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Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

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Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#71

Post by DanBC »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #25
lingoberry wrote: post #7

Something similar happened to me recently. I voluntarily left my job at a US employer, planning to move back home (to Sweden). But first I wanted to spend some time preparing for the move and waiting for my wife to wrap things up. The rules say you have to leave the country the last day of work, so I left for Canada to stay with a friend, and planned to come back on the visa waiver program. I consulted with the compa…

So the logic goes something like this: something bad happened to me once in country X. Therefore, I will not go back to country X. So, if something bad happens to you in Sweden, say a policeman is rude to you, or something like that, will you leave Sweden because of it ?

> So, if something bad happens to you in Sweden, say a policeman is rude to you, or something like that, will you leave Sweden because of it ?

No. But if police officers are routinely rude to me, and if I see many reports of officers killing people and beating people - even people who pose no risk to those officers - then I might start thinking about where I live.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#72

Post by neeravkumar »

I went for a interview with Facebook recently from India and had a really different experience. The CBP guy was really gentle and just reminded me to not work for Facebook in my days there and that's it, I was in USA. I just had a small carry bag and no luggage so another one of them asked me why I have no luggage and I told them that I am only there for 3 days. I agree US can be a bit paranoid of these things but compared to people trying to enter USA I think very few face the kind of hostility the author faced.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#73

Post by vasilipupkin »

dferlemann wrote: post #42
vasilipupkin wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the logic goes something like this: something bad happened to me once in country X. Therefore, I will not go back to country X. So, if something bad happens to you in Sweden, say a policeman is rude to you, or something like that, will you leave Sweden because of it ?

This is not a logical issue. It's an emotional one. So, it depends on the person. Wouldn't you held anything against a country if that's country's border control detained you, denied the services you paid for, denied the properties you have in the country, treated you like a sub-human? Would you try to enter that country again? Try, just try to be empathetic...

I agree with you and I am empathetic, but somehow 67 million international tourists manage to enter the U.S. per year, according to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings

so perhaps, my advice is, don't overreact.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#74

Post by crusso »

alan_cx wrote: post #51
w_t_payne wrote: post #13

Beautiful country. Wonderful, creative, friendly people. Horrible, over-complex, hostile bureaucracy. I am pretty sure I'm not going back, either.

Problem there is that the US loudly and fundamentally claims to be a democracy. If we are to accept that, then we have to accept that the government embodies the will of its people. Or, seriously consider that the US is genuinely no longer a real democracy. It is a real shame, as you imply. American people have done incredible things which contribute to the world in general in a positive way, and the country its self…

the government embodies the will of its people

Like most people who vote have any understanding of what the government does or much less what the consequences of those actions are.

Voting choices in the US are much like religion choices and football team choices -- nonsensical tribalism at its finest.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#75

Post by onetwofiveten »

bsdetector wrote: post #46
blaco wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont get the Jewish part, would it make a difference if he claims that he's jewish ?

The border patrol knew he was part Jewish, and that being the case, asked him why he went to country that was hostile to Jews, and he denied being Jewish. It's not about ethnicity, it's about telling the agents something they know is not accurate. This part, like the whole story, was a miscommunication. A better answer would be something like "Well I only have Jewish ancestry from one grandparent so I didn't think th…

Having a Jewish father doesn't make you Jewish. Only people who have Jewish mothers or those who convert to Judaism are considered Jewish. If the agent thought he was being inaccurate then the agent was just being ignorant.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#76

Post by tnuc »

He tried to enter on the US Visa Waiver program. If the guard doesn't like you then you don't get in.

Getting a visa in advance does make the guard do more paperwork if they refuse entry.

From some US gov website; --- To use the program, visitors must waive all rights of review or appeal of decisions made by an immigration officer and all rights to contest action in deportation except for asylum.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#77

Post by DanBC »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #67

U.S. Immigration agents are trained to look for certain traits in visitors: nervousness, unusual or inconsistent answers to questions, history of visiting certain countries. Any of these characteristics trigger an automatic escalation in the interrogation process. This individual, albeit sounding perfectly innocent, unfortunately triggered several hot buttons and the hapless agents were too unimaginative, uninformed,…

> I learned not to say I was there to take a class. Just visiting. Hope to spend lots of money. Ok, have a nice day!

Isn't lying to those people a really bad idea?

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#78

Post by davidcollantes »

Do, really, immigration officers ask "What the hell where you doing X?" "Aren't those countries Islamic?" There are parts on this writing that are hard to believe, like they were written to sound like a novel, but I have never been on a situation like the one described, not even close.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#79

Post by onetwofiveten »

techsupporter wrote: post #5
rheide wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe fix your country next time?

I honestly don't see what is broken here. No one has the unquestioned right to enter any country except one where they hold citizenship. This post documents one person who was turned away for what he felt was an unreasonable position but that's still up to the United States to decide. It may shock people on Hacker News to learn this, but many other countries turn people away for "frivolous" reasons or no reason at al…

This is a pretty empty argument. It's up to the United States to decide all of its policies. So what? That doesn't make it unreasonable for outsiders to comment on how stupid or broken they are. Similarly broken policies in other countries aren't really much justification either.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#80

Post by JoeAltmaier »

neeravkumar wrote: post #72

I went for a interview with Facebook recently from India and had a really different experience. The CBP guy was really gentle and just reminded me to not work for Facebook in my days there and that's it, I was in USA. I just had a small carry bag and no luggage so another one of them asked me why I have no luggage and I told them that I am only there for 3 days. I agree US can be a bit paranoid of these things but co…

Agents use their read on a person to determine entry/denial. The OP mentioned all the things he was asked and how he answered. He didn't/couldn't explain his attitude, eye contact, how quickly he answered the questions, facial expressions.

You've met people you took an instant dislike to - maybe its their hyper-vigilant appearanch; maybe they involuntarily smile at everything you say making you think they know something you don't know. Things like that can get you turned away at the border.

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