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Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

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Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#321

Post by DeathArrow »

aiisahik wrote: post #13

Americans do not understand how much press there is outside the US about tourists from Ireland / Germany / Canada getting locked up in ICE jails for weeks on end. It's one thing to refuse entry to someone who doesn't have the right documents. The fear goes to a completely different level once people see tourists getting locked up. As someone who lived in the US for 22 years legally and most of my social and business…

> I an not taking the risk of getting locked up in ICE jail any time soon, no matter how unlikely it is.

Why would someone end up in a jail if he doesn't break any law?

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#322

Post by oblio »

avalys wrote: post #273

I see all these articles about Canadian and European hate for the US, and anti-US sentiment in general. They all sadden me. The US is made up of 350 million people. Only one of them is Donald Trump. Most of the country didn’t vote for him. We still value our friends and allies, even if the stooge Putin got elected does not.

Trump was elected twice.

The fact that that happened shows something is deeply wrong in the US.

The US government, (mostly) democratically elected, has decided to harm the rest of the world.

Even if there are good people in the US, they can't seem to win. So one could argue, what use are the good people in the US, for everyone else?

So the reaction is kind of expected and natural.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#323

Post by Symbiote »

josephg wrote: post #215
chimeracoder wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Depends on which part of Europe. In the more diverse parts, nobody would bat an eyelid (even if border police might profile you). As a person who matches the description above, and has traveled to Europe extensively and frequently, I can tell you that as much as Europeans like to believe this is this case, it is absolutely not true. > Nobody will throw you in jail in indefinite detention in another country with no…

A couple years ago my girlfriend and I spent about 2 months travelling through europe. We visited about 10 countries on our trip. A lot of our travel between countries was by bus. After a few bus trips we started noticing something strange - the busses often pulled over for rest stops just after we'd changed countries. Everyone would all get out of the bus to stretch our legs, and some police would miraculously appea…

I think a good part of it is 'wealth' profiling.

I'm white, male. I travel to some lower-income countries for work. I can dress like a neat, well-paid software developer with the €2000 laptop and €1000 camera in my bag. I'll sail through security in Europe and at the destination, then have a horde of people hassling me for a taxi, sometimes pretty aggressively, and I feel I stand out as an easy target for robbery.

Instead, I wear some old, faded clothes for the journey. Then I get the "random" drug swab check in Europe, border control at the destination might ask to see my hotel booking, but the taxi drivers and street kids will ignore me as another cheakskate backpacker.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#324

Post by chimeracoder »

hylaride wrote: post #284
chimeracoder wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With a Canadian or American passport (until recently)? No problem. First of all, the folks profiling and detaining you don't ask you where your passport is from first - they'll generally make the decision and then ask for your documentation. But even then, I have a US passport, and I've had far more issues being detained in European airports than I have in the US - which is really saying something.

> First of all, the folks profiling and detaining you don't ask you where your passport is from first - they'll generally make the decision and then ask for your documentation. It depends. Most countries do have certain kinds of extra policies for passports of certain countries. For example, Visa fraud, especially for education visas, is extremely common from India. So extra checks for those that the acceptance lette…

> It depends. Most countries do have certain kinds of extra policies for passports of certain countries

That's not relevant when, as I said, they detain you without knowing what passport you even hold.

> You're a citizen, though. Unless they think you're importing something you shouldn't, you're far less likely to be hassled as you have more rights than others.

Being a citizen does not, in fact, exempt you from being profiles and detained at border crossings, either in the US or in Europe.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#325

Post by XorNot »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #144
danmaz74 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm Italian, my wife is Russian and my sister lives with her family in California. I've always been pretty vocal online about my dislike for Putin, and since the war in Ukraine started, I became very worried about visiting Russia, just in case they needed some random Italian guy to extort concessions from the Italian government. So, I stopped going (we were planning a family trip right in the Summer of 2022). For thi…

I literally do not have any social media accounts (does HN count?), and I'm concerned that would immediately mark me as a suspicious individual (although I can eloquently justify this to the nth degree if required). Having said that, weigh up the benefits and drawbacks of scrubbing your social media accounts to minimise that particular concern? I don't have any, so I don't know what I'd be losing, but I can say that…

Strikes me there's a new AI service in there: aged social media accounts. Run by bots for at least 2 years and available for purchase to give you a plausible looking online footprint when needed.

