without any trial or human rights, and that the USA is vetoing all UN resolutions against Israel that would lead to peace in the middle east...
I said it before, americans are mostly nice people, but their government are still living in the cold war times. Luckily there are still a lot of other really nice countries that welcome my tourist euros.
"but our entry/exit requirements still aren't that onerous compared to other countries I can think of"
My (ex) mother in law, an Aussie girl through and through, traveled across Europe with a couple of girlfriends as a twenty year old in 1973. Part of the trip was traveling through Soviet Russia and various parts of the Eastern Bloc. They searched her bag at each border, required to a see a passport, asked some questions, granted temporary visas and that was that. Having her bags opened and searched by a stranger openly wielding an automatic rifle was seen as quite disgustingly 'totalitarian' at the time.
The US is far more locked down to foreigners than the menacing and "evil" totalitarian state of Soviet Russia was in 1973.
Accepting it and making excuses ensures that it will continue on its path to the inevitable end.
Fifteen years ago massive government fingerprint databases were purely the domain of ranting conspiracy nuts...oops.
Ten years ago the idea that everyone entering the country would be fingerprinted was absolutely laughable...oops.
And yet here we are. So whats next on the list to be excused away?
This rubbish 'security theatre' (when did totalitarianism get such a cute name?) is something that's sweeping across the western world and it needs to stop. It really does, because we (average, reasonably people) are losing ground rapidly and very soon if it continues at this rate a lot more of this bullshit is going to start having an negative effect on the average man on the street. Once that happens there's no going back.
I have no problem with making inmates work or charging them for their living expenses. I have a problem with the idea that anyone should make a profit on it, EVER. I don't mind people being paid wages, that's not what I'm talking about. Prisons should be an investment in our future, not an investment for a financial return.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Nobody hates the US, you guys over there just love to feel victims. YOu send your army all around the place, kill thousands of people everywhere (you don't ever bother to account for them) and don't expect that some resentment will be felt elsewhere.
Honestly, get real.
What many people are saying is that the system does not show a friendly attitude, combine that with the horrendous reception you have when arriving to US airports (I have seen things that really make me puke) and you have a recipe for disenfranchisement.
I used to visit the US around once or twice a year, but every time it became more trying, nowadays you are treated like a potential criminal, with a record of your entries, your laptop can be confiscated without any reason and without you having any possibility of redress and if you are in the unfortunate position of being mistaken as a terrorist (it has happened) then all the bets are off.
Unless all this changes people like me, with a genuine interest to learn more about the US, will not visit your country.
If you class the above as hate is more your problem than anybody else's.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.