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British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

theguardian.com

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Re: British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

#12

[flagged]

You don’t want people to come in for 6 months, work below minimum wage and then take all that cash abroad without paying taxes. That would be a bigger drain on the economy than the supposed waste of govt resources.

Re: British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

#13
post #10

Frankly, I wouldn't dare to overstay my tourist visa in the US either 10 or 20 years ago. The articles notes "four month", a standard US tourist visa for an ESTA country (e.g. the UK) would grant 90 days upon arrival; any travel within Canada counts too. Canada, however, grants 180 days, helping explain why Canada may not have seen an issue. Whenever travelling elsewhere for more than 1 month, check _everything_; inc…

> helping explain why Canada may not have seen an issue

The article seems to indicate that Canada did have an issue:

> Canadian authorities told her to go back to the US and fill in new paperwork before returning to cross into Canada.

It seems that she was detained after re-entering the US upon being refused entry into Canada.

Re: British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

#14
If she is on a "four-month backpacking trip around North America" and tried to return to the US, she has exceeded the 90-day limit allowed by the Visa Waiver Program (which counts days both in the US and "adjacent territories") and is now an illegal overstayer. The unpaid labor stuff and getting refused entry to Canada is icing on the cake.

For the record, I'm no fan of ICE/CBP, but it looks like they're just enforcing the law here.

Re: British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

#15
post #13
post #10

Frankly, I wouldn't dare to overstay my tourist visa in the US either 10 or 20 years ago. The articles notes "four month", a standard US tourist visa for an ESTA country (e.g. the UK) would grant 90 days upon arrival; any travel within Canada counts too. Canada, however, grants 180 days, helping explain why Canada may not have seen an issue. Whenever travelling elsewhere for more than 1 month, check _everything_; inc…

> helping explain why Canada may not have seen an issue The article seems to indicate that Canada did have an issue: > Canadian authorities told her to go back to the US and fill in new paperwork before returning to cross into Canada. It seems that she was detained after re-entering the US upon being refused entry into Canada.

Ah. I missed that; maybe Canada only recognises the US visa stay if one entered the US first. I did this research back in 2017, and I may misremember some details.

Re: British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

#16
I have long suspected the reason for aggressive treatment of minor offenders is that they are an easy target and a quick way to meet your prosecution quota.

I have many times heard about foreign students who come to the USA under completely proper arrangements but run afoul of immigration because of some innocent remark. My advice to visitors is to never mention to officials any circumstance in which you might come into contact with business or financial operations.

Re: British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

#18

The story is missing an important detail, I'm not assuming malice btw, why was she refused entry into Canada as well? Edit: Lol, there's literally nothing wrong with this observation. HN has truly gone down the gutter. I know not everybody here is part of the hivemind but the few that are completely spoil the experience for everybody else.

That's what I was confused about. I was thinking my add blocking maybe cut out a paragraph from the text at first.

> Canadian authorities told her to go back to the US and fill in new paperwork before returning to cross into Canada.

If it's not mistake, and the article is complete, it sounds like the reporter skipped some important details about what Canada did. Hopefully an honest mistake.

Re: British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

#19

If she is on a "four-month backpacking trip around North America" and tried to return to the US, she has exceeded the 90-day limit allowed by the Visa Waiver Program (which counts days both in the US and "adjacent territories") and is now an illegal overstayer. The unpaid labor stuff and getting refused entry to Canada is icing on the cake. For the record, I'm no fan of ICE/CBP, but it looks like they're just enforci…

Enforcing the law is one thing. If they refused entry or forced her to fly back immediately, nobody would care much. Detaining is all of: cruel, expensive, unnecessary.

Re: British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

#20

[flagged]

You don’t want people to come in for 6 months, work below minimum wage and then take all that cash abroad without paying taxes. That would be a bigger drain on the economy than the supposed waste of govt resources.

Mmm, she’s getting the whole border patrol indefinite incarceration oubliette treatment, it’s not going to take long to rack up more cost than your hypothetical taxes on 6mo @ But sure, if the ‘tourists’ are working for a company en masse, I can see how that could be a problem. The feds will probably do better going after the company, in my estimation. For some reason they don’t seem to do that very often.

Self-employment or bartering (as happened here), well, that doesn’t make sense to me to prosecute.

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