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British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

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31–40 of 132 posts

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#31

Just wondering as to why people even bother with the US at all? What does the US give you that UK doesn’t, besides a fucked up government (even more so than the UK - see who’s in charge of the FCC or the tax filing situation), crazy & unreasonable immigration policies, etc? This won’t change as long as people accept it. But if tomorrow tourism & business travel slows down to a crawl because of this you can bet you’ll…

Unmatched opportunities for science, entrepreneurship, education, and technology. Population that's more welcoming to immigrants than any other place in the world by far. Outdoors. Cleaner air and water. Cheap prices. Diversity. Optimistic, friendly, and humble people.

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.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#32

Does the US _really_ have a problem with UK citizens overstaying their visa? I highly doubt it, this is insane.

Yes, they do have issues with this. Whether UK or any other nationality. Funnily, I have a colleague who overstayed his entry visa by exiting a day late and frequently gets stopped and questioned when he goes back, which he does often as he had since married an American and probably entitled to US and UK passports by now!

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unmatched opportunities for science, entrepreneurship, education, and technology. Population that's more welcoming to immigrants than any other place in the world by far. Outdoors. Cleaner air and water. Cheap prices. Diversity. Optimistic, friendly, and humble people.

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 d…

I'm European. I've travelled a lot for work though.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#35
post #14

This is one side of the story. There's likely more than just this text message that raised suspicion. But the law is quite clear that anyone applying for admission to the US is presumed to be an intending immigrant and the burden is on them to prove they will leave before their duration of status expires. Literally millions of people per year are denied visitor visas because they can't meet that burden of proof. Not…

He wasn't denied a visitor visa, he's been banned for life and that can't be overturned. Quite different. He also has a girlfriend in the US, so that's over for him. That's life changing. BTW, he doesn't exactly need a visa, he was on an ESTA.

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.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#36

Just wondering as to why people even bother with the US at all? What does the US give you that UK doesn’t, besides a fucked up government (even more so than the UK - see who’s in charge of the FCC or the tax filing situation), crazy & unreasonable immigration policies, etc? This won’t change as long as people accept it. But if tomorrow tourism & business travel slows down to a crawl because of this you can bet you’ll…

Unmatched opportunities for science, entrepreneurship, education, and technology. Population that's more welcoming to immigrants than any other place in the world by far. Outdoors. Cleaner air and water. Cheap prices. Diversity. Optimistic, friendly, and humble people.

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.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#37

Just wondering as to why people even bother with the US at all? What does the US give you that UK doesn’t, besides a fucked up government (even more so than the UK - see who’s in charge of the FCC or the tax filing situation), crazy & unreasonable immigration policies, etc? This won’t change as long as people accept it. But if tomorrow tourism & business travel slows down to a crawl because of this you can bet you’ll…

What does the US give you that the UK doesn't? First and second amendment protections. Perhaps those are not an advantage in your book?

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

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#39

Something similar, though much less extreme happened to me. My Australian girlfriend got a year long visa to stay with me in the US. The immigration officer detained her for 3 hours, and eventually told her she could only stay for six months. (This was a long time ago, late 99s, so I can’t remember the justification or how he had the authority to alter a visa she had already been granted. He may have been lying.) He…

You very wrong on the assumptions.

The person with the rubber stamp issues you the I-94 in the USA. That is the ultimate say on how long you are allowed to stay. The visa is only one of the many things they consider.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#40
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unmatched opportunities for science, entrepreneurship, education, and technology. Population that's more welcoming to immigrants than any other place in the world by far. Outdoors. Cleaner air and water. Cheap prices. Diversity. Optimistic, friendly, and humble people.

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…

I'm born and raised in Europe.
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