Countries you shouldn't visit if you want to travel to the US • Hacker News Board

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

#41

Post by tokenadult » Sun, May 04, 2014, 1:47 PM UTC

pasbesoin wrote: post #37

tokenadult wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think that one of the problems is that the parameters used in analyzing e.g. visa requests, among other things, are not clearly laid out. To some extent, we are reduced to anecdote, because an opaque and sometimes seemingly capricious (if not malicious) system -- or set of sometimes cooperating, sometimes competing systems -- leaves us no choice. There also appears to be no effective and consistent gradation in ris…

I take your point, but present my own not so much as a counter-point but as an adjunct that I think also needs to be considered, and so I'm mentioning it in this response.

I appreciate that. (Upvoted, of course.) Thank you. I've noticed before that you devote effort to building up a thoughtful community here.

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

#42

Post by Mvandenbergh » Sun, May 04, 2014, 1:50 PM UTC

616c wrote: post #20

Mvandenbergh wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm not an American and all my passports were legally issued by my government after following the (extremely hassle free and reasonable) application process. The additional passports were valid for two or three years (don't remember exactly), I certainly didn't need to surrender them and in any case I was using them constantly.

All I had to do was pay the processing fee and document why I needed them. Admittedly, the third one was harder to get and required an interview but even that was perfunctory.

I have heard that most countries are much less eager to give out passports than mine.

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

#43

Post by eternalban » Sun, May 04, 2014, 1:52 PM UTC

pyalot2 wrote: post #2

Does the US want to get rid of its tourism? Because that's how it'll get rid of tourism.

Some random person on SO does not speak for US government. The list is to my personal knowledge at least in part b.s.

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

#44

Post by zuz1peeK » Sun, May 04, 2014, 1:56 PM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #24

In a lot of Europe you would not know that you had crossed a border, it is no big deal. Even in and out of Switzerland that is not 'part of Europe' in the EU sense. It feels good when nobody cares to look at your passport and you can just roll on in. There is also the knowledge that if you were up to no good, e.g. smuggling drugs, they would probably catch you as you stopped off at the 'drop off', to not just nab you…

From the perspective of a USian, the UK doesn't sound like one of the best places to visit anymore either. A further along soft-surveillance state where I won't have citizen's rights..

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

#45

Post by prawn » Sun, May 04, 2014, 1:59 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #40

Theodores wrote: post #24

In a lot of Europe you would not know that you had crossed a border, it is no big deal. Even in and out of Switzerland that is not 'part of Europe' in the EU sense. It feels good when nobody cares to look at your passport and you can just roll on in. There is also the knowledge that if you were up to no good, e.g. smuggling drugs, they would probably catch you as you stopped off at the 'drop off', to not just nab you…

>In a lot of Europe you would not know that you had crossed a border, it is no big deal. Even in and out of Switzerland that is not 'part of Europe' in the EU sense. It feels good when nobody cares to look at your passport and you can just roll on in. Well, that's because most of the EU (plus Switzerland and Norway) is part of the Schengen Area which explicitly allows for free movement between countries. I assure you…

No, that's true, and in my experience entering the UK as a tourist can be as nerve-wracking as entering the US. Meanwhile, it can even be sad missing out on passport stamps while getting around Europe and passing the unmanned border crossings!

I think after terrorism, one thing the US and UK fear are working holiday types entering and especially without reasonable funds. We were grilled in both places.

(Australian, visited both 2-3 times each and think both are fantastic tourism drawcards but the entry process is daunting.)

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

#46

Post by vacri » Sun, May 04, 2014, 1:59 PM UTC

jpatokal wrote: post #12

antocv wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I once worked with an Eritrean whose family came to Australia by way of Canada after moving to Saudi. They moved away from Saudi because my colleague's father noted that there are no protections for black people under Saudi law - if something went wrong, they were utterly screwed. They could be targeted by criminals and the law wouldn't care a jot. Saudi laws should not be characterised as "just a little stricter and odder than we're used to".

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/saudi-arabia-th...

Saudi also practises that modern form of slavery where slaves aren't property now, they're merely foreign labourers who have had their identity documents removed so they can't escape and their promised wages withheld. http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2013/december/saudi-arabia-defend...

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

#47

Post by orting » Sun, May 04, 2014, 2:02 PM UTC

rlongstaff wrote: post #35

tokenadult wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I have visited the USA a dozen or so times over the past decade and, as well as having a great number of friends there, I've found the people really friendly and welcoming. The only exception to this are US immigration officials who I dread dealing with everytime I arrive. All my paperwork is in order and I've never visited any of those 'dodgy' countries but they are just so unfriendly and standoffish that it spoils…

I remember visiting family in the states in 2008, we had our 9 month old child with us. Arriving in the US we got fast-tracked through security, allowed to bring formula for the baby with us and was generally treated very politely. In London we were asked to open all containers with baby food and taste it.

There are countless anecdotes illustrating how immigration rules and officers are ridiculous and racist, but not all of them are about USA. In many respects immigrants are treated worse in Europe that in the states.

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

#48

Post by vacri » Sun, May 04, 2014, 2:04 PM UTC

dewey wrote: post #21

peteretep wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's instead of the passport stamp in Israel [0]. Otherwise you'd have problems getting into Jordan for example. (Other countries according to wikipedia: Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen). Source: My own experience [0] https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/middle-east/to...

I had the piece-of-paper as a tourist in the US in 2009. They removed it on my exit from the country - so my US trip shows up in my passport as a series of staple-holes.

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

#49

Post by mariuolo » Sun, May 04, 2014, 2:15 PM UTC

shimon_e wrote: post #15

dewey wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I had no idea anyone considered Japan unfriendly.

Unless...could it be PRC?

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

#50

Post by phantom784 » Sun, May 04, 2014, 4:40 PM UTC

rlongstaff wrote: post #35

tokenadult wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I have visited the USA a dozen or so times over the past decade and, as well as having a great number of friends there, I've found the people really friendly and welcoming. The only exception to this are US immigration officials who I dread dealing with everytime I arrive. All my paperwork is in order and I've never visited any of those 'dodgy' countries but they are just so unfriendly and standoffish that it spoils…

I believe the official policy is to assume everyone is planning to remain illegally and it's up to you to prove otherwise (e.g. by showing ties to your home country)