Us Visa Laws

[wello]

just watched the news and saw that another high profile aussie
our self apoint rock guru Molly Meldrum got his arse kick out of the USA for not having the right visa or one at all .
So be it
there has been more that enough about the new visa laws for entering the States on the news good on the yanks for sending him (not really you could off kept him ^_^ )

gald your guys didn't have to strip search him or they would all be out on stress leave ^_^


these people have to learn its the same rules for us all not that just because you have fame in Australia you can do what ever you want and that the world is not and will never be the same again

[AccadaccA]

LOL Molly would have deliberately gone without a visa after reading about strip searches in the "New Idea" mag. :love:
He would have even taken his own rubber gloves for cavity searching.

He's as camp as a row of tents.

[wello]

Originally posted by AccadaccA
LOL Molly would have deliberately gone without a visa after reading about strip searches in the "New Idea" mag. :love:
He would have even taken his own rubber gloves for cavity searching.

He's as camp as a row of tents.

:hat::haha: so true

[Frank N. O.]

A thousand apologies for asking yet another stupid question but do all visitors to the US have to undergo a strip-search even if the visa and all papers are in order?

Frank

[Myshkin]

Err are you kidding Frank?

In case you are not: I brought my wife's family up from Mexico by car for Christmas this year. They had to go through the inhumane process of getting out of the car, walking up to a counter, and have a border patrol agent check their visas and issue them I-94 cards, which is a 180 day visitor's "pass". Then we got back in the car and drove off. Time elapsed? Maybe 20 minutes in all to cross the border between Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico and Eagle Pass, Texas, USA. I've had longer waits in Laredo, El Paso, Calimex and Tijuana, but in general it's just because there are more people. Process is the same.

Airports depend on the time of day, but there it is no more than what I go through going to any other country, with the exception of people that walk up and say "I'm going to be working here, give me a tourist visa".

From Oz or Europe, you don't even need the visa. Just show up with your passport, they'll enter some information and give you the I-94. Don't believe the hype :) These cases are the exception, not the rule.

[DC_Targa]

I think the confusion in the law originated from some US TV commercials. The tag line for one of the credit card companies is "American Express, don't leave home without it". So if you bring your American Express card, or a Mastercard but forget your Visa you will not be allowed entry into the US. ;)

[AccadaccA]

LOL :haha:

[Frank N. O.]

No I'm not kidding, I'm just highly in-experienced in life itself since I was overprotected right up to the chrismas of 98 when my dad died of cancer. I have dreams of moving to USA to live but I have no money or education so I know it's out of the question, but these problems are even greater in todays Denmark plus that it's so cold and so expensive with my only true pasion: cars (and I'm only dreaming of Mondeo/Contours and Focus', not GT40s or SVT Mustangs).

Btw since Denmark can't exchange their passports for a safer version soon enough then danes will soon need a VISA to set foot on US soil.

Frank

[Sepecat]

Originally posted by Frank N. O.
Btw since Denmark can't exchange their passports for a safer version soon enough then danes will soon need a VISA to set foot on US soil.

Frank

Actually Travelers from: Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, do not need to have a Machine Readable Passport (MRP) to travel now…

The US State Department has extended the MRP requirement to October 26, 2004…

George`

[Myshkin]

Ah Denmark is one of the countries without scannable passports, eh? There's no plan to change that anytime soon?

Sorry for not being sure if you were serious, Frank. I guess you have to go through it or observe it to really know why it seems funny to me. And I try not to see it from my view... I'm thinking of all of the trouble I've had with my wife and US immigration in the last 4 years... it has been enough to make me annoyed with the bureaucracy and severely displeased with the INS officers at Dallas/Ft. Worth airport. Yet on the other hand, 9/10th of the time it has been nothing, really.

Edit: George, he said soon and next October would fit that definition IMHO :)

[Sepecat]

BTW Mysh,

How is your (Wife) Visa issue going????

George`

[Frank N. O.]

I don't know much about danish passports I just read the VISA-reinstatement on the US site from DK but I couldn't really find much else on the subject. On a more realistic note I want to visit the US once but not if I had to undergo searches like that, especially considering the new low-level X-Ray scanners you just stand in front of a few seconds.

No need to apologise though, I realise that I lack much knowledge that is basic to most other people.

Thanks for your friendly response, greetings
Frank

[Myshkin]

Dunno yet. We have the additional complication that her permanent residency expires on April 1st, so we're hoping that gets renewed without trouble first and foremost. We may have to go to an interview in San Antonio.

Then there's the fact that her Mexican passport expires in late July, and Estonia requires it to be valid for something like 90 days after her arrival there.

