It must be great to be able to afford to stop doing business in the US.
Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
21–30 of 195 posts
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm Australian, and we've got a fairly intensive customs procedure Really? I brought a bunch of weird looking folding bike parts in a taped together laundry bag and got waved right though.
He means quarantine. If you had an open packet of oreos and some muddy boots, you'd still be there now.
What is up with the Aussies and quarantine? Going from the US to SE Asia, you fill out a little slip declaring if you're carrying snails or orchids, and if you say you are not, you sail right through. No worries!
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#23> I've been to Russia before the cold war ended. I've been all over the middle east. I've been to China. I've travelled all over Europe. I've been to Cuba and I've been to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Nicaragua. What all of these places have in common is that going there was a far more pleasant experience than going to the US. Oh, c'mon, this sounds very over-the-top. My experience is that TSA and USCIS (formerly INS)…
Brazil isn't part of the Visa Waiver program and felt that its citizens were being treated unreasonably. Thus, they began being rude to Americans. (IIRC)
Kind of an asshole move, but highly entertaining to watch from the outside.
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#24> I've been to Russia before the cold war ended. I've been all over the middle east. I've been to China. I've travelled all over Europe. I've been to Cuba and I've been to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Nicaragua. What all of these places have in common is that going there was a far more pleasant experience than going to the US. Oh, c'mon, this sounds very over-the-top. My experience is that TSA and USCIS (formerly INS)…
> this sounds very over-the-top
It is from reddit, which pretty much thrives on over-the-top, especially if it's about how EEEEVIL the US is.
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
He means quarantine. If you had an open packet of oreos and some muddy boots, you'd still be there now.
What is up with the Aussies and quarantine? Going from the US to SE Asia, you fill out a little slip declaring if you're carrying snails or orchids, and if you say you are not, you sail right through. No worries!
They had a small problem with imported animals and plants in the past ...
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
He means quarantine. If you had an open packet of oreos and some muddy boots, you'd still be there now.
What is up with the Aussies and quarantine? Going from the US to SE Asia, you fill out a little slip declaring if you're carrying snails or orchids, and if you say you are not, you sail right through. No worries!
We've got one of the most isolated agricultural systems in the world. To even ship grain to or from Australia you need specially accredited ships (I have a friend in Maritime law and it causes her no end in hassles trying to find these ships).
Because of the isolation, we don't have too many pestilence problems (gross oversimplification) and we want/need to keep it that way.
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#27> I've been to Russia before the cold war ended. I've been all over the middle east. I've been to China. I've travelled all over Europe. I've been to Cuba and I've been to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Nicaragua. What all of these places have in common is that going there was a far more pleasant experience than going to the US. Oh, c'mon, this sounds very over-the-top. My experience is that TSA and USCIS (formerly INS)…
>> all Americans were out of a sudden required by the Brazilian authorities to get pictures taken at the Brazilian customs
I'm curious why this would be such a hassle. I work in China right now and every time I go through customs, there's a little web cam there that takes a photo of me while the customs officer looks at my passport and stamps it. I think both foreigners and citizens experience it. Adds no time to the process at all. I even see my photo on the computer screen if the screen is angled right.
Unless Brazil simply doesn't have the ability to set up this kind of tech....
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#28> I've been to Russia before the cold war ended. I've been all over the middle east. I've been to China. I've travelled all over Europe. I've been to Cuba and I've been to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Nicaragua. What all of these places have in common is that going there was a far more pleasant experience than going to the US. Oh, c'mon, this sounds very over-the-top. My experience is that TSA and USCIS (formerly INS)…
Don't accept the protocol! It is degrading, the scanners pose a health risk, and it is all a waste of money with no benefit to security. America spends several times more on TSA that the entire FBI counter-terrorism budget.
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#29> I've been to Russia before the cold war ended. I've been all over the middle east. I've been to China. I've travelled all over Europe. I've been to Cuba and I've been to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Nicaragua. What all of these places have in common is that going there was a far more pleasant experience than going to the US. Oh, c'mon, this sounds very over-the-top. My experience is that TSA and USCIS (formerly INS)…
>> all Americans were out of a sudden required by the Brazilian authorities to get pictures taken at the Brazilian customs I'm curious why this would be such a hassle. I work in China right now and every time I go through customs, there's a little web cam there that takes a photo of me while the customs officer looks at my passport and stamps it. I think both foreigners and citizens experience it. Adds no time to the…
I also live in China.
1. In China the system is set-up for that. The little web-cam and the system are integrated with a push of a button, and the process is very quick. In Brazil they didn't have anything. They were taking pictures with off-the-shelf digital cameras, and I read an article saying that they did not even have a system set-up to transfer the pictures out! It was really something implemented overnight, clearly just to piss people off.
2. Sorry if I was not clear, but my point about the hassle was not much the picture itself, but the fact that Americans were singled-out and placed on a different line. This is borderline racist IMO.
Note: Brazil eliminated this stupid policy a while ago. I mentioned it just as an example.
Re: Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US
#30I will tell another personal experience. I am based out of India and have been invited to speak at a conference in San Francisco. I applied for a business visa and was denied that visa because apparently I am young (23) and they have not heard about my startup (it is of course not an IT service giant like Infosys, TCS or Wipro) or conference (it's about A/B testing). Mind you: my startup is doing quite well financial…
You're just too much of a flight risk - they see you as having too little at stake in India. I've had some friends have similar issues (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=851287). I myself returned to India after 8 years in the states partly because it was practically impossible to start my own business without a green card, aka 4 years of indentured servitude.
For future reference: Try to show assets you own (real estate, homes etc) that incentivize your return; Bring literature about your conference, maybe ads etc (they need to see that its purpose is not an immigration scam); if you're married or have kids, that helps a great deal. Good luck!