(A similar service exists for Cayman Island holding companies IIRC)

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#327

Post by stephen_g »

jmyeet wrote: post #214

I completely understand why. It is difficult to comprehend how much damage is being doen to America's reputation and soft power. I feel it necessary to give the following advice: 1. Erase your phone before entering the US. Restore it from backup after arrival. CBP has the right to inspect your phone. While you may be able to refuse, likely this means you'll be denied entry and there's nothing you can do about that un…

Good advice, but as an Australian looking on, I feel like it needs to be added as number one - 1. Reconsider your need to travel to the US if possible.

The company I work for has a small branch office in DC, the VP of our US option was out here in just back in December and we were chatting at the Christmas party how I was keen to head over at some point if it would be useful for a project we’re doing for a US customer.

Today I would probably politely decline and just continue meeting remotely if they asked me if I could travel over for a week or two.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#328

Post by paulgb »

vain wrote: post #211
taylodl wrote: post #89

Why would a foreigner visit the US when you may be detained and treated like an animal at any time for the most trivial of reasons? Furthermore, why would you visit a country that's actively undermining others around the world? Why would you provide your financial support to that? It's the same reason Tesla sales have fallen off a cliff. You can only mistreat people so much before they push back.

This at least reflects my feelings about visiting anytime soon. I mean if I was just put on a flight back (for a tweet they found on my phone or such), that'd be kind of bearable. At least one visitor from the UK got locked up in a facility for a week.

> At least one visitor from the UK got locked up in a facility for a week.

If you're talking about Rebecca Burke, it was almost three weeks. All for something that was at worst a naive understanding of the visa she needed.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/rebecca...

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#329

Post by p_l »

BikiniPrince wrote: post #113
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #74

Can DOGE therefore justify cutting a whole lot of jobs that process tourists? Or has that already been privatised?

TSA and all of its security theater is going to get the boot. Airports can manage their own security. That won’t change international customs which is still managed federally.

TSA including all of its security theatre was on life support because of insurance premiums - it allowed some creative actuarial accounting that shifted responsibilities and reduced insurance costs for airlines in post-9/11 insanity

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#330

Post by ta1243 »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #96
ta1243 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bigger debate I see is if it's worse for the US or worse for the rest of the world. The consensus is it's awful for everyone, apart from a few environmentalists that are looking forward to the reduce carbon emissions from a great depression. I think the consensus is that if the rest of the world grows a spine it will emerge far stronger and the US a weaker state to before - akin to change the British Empire post…

This is off topic, but I've actually found comfort in how it has galvanised Europe. What worries me is which side the US (government, not people) would choose to support if EU states send troops to Ukraine's front lines, which would absolutely instigate a Russian response. (Trump wouldn't like that the little EU states are messing with his negotiations for the shrinking and pillaging of Ukraine, and Trump is, if noth…

We'll see how quickly the rhetoric turns concrete.

Last time Europe tried to do something to reduce reliance on America in 2019, America threatened Europe with sanctions

https://www.dw.com/en/us-warns-eu-over-13-billion-defense-sp...

> The United States has decried "poison pills" embedded in proposed rules which could shut third country allies such as the United States out of European defense projects.

> US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland emphasized the point in a letter and warned of possible US sanctions: "I hope we can avoid contemplating similar courses of action," he said. The EU has been asked to respond to the letter by June 10.

This is of course despite the fact most EU defence spending has always gone straight into the US economy.

> "The EU is actually at the moment much more open than the US procurement market is for the European Union companies and equipment," Mogherini said in Brussels. "In the EU there is no 'buy European' act and around 81% of international contracts go to the US firms in Europe today."

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