US Visa restrictions on previous ME travellers
Back to Forum- This topic has 28 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 16 May 2016
at 10:31 by rodders.
-
- Author
- Posts
- Skip to last reply Create Topic
-
BigDog.ParticipantThe US Congress has passed a measure as part of a budget bill that will no longer allow citizens of 38 countries – including the UK – who have either travelled to Iraq, Syria, Iran or Sudan in the past five years or are dual nationals of these states, to travel to the US without a visa.
22 Dec 2015
at 13:07
superchrisParticipantMay somewhat hamper the development of Iran by UK companies if by visiting you are then prohibited from using US Visa Waiver for 5 years…..
22 Dec 2015
at 13:21
TominScotlandParticipantWill 2 passports and a bit of convenient forgetfulness overcome this problem?
22 Dec 2015
at 13:35
superchrisParticipantIm sure that two passports will indeed get round this. I think that Im correct in saying that going into 2016, there is no other way for a border guard to review an ‘audit trail’ other than reviewing stamps.
22 Dec 2015
at 13:59
canuckladParticipantI’m actually quite surprised that 2 passports aren’t aligned to each other. I’m sure that the paranoia of Homeland Security, would insist that passports where linked.
And actually, the technology within these chips would, I’m sure allow a pairing of held information.On a personal level, I’m against 2 passport capability. If a legitimate traveller can have 2 passports, then it logically applies that individuals travelling with malice intent could also use them to their sinister advantage.
22 Dec 2015
at 14:32
JohnHarperParticipantThis won’t affect us. We made a decision about eighteen months ago to stop doing business with the Land of the Paranoid as we were more than fed up with their controls and restrictions. We’ve never looked back and there is far more potential for us in Asia than in the US.
22 Dec 2015
at 15:55
DavidGordon10ParticipantWell, what a piece of utter mindless stupidity – but then, the land of the free turned iinto the land of the blinkered a long time ago. What do you expect of a country where so few of the people even have a passport.
Those of us who do have legitimate work in coutries such as Iran and Sudan will be penalised: and serious terrorists will, of course, be far too well organised to have evidence of their ME travel accessible. Yet another argument for avoiding travel to the USA as much as possible. The list of four countries does not include other ME countries with a far worse record of government-sponsored or government-funded overseas terrorism.
I have to disagree with Canuck about the two passport question. If you need your passport most weeks, but some countries will take and hold your passport for weeks to issue a visa, then you just need two.
I am just kicking myself for having the Iranian visa in one passport and the Sudan visa in the other….!
22 Dec 2015
at 17:52
FDOS_UKParticipantI have some sympathy with the Americans on the matter of dual mationality.
They understand/can manage the risks they are taking with US/2nd country dual citizens, but for 2nd country/2nd countrty duals, I can’t see any reason why they shouldn’t have to get a visa if one of their passports is not in the visa waiver scheme, a sort of ‘the most restrictive conditions apply’ that we all accept on air tickets, when different fare rules apply to different legs.
I’d also second DavidGordon10’s comments about second passports of the same nationality, there are several legitimate reasons for holding them and they should not increase the risk posed by the traveller.
22 Dec 2015
at 17:57
canuckladParticipantHi David and FDOS….
You’re right, I hadn’t considered all the scenarios…..And a bit hypocritical of me, as I often rue my stupidity years ago, by not getting my Canadian passport as well as my UK one….And David, you’re spot on. It seems that the bureaucrats at Homeland Security have had a memory by pass operation…..
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t most of the 9/11 perpetrators .not hail from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
22 Dec 2015
at 18:08
TheRealBabushkaParticipantHow will this be enforced?
Will the onus be on airlines to flick through each page of a pax’s passport to ensure this additional condition is met such that the airline does not incur the cost of repatriation upon denial of entry?
On a side note, I’m glad the countries listed are not your usual gateway for TP/mileage runs. That would be a disaster! LOL!
22 Dec 2015
at 18:35
MartynSinclairParticipantI believe one of the reasons people still have to physically completed arrival forms (despite having a chip passport) is not all countries have the necessary software for the passports to be read and information stored.
I wonder if the Americans will succeed in having access to all the information contained on a passport chip, once all the “benefits” of chip passports have been realised.
Until then, I am sure passengers will request certain nations to add a sticker in passports so an entry stamp can be removed after you leave…
22 Dec 2015
at 19:03
DavidGordon10ParticipantYes Martyn, and this is a world which has to change. The idea that a visit to Iran or Sudan makes you a danger to the USA needs to be put in perspecive and handled in a much better way. The crudeness of our American friends is sometimes astonishing. Similarly, the idea that a visit to Israel means that entry to Iran is difficult is just crazy.
In my (medical) neck of the woods, that is just unacceptable. To see what I mean, I recommend this poem by my late colleague Dannie Abse http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/11/03/case-history
22 Dec 2015
at 20:39
LuganoPirateParticipantFrom memory of a few months ago, in applying for my ESTA, it asks if you have a second passport (or maybe it’s just nationality?) and then asks for those details.
I’m also told the US can and does ask airlines for a person’s travel history. I don’t know how or the method, just that they do. The EU gave up the rights of privacy on this sometime ago.
23 Dec 2015
at 04:32 -
AuthorPosts
