US Visa
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You after a working visa or citizenship?
Friend of mine (ironically who lived at Ramsey on the Isle of Man) went for the latter, cos he'd married a buxom American lass, and had to go for intense interviews at the US Embassy. They checked through his past with incredible detail, and when he finally got approved, he was running around like he'd won the bloody lottery.
Still never understood why.
The Teacher wrote: Nah. Tourism during May Half term.
Just get on a plane, obviously minus Semtex in yer shoes etc. Check your passport is in date though. I've found that one tricky lately.
I think you have to do something on the Internet one week before your flight.
I cannot remember clearly what it is all about (no intend to go there, me) but it might be a form to fill before the flight in place of the green form they use(d) to make you fill during the flight...
In short, I think that there are/will have changes sometimes soon.
The better is to check the US embassy site...
Maybe, it is in order to make inquiries before your boarding. If they find what you wrote here upon the USA, I think you can say bye-bye to your trip...
Oh come on Jiff, don't discourage him. He's only going over to have a friendly beer with Edelbrock.
Burt Reynolds wrote:
The Teacher wrote: Nah. Tourism during May Half term.
Just get on a plane, obviously minus Semtex in yer shoes etc. Check your passport is in date though. I've found that one tricky lately.
If he does that he'll be tossed in guantanamo!!!
As of Monday 12th, the ESTA is alledgedly compulsory (despite contradictory info on both the US immigration website and from the Jesus embassy in Londinium) so he has to tell the US secret police all about himself before he goes. Ultimately this will replace the "are you a terrorist or drug dealer?" card you fill in on the plane.
Your passport also needs a chip if it's new enough to have one, OR tha machine readbale bit (all your info hashed with >>>>>'s on the bottom of your details page) and a digital [1] photo if it aint, although some US info these days doesn't mention the photo.
Sadly Liam's probably been arrested (several times most likely), so he will indeed need a visa. Yes that's right, the land of the free treats accusation as conviction.....if you are lifted for something, even if you are instantly released when it's realised it was a terrible mistake....to the jesuslanders, you're a criminal.
Someone told me the other night that jesusvisae are taking SIX MONTHS!!!!!!! Can't imagine that's true cos it would fuck business travel.........all high flying execs having been busted for coke and drunk driving at SOME point.
The lovers of the baby jesus have an embassy. 0207 4999 000
Or there is their immigration webshite .
BEWARE sites offering to take your money and details to help with ESTA....they are scammers and data miners, it's actually retardproof and free
[1] Spottably by not being on the inside back cover, but on an inside page.....YES, it DOES feel like there's a photo there, but hold it up to the light.
Ignore my previous post.....do what Burt says.
You'll look fuckin GORGE in orange and plasticuffs!
;)
PS: The ESTA violates EU and UK data protection laws, which say data can only be transfered overseas if it will be protected to the same or greater extent by local laws. The US HAS no data protection laws at all, so they can do what they like with your info. And if you think that's scary......wait until next year when you have to give them your credit card number and/or banking details too!!!!!
It's the luck of the draw. I know someone who did time years ago for drug smuggling who walked straight in to the US (JFK) on a green slip. And I watched a man get refused at immigration because he had a caution for smoking reefers when he was 15. If you've no convictions and your name isn't Tariq, you'll probably just fill the form in on the flight over, get knocked back a couple of times for minor errors and walk in. Don't get mad with the immigration guys though, they don't like it one bit and they WILL make your passage harder. And stay the other side of that yellow line until they call you forward. Don't forget, you'll have to clear airport security (yes really, on the way into the country) before you even get to Immigration. And after immigration you have to get all your suitcases and pass through Customs (you will have filled in a white form on the flight to say you're not carrying apples or cocaine). Then you check your bags back in, then get them back on the carousel as normal. I seem to recall you do have to do something in advance these days - fill in a form online or something. Your airline or travel agent will keep you right there. Compared to other countries, it's a total ball-ache getting into the States. I think I've seen or experienced some sort of drama each time. It's their way of showing how powerful they are, which has the effect of showing how paranoid and silly they are. Some of the data-checking and observation is going on in the background in other countries - you think those mirrors as you pass through immigration and customs at UK airports are so you can check your make-up? The US, as ever, just chooses to make a big noise about it all.
Oh yeah, and do what I did but what most of the numbskulls on my flight didn't do - i.e. fill in the reverse side of the form - yes, there IS another side, otherwise you'll be told to fill in the other side and rejoin the long queue! :p
Also, who (in their right mind), would actually answer "Yes" to the "Are you a terrorist?" question! 
Anyway, in 2007, you didn't have to do anything beforehand - just fill out the form whilst in the plane (and have a destination to go to - i.e. a hotel/house/etc). You certainly didn't have to have one of those passports that Doc describes above, but you do have to have at least 6 months before your passport expires...
LOL I will be sure to tell that to the next person I speak to who's been turned away because their passport was issued at an embassy and therefore had no machine readable section.
Perhaps I should have specified the year, pre-registration became compulsory on 12th of Jan 2009 (hence, after 2007).
BUT, although their official blurb says 72 hours before you fly....some git from their embassy says you can do it in the internet cafe in the airport while waiting to board.....anyone care to try that?
So, I was not wrong with the form to fill online.
