Asking for social media handles is inhumane? It may be bad policy or intrusive, but calling it inhumane is hyperbole.
It is definitely not friendly because social network is a place to communicate with friends or family and you don't want a customs officer putting their nose there.
The only thing a customs official is going to see is your public online persona. If you don’t want them to look at it maybe it shouldn’t be public?
Of course then could go the next step and ask for a password (which I would argue goes too far).
Can some lawyer explain why these questions are necessary? I understand that you can add extra convictions for lying on these applications, but all the above questions are quite damning themselves. Like >> Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization? Assuming you are: you answer yes and you get denied a visa (duh). Answer no and the gov doesn't know, what happens? You commit terrorist activities on…
> I understand that you can add extra convictions for lying on these applications You simply get kicked out pretty much immediately if they find out you lied. It can mean also the revocation of citizenship as it is now considered obtained fraudulently. That all can be done rather "easily" since it's procedural, without a long legal battle involved. Now all kinds of "funny" things can happen there. Say someone belongs…
I'm not sure what the underlying legal theory is in defining terrorist groups, but maybe ex post facto applies here. If the defining of the group as terrorist is done by passing of a law then this is pretty open and shut. If it's done by executive order then I'm not sure. It might go to the supreme court.
Yeah, for a lot of people it's more about trajectory than the numbers. Even going up doesn't necessarily mean anything with inflation. And it's very hard to find essentials like housing here if you don't have a lot of money. I'm not very educated on the details of all this, but something about using long term mortgages as investment vehicles seems to be screwing with the market. I don't really understand why a low en…
It sounds to me as though the setup only appears wonky and unnatural to us because it's an equilibrium of various needs and interests that clash against one another.
Yeah, I think that’s part of it. I understand that a lot more people want a place to live than want the newest phones, that no one wants to live next to bad neighbors, that people like having guests and competing for status, that land close to major cities is finite, etc... but it still seems weird that people are charging more money than what people actually have. If you took loans out of the equation, part of me thinks houses would start reflecting people’s actual needs and means better and would drop significantly in price. Eventually I think they would provide people with a sense of security rather than obligation since you’d have to buy them outright, and eventually that security would result in more creative/entrepreneurial activity. But maybe I’m just severely undervaluing all the work required to build a basic house/overestimating how much the process of building them could be streamlined so as to avoid loans.
As any US Visa applicant can attest to, the DS-160 is already some of the most annoying form you have to fill - in fact for most people it's less pleasurable than doing 1040. In addition to asking for details of every school you went to, every job you had, every country you've been to, they ask you questions like this: >> Have you ever violated, or engaged in a conspiracy to violate, any law relating to controlled su…
Not a fan of this, but the US is late to the game -- and has received criticism because of it. Most developed countries already screen social media when processing visa applications.
oh, make no mistake the US /already/ screened this stuff. My now-wife had all her social media pages printed out and waiting for her on an entry to the US in the Obama years. Difference is now they can ban you for lying...
Since you have actual first-hand knowledge of border officials doing social media questioning, could you tell us more about this? What did they ask her? What prompted them to print out the social media pages? Which social media sites? What country was she coming from? How long did they question her?
As any US Visa applicant can attest to, the DS-160 is already some of the most annoying form you have to fill - in fact for most people it's less pleasurable than doing 1040. In addition to asking for details of every school you went to, every job you had, every country you've been to, they ask you questions like this: >> Have you ever violated, or engaged in a conspiracy to violate, any law relating to controlled su…
>> Do you seek to engage in espionage ... while in the United States?
>> Do you seek to engage in terrorist activities while in the United States?
Who are they hoping to catch with these questions? Honest spies and terrorists? Or maybe they hope to say in court:
“You committed a terrorist attack sir, but even worst is that you lied about it on the form!!”
All jokes aside I think these questions are designed for psychological effects to promote the messaging that US is in a never ending war on terror.
That's not my point, you don't see UK under the microscope. Just seems to be another case of "US bad/Europe good".
UK is not in Schengen zone - so it is not "Europe" - even EU citizens go through customs when entering UK (unlike within Schengen zone).
That's not what I'm getting at, I'm not debating Europe vs "Europe". It's when a Europe area country does something, everyone seems to give them a pass. When the US does something similar, it's viewed with a different perspective.
I don't think you understand, the US has a long and well established history of this, even to the point of formal political policies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_non-intervention... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Doctrine_of_Unstabl...
I wouldn't really call a country that is stereotyped as meddling in the affairs of everyone else strictly (key word) isolationist. Seems like the opposite stereotype of the Hermit Kingdom.
US history is more than just the post WW2 superpower era.
As any US Visa applicant can attest to, the DS-160 is already some of the most annoying form you have to fill - in fact for most people it's less pleasurable than doing 1040. In addition to asking for details of every school you went to, every job you had, every country you've been to, they ask you questions like this: >> Have you ever violated, or engaged in a conspiracy to violate, any law relating to controlled su…
Thinking about it in network security terms, why shouldn't prospective new immigrants and/or visitors face higher scrutiny? It seems to me that they represent a higher threat to US citizens living in the US than random foreigners outside US borders, because of their "insider" status.
Also, once they are present inside the US, they can potentially avail themselves of rights given to US persons. Therefore, such privileges ought to be given selectively.
As any US Visa applicant can attest to, the DS-160 is already some of the most annoying form you have to fill - in fact for most people it's less pleasurable than doing 1040. In addition to asking for details of every school you went to, every job you had, every country you've been to, they ask you questions like this: >> Have you ever violated, or engaged in a conspiracy to violate, any law relating to controlled su…
Thinking about it in network security terms, why shouldn't prospective new immigrants and/or visitors face higher scrutiny? It seems to me that they represent a higher threat to US citizens living in the US than random foreigners outside US borders, because of their "insider" status. Also, once they are present inside the US, they can potentially avail themselves of rights given to US persons. Therefore, such privile…
Most of these questions are just rhetorical. Of course nobody would answer "yes". Annoying to those that haven't done anything wrong.