Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

travel.stackexchange.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 56 posts

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#11

Post by tokenadult »

hadoukenio wrote: post #3

It's getting more and more common these days that whenever I talk to people about travel, the US is completely off their list. The TSA, NSA, NYPD, Bloods and Crips, the reasons go on. It used to be that Disney Land was one of the reasons to go to America. More and more people I speak to who would have gone now say "meh" to the idea.

It's getting more and more common these days that whenever I talk to people about travel, the US is completely off their list.

As people in the United States wake up on a Sunday morning in their time zones, I guess it falls on me to say that this all depends on whom you talk to. I know lots of people who desire to visit the United States. The United States is still second only to France as the country most visited by tourists from other countries.[1] That's remarkable to me because France has land borders with several other countries, all countries with large populations, while the United States mostly has to be reached by transoceanic air travel.

The original post says, "I have heard that if I have been to some countries I might be refused to enter the US." What it does not say is, "I have checked the United States laws and have checked actual practice of what happens at the United States border, to see how that compares with border control in other countries." And then there are a couple of anecdotes in the few responses. This is basically not a high-quality submission for Hacker News, as it doesn't promote the thoughtful, informed discussion that should characterize our community here.

The typical set of Hacker News comments about the United States from people who have never been to the United States seems to mingle two points of view. On the one hand, the United States is criticized as an undesirable place that no one would want to live in or even visit, given a choice. On the other hand, the United States is criticized as an inhospitable place that doesn't give free, unrestricted entry to anyone who wants to work or visit or settle in the United States. (Criticisms of United States immigration policy on Hacker News mostly take the form of saying that the United States should let in more immigrants like, um, the people who participate on Hacker News.) A fable attributed to the Greek author Aesop[2] may explain how these seemingly contrary opinions of the United States can exist in the mind of the same person.

[1] http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/the-worlds-most-pop...

http://time.com/10296/most-popular-countries-to-visit-map/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings

(Some sources disagree on the exact ranking, but every source I checked puts France first and puts the United States in the top five.)

[2] http://www.bartleby.com/17/1/31.html

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#12

Post by jpatokal »

antocv wrote: post #8
hadoukenio wrote: post #3

It's getting more and more common these days that whenever I talk to people about travel, the US is completely off their list. The TSA, NSA, NYPD, Bloods and Crips, the reasons go on. It used to be that Disney Land was one of the reasons to go to America. More and more people I speak to who would have gone now say "meh" to the idea.

A friend of mine said he would never visit Saudi Arabia because he could get jailed or killed for no reason or no fair trial. I told him thats my reason for not visiting USA, Bradley Manning among a list of many and Guantanamo.

Also, you would not be "jailed or killed for no reason" in Saudi Arabia -- it's just that some of the reasons you would be jailed are a bit unusual (adultery, alcohol, proselytizing).

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia#Respect

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#13

Post by peteretep »

dewey wrote: post #5
4ad wrote: post #4

In many (most?) countries you can get a secondary passport that you can use with "unfriendly countries". You use that for one set of countries, and you use the primary one for USA and other countries that have poor relations with countries from the first set.

And some countries just stopped stamping passports, you'll just get a piece of paper you'll have to keep until you are leaving the country (Israel).

A departure card like the type you're mentioning is pretty common, but isn't instead of a passport stamp.

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#14

Post by tzs »

hadoukenio wrote: post #3

It's getting more and more common these days that whenever I talk to people about travel, the US is completely off their list. The TSA, NSA, NYPD, Bloods and Crips, the reasons go on. It used to be that Disney Land was one of the reasons to go to America. More and more people I speak to who would have gone now say "meh" to the idea.

Bloods and Crips? How are the Bloods and Crips a reason to avoid travel to the US?

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#15

Post by shimon_e »

dewey wrote: post #5
4ad wrote: post #4

In many (most?) countries you can get a secondary passport that you can use with "unfriendly countries". You use that for one set of countries, and you use the primary one for USA and other countries that have poor relations with countries from the first set.

And some countries just stopped stamping passports, you'll just get a piece of paper you'll have to keep until you are leaving the country (Israel).