So there are issues. I have sent in the permanent resident renewal (actually it's "remove conditions on permanent residency") form, her mother may be able to get a new passport for her in Mexico... and my cousin was supposed to have gone to the immigration and tourism board in Tallinn this week.

:wave: @ Frank ;)

[Sepecat]

Originally posted by Myshkin
Dunno yet. We have the additional complication that her permanent residency expires on April 1st, so we're hoping that gets renewed without trouble first and foremost. We may have to go to an interview in San Antonio.

Then there's the fact that her Mexican passport expires in late July, and Estonia requires it to be valid for something like 90 days after her arrival there.

So there are issues. I have sent in the permanent resident renewal (actually it's "remove conditions on permanent residency") form, her mother may be able to get a new passport for her in Mexico... and my cousin was supposed to have gone to the immigration and tourism board in Tallinn this week.

:wave: @ Frank ;)


Mysh, your Wife is a resident Alien? She then does have a Green Card?

I know a person I dealt with, who was here from India some 10 years ago, now owns a number of Service Stations; his 10 years were up… He then submitted renewal applications. And since INS is now a part of Home Land Security, it takes 1 year minimum for him to get a renewal… He didn’t have an Interview, only need to submit the appropriate applications.

Has your wife applied for Citizenship here in the US??? I

George`

[Myshkin]

That's just a matter of vocabulary. Permanent resident implies resident alien. This person that you knew must have had different circumstances. It took less than two months from when my wife applied for permanent residency after the first year to getting the actual permanent resident card. And that would have been faster if we had all the correct paperwork done from the beginning. We didn't use any legal help, we did it all ourselves.

Here is a rough schedule of what she needs to do:

1. March 2000 - Applied for fiancee visa, took 10 months to go all the way through.
2. Ferbruary 2001 - Entered with fiancee visa, 90 days to get married and turn in paperwork. She could not leave the country during this period.
3. February 2002 - One year from entry she could apply for permanent residency with conditions (can be revoked). Granted and issued April 2002.
4. April 2004 - Permanent resident card expires, must apply in the 90 days before expiration to remove the conditions and renew the card. That's now.
5. April 2006 - She can apply for citizenship.

Even if she has to wait for an interview or whatever, she can still get temporary documents. In order to work she needs a valid "green card", which is the same thing that she uses for immigration. No card, no work nor school. She only needs this card for those few things, as internationally she travels with her passport. Estonia (nor the EU) does not care if she is a permanent resident of the US.

[Myshkin]

Oops sorry for hijacking the thread, guys.

Are there new visa laws, or are they just being more strict? Generally when I have talked about "needing a visa" I mean you have to pre-arrange permission to enter the country. You can't just show up.

Tourist visas between the US, most of Europe and Australia do not need to be pre-arranged. You can just show up and they process you there. They may have been lenient about work visas (such as for journalists) beforehand, but by the law they have always needed the right visa. A student needs a student visa, not a tourist visa, same idea.

Y'all have a link about this Molly Meldrum bloke?

[[SK]Tammy]

Soon all travelers will need a visa to enter the US.

UK travelers have been told to go to the embassy in London to obtain a visa, even if only visiting on holiday/vacation.

:love:

Tammy

[Sepecat]

Tammy:

British travellers holding a "machine-readable" passport - issued in Britain since November 1991 - can still travel to the US without a visa for the 10-year lifetime of their document.

They will then have their fingerprints and photographs taken on arrival in the US.

But those who get a new passport after October 26, but before biometric ones are available, will have to purchase a visa at a cost of £67.BBC

George`

[Myshkin]

Hmmm what does that last statement mean? I was under the impression that machine-readable passports was the only requirement... biometric passports? Will they have fingerprints or something encoded in them? And that expensive visa, I hope that's the one good for 10 years total, 6 months at a time.

I had forgotten that the fingerprint/picture thing went into effect at the end of last year, shortly after I brought the family over. Now I wonder what that is going to mean for border crossing... I hope it is a quick electronic scan and picture, or I am never going to cross at a reasonable hour with family again.

[Sepecat]

Mysh,

If you have a biometric passport, then you will not need to have your fingerprints/picture taken when you arrive in the US...

But if the passport does not contain the Fingerprints/picture, then you will need to have it taken once you arrive in the US...

Its only a one time deal, takes less than 2 minutes... I don't know what the big fuzz is about……

Btw on Border crossing, I don’t think it has quite been implemented yet… It by next year or 06 it will be in place at the Mexican and Canadian borders…. (I’m not 100% sure about this)

George`