What Colin said made me smile. The first time I went to the USA, I thought I was good for a straight return to France. It was by the end of the 80’s. I remember a huge black man with a… matraque (huge stick you beat people with) shouting “next” while you were waiting behind the yellow line. When I reached the custom officer, I found myself in front of a man with greasy hair, big and thick glasses, in brief, the cliché of the zealous civil servant. And as I was a young cunt, I had this Bundeswehr shirt à la Barney. Add to this a red star iron badge on my jacket… No woman never looked at me so closely than this custom officer did. It seems it lasted hours… I felt like cattle, Untermensch despite my Bundeswehr thing…
The last time I went home from the USA has been something too. The plane had to take off at 11 pm. We could not get onboard before 1 am… At 1:30, they said the plane was not able to take off – summertime, excellent weather conditions. We were the last passengers in Boston airport, fed with sodas and crisps at 2:30 am. A custom officer allowed the passengers (mainly Europeans) to cross the airport gates in order to let us smoke outside – thank you. At 4 AM, a plane from Detroit landed in Boston. It did not park at the gate. Reason : won’t be able to cross the ocean. People were furious, videoing and interviewing people sleeping on the floor with thin sheets of the company, crisps and sodas. Some were calling their lawyers in the middle of the night… incredible scene for me… At 7 AM, they told us that we will be travelling with other people via London. We finally took off at 8:30 AM. Getting onboard. My seat, on the boarding pass, stated a seat which did not exist on the plane. What a story to deal with after a white night… It took them more than 10 minutes to tell me “you can sit on this free seat” to what I answered “which one?”. We were less than a 1/3 of the plane capacity…
All that to say that… when we reached my homeland, the best was still to come. Paranoid people at the carrousel. We landed at the same time than a flight from Paskistan and another from Africa. As they knew I was the French of the flight, they harassed me with the following questions: “Where is the border? Where is the yellow line?” I showed them a little gate we all came through and said: “That was the border and the man behind it is the custom officer”. They were all like kids after me (I must say for their defence we had a very very long tiresome journey)… I finally concluded with a “Do not fear anything, we have been through all the procedures, you are now free to do what you want to, welcome in the country of Human rights!” and left…
Burt Reynolds wrote:
Jiphy wrote: . And as I was a young cunt,
Steady, Jiffy
Thank you for the compliment, Burt. I thought I already was on the old cunt side...
These Rosbeefs, real gentlemen...
Burt Reynolds wrote: Oh come on Jiff, don't discourage him. He's only going over to have a friendly beer with Edelbrock.
and sleep on my floor, as I gather he's slept on everyone else's.... kinda like Pokemon cards for him I think, collect all 274.
At Heathrow I saw some African tribe chiefs: they were wearing colorful robes and bizarre hat constructions. and I thought, yeah that's the British Empire, everyone gets in there.
Can someone please clarify if Steve is actually right on the can't-go-to-the States-if-you've-been-arrested front? This surely cannot be true.
He is very paranoid, after all.
PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote: Can someone please clarify if Steve is actually right on the can't-go-to-the States-if-you've-been-arrested front? This surely cannot be true.
He is very paranoid, after all.
You can get in, just not on visa waiver, at least that's according to me bro, who has been lifted (and promptly release uncharge I might add). I shall see if I can find something official for you.
EDIT: From.......
You will also probably need a visa if you fall into one of the following categories (Note: this list is not exhaustive).
You intend to stay longer than 90 days You intend to travel to the US for a reason other than business, pleasure or transit You are conducting official government business You have been arrested (even if not convicted) You have a criminal record You have a serious, communicable disease (including HIV) You have been refused entry to the US on a previous occasion You have been deported from the US You have overstayed during a previous visit
If you are unsure, or if you think that your situation falls into any of the above categories, you should consult the US Embassy (see above) – you must do this well in advance of any plans to travel.
Does my British passport allow me to travel under the VWP?
To enter under the VWP your passport must contain a machine-readable zone (MRZ).
At the foot of the photo page. The MRZ contains 2 lines of text as letters, numbers and chevrons (>>>). If the area is blank the passport is not machine-readable and you need to apply for a visa.
The new style passports containing a biometric chip and an MRZ are acceptable for the VWP.
PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote: Astonishing.
Agreed (unless the astonishing thing is that I was right, in which case fuck ye). But not as astonishing as the UK's enhanced CRB checks where ACCUSATIONS are revealed and considered. I mentioned this here before, but basically I could just ring up someone, say that Liam touched my kids, and that's IT, he never teaches again (despite the fact that I HAVE no offspring.
With the US, it gets worse.....alledgedly they'll be asking for credit card numbers on this ESTA thing by 2011....now given what I said above about them having no data protection[1] laws....wont that be fun.
[1] ANYwhere else I could just say "DP" laws, not here, not to you 
So, in other words (having just been onto the site), it's just an electronic version of the paper form that you used to fill in?
At least it certainly looks like it to me... :)
Nick King wrote: So, in other words (having just been onto the site), it's just an electronic version of the paper form that you used to fill in?
At least it certainly looks like it to me... :)
Pretty much, but it will be added to with more guff, and for now the paper forms continue to be used in parallell.
Doctor? wrote:
Nick King wrote: So, in other words (having just been onto the site), it's just an electronic version of the paper form that you used to fill in?
At least it certainly looks like it to me... :)
Pretty much, but it will be added to with more guff, and for now the paper forms continue to be used in parallell.
... so that they can recount them if you land in Florida...
Brilliant! :)Dave Earnshaw wrote: Total filth.
Hey, btw welcome to my house in the states. You'll have the best dinner at my house. I'll show you all round. We'll get a boat, if you like.