Japan has been doing this for about half a decade. Hong Kong started this practice at the same time as Israel.

Probably the same technology provider doing a global roll out based on country size.

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#16

Post by 616c »

TillE wrote: post #10
Kayou wrote: post #7

Stamps on a passport is actually a pretty good example on what one would like to hide from the authorities even though he didn't do anything wrong. I say that as an answer to people like Eric Schmidt who say that if we have something to hide, we shouldn't have done it in the first place. Well, that would be true in a perfect world, but here we have a perfect example that it's not the case. So for this case, I would a…

Yeah, I know people who have "lost" their passport in between trips to Israel and to Arab countries. I guess it's worth the replacement fee to avoid potential problems.

People who lost their passport due to Israel or Arab country concerns are idiots. The warnings from travelers, both from the past and probably traveling with you or you would bump into are numerous. Israel is very well aware of this, and they give you the opportunity to attach your visa to a piece of paper that you can remove after you departure from Israel. We would have the Egyptians specifically stamp this paper, and then you could throw it away.

Source: Me, traveled to Iran and Israel on the same passport, along with Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#17

Post by 616c »

The recommendations are utter horseshit. Again, empiricism and anecdotes don't always line up, but I have visited many of the countries of the Arab world, lived in one and currently live in another, visited Israel, visited Iran (not the Middle East, no matter what you think), and the latter two on the same passport.

Hint, I am not European. Every time I landed in the US, I expected a shit storm, and the Iran stamp was a whole page on the last page of my passport. Never have I been asked more than one question by an ICE officer.

I also married into an A-rab family, and no one has ever given any of us trouble. I know bias is subjective, but the numbers of Americans, specifically US servicemen and contractors, is so large no one will question an American who has visited these countries.

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#18

Post by fennecfoxen »

tzs wrote: post #14
hadoukenio wrote: post #3

It's getting more and more common these days that whenever I talk to people about travel, the US is completely off their list. The TSA, NSA, NYPD, Bloods and Crips, the reasons go on. It used to be that Disney Land was one of the reasons to go to America. More and more people I speak to who would have gone now say "meh" to the idea.

Bloods and Crips? How are the Bloods and Crips a reason to avoid travel to the US?

Ignorance.

Ignorance of how they work and how unlikely they are to affect your life. (I'm sure many Americans are similarly ignorant about some "dangerous" group in another geographic location which is in fact dangerous but unlikely to be encountered.)

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#19

Post by walshemj »

Kayou wrote: post #7

Stamps on a passport is actually a pretty good example on what one would like to hide from the authorities even though he didn't do anything wrong. I say that as an answer to people like Eric Schmidt who say that if we have something to hide, we shouldn't have done it in the first place. Well, that would be true in a perfect world, but here we have a perfect example that it's not the case. So for this case, I would a…

According to on one the engineers I shared an office with at Dar Al Handasha (a huge arab consulting engineering partner ship) is what you do if you travel widely in the middle east.

Re: Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US

#20

Post by 616c »

Mvandenbergh wrote: post #6
4ad wrote: post #4

In many (most?) countries you can get a secondary passport that you can use with "unfriendly countries". You use that for one set of countries, and you use the primary one for USA and other countries that have poor relations with countries from the first set.

I had three concurrently valid passports at one time, partially because getting multiple entry visas sometimes requires having [a] passport couriered to the country in question and I didn't want to be unable to travel while my passport was in Abuja. Using that to lie to consular authorities is really stupid though. I've travelled to Yemen and to other countries that are 'suspicious' and never had any problems, if I'd…

I would not mention this ever on forums. You could at most have two passports at the same time from the US for reasons you describe, and the paperwork is very specific about surrendering the second the moment you are done with it.

So it is quite likely you were bending the rules, and I would not go around mentioning that. I mean you are talking about identity fraud at the fed level. The paperwork would have reminded you penalties for that are not so fun. I filled out some myself once.

I tried to get the second, not for Yemen but somewhere else not too far away. I told the US Embassy, and they told me to just use the one and it was not worth the subsequent hassle to apply for a second (or third in your case if that is truly possible). The stigma of where I was going was bad, but not enough they said to waste my time with an additional password.

Post reply on HN