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British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

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

#41

Post by hvidgaard »

hyperdunc wrote: post #22
Nextgrid wrote: post #12

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?

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

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

#42

Post by raverbashing »

actionowl wrote: post #7

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

A problem as in "people of that nationality causing problems" probably not as much.

A problem as in "it is against our current immigration rules" technically it is correct. Numerically it's probably around < 1% possibly around 0.1%

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

#43

Post by atemerev »

silverdemon wrote: post #24
avocado4 wrote: post #18

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.

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 :)

They are not wrong. I am Russian living in Europe, occasionally visiting the US.

Here in Switzerland, and to a lesser extent in the rest of the western Europe, I will always feel like an immigrant. It is cultural, there is always a divide of those who lived here before and those two came after. Perhaps only my children or their children will be able to fully integrate here.

In the US it is different. There are a lot of hurdles to overcome to get there, including very insensitive TSA employees who have arbitrary powers over you, but when I come out of the airport building — I am an American. A Russian American, yes, but still there are nearly no differences in the attitude compared to everybody else. People are friendly and helpful, no matter if I speak with some strange accent or don’t look like a local. This is amazing, it is something that Americans take for granted, but it is a very big deal.

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

#44

Post by baybal2 »

jopsen wrote: post #8

Because most illegal immigrants are British, lol :) Being an illegal immigrant in the US is extremely unattractive -- decent jobs require paperwork.

You know, you will be surprised that the charts of biggest illegal immigrant nationalities worldwide is topped by Swiss citizens.

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

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

#45

Post by mad_tortoise »

avocado4 wrote: post #34
mad_tortoise wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm not disputing your heritage or what you do, I'm disputing the content of your comment. You can challenge any points I made but that is a Third World perception of the USA.

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

#46

Post by no1youknowz »

Nextgrid wrote: post #12

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…

Let me make a list:

- Better TV.

- Much Better Food.

- Higher paying jobs.

- Bigger cars, bigger roads.

- Second Amendment.

- First Amendment.

- Lower Taxes (income and sales).

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

- More likely to succeed if you start a business. Shark Tank > Dragons Den UK.

- More likely to get funding if you decide to get an Angel / VC and higher amounts with lower equity.

- More likely to have FFF rounds fund 6 figure seed for startup. Everyone I know in the UK is skint because of zero hours and high taxes and no savings.

- 325m vs 66m in population. Therefore a much higher population to sell a product to locally and regionally. Not the same in the UK. Small business more prevalent in the US also, easier time to sell B2B.

I've spent probably close to 4 years now in the US. Lived and worked in many states. The US outclasses the UK by many margins.

Here's one for you. I'm living in the UK now, it's actually detrimental to bootstrapping a business. Tell me, what does the UK give you that the US doesn't.

Oh that's right, healthcare is the biggest one. Yeah, I'll give you that one. Nothing else though!

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

#48

Post by foldingmoney »

zaarn wrote: post #36
avocado4 wrote: post #18

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…

Interestingly, 'villages of people with wildly different customs and traditions going back 1500-2000 years' is basically the opposite of what's meant by 'diversity' today, which is a high population of newly arrived immigrants.

The former exists precisely because people historically didn't mingle much.

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

#49

Post by zaarn »

avocado4 wrote: post #40
zaarn wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you were, which I doubt, I would assume you didn't move around much or went to vacations in and around Europe. I would recommend doing that at some point, it's lovely.

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

#50

Post by chrischen »

Nextgrid wrote: post #12

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…

Big market. 300 million people. Plus I'm here and I'd like to think I'm a pretty big deal.

Rather than attack the US as a whole, why not just attack the inane policies. We don't all support everything that goes on here. It's not as if elsewhere in the world there are no places with no problems.

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