Time for a pal of mine to go to the USA to meet her girlfriend. She lives in Sweden. Anything she needs to do to be allowed entry? She's already filled in her ESTA and had it approved; is there anything else she has to do?
What do I need to do to travel to the USA?
- Thread starter Queen Michael
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Obviously, make sure you have your passport. That is your magic key to victory when travelling.
Now, for things to expect... in this post 9/11 world of government oppression and the TSA, the US border feels more and more like you're a Palestinian trying to fly into Israel. At the border they are going to do the following:
1) Take your finger prints.
Yes they are literally going to take your finger prints and store them in a government database for all time and tie that information to your passport (that they also scan) so they can build a government profile on you. They also don't tell anyone this until you get to the gate to basically trick people into complying unless you want to take another 16 hour flight back. If you're not okay with this, don't go.
AFAIK this only happens at airports, not at the Canadian border crossing.
2) Ask you your entire itinerary at the border.
You need to know where you're staying and when. And I don't mean "With my friend Dave" I mean, they need an address, state, postal code, name, length of time you'll be there, etc. If you're spending a week somewhere else in a hotel you have to tell them. If you don't, they probably won't let you in. Make sure to work all this out and write it down. They'll also ask what you're going to be doing, answer truthfully.
3) They're going to ask (the Canadian one is always just on a paper survey) if you're a farmer or grow produce.
Make sure you say you're not unless you want to miss your flight as they ask you questions for an hour because there is a tomato garden in your front lawn.
4) There is usually a line without x-ray scanners.
Unless you want cancer because shooting radiation at tens of thousands of people a day is legal in America for some reason, try to go in that one (it will involve a physical search though). Even if you're in an xray line, you can request a body search instead. It's up to her, really.
Why America adopted the type of body scanner that emits harmful ionizing radiation instead of, you know, the one that doesn't that works just as well is a pretty good question that we'll never have an answer for.
Now, for things to expect... in this post 9/11 world of government oppression and the TSA, the US border feels more and more like you're a Palestinian trying to fly into Israel. At the border they are going to do the following:
1) Take your finger prints.
Yes they are literally going to take your finger prints and store them in a government database for all time and tie that information to your passport (that they also scan) so they can build a government profile on you. They also don't tell anyone this until you get to the gate to basically trick people into complying unless you want to take another 16 hour flight back. If you're not okay with this, don't go.
AFAIK this only happens at airports, not at the Canadian border crossing.
2) Ask you your entire itinerary at the border.
You need to know where you're staying and when. And I don't mean "With my friend Dave" I mean, they need an address, state, postal code, name, length of time you'll be there, etc. If you're spending a week somewhere else in a hotel you have to tell them. If you don't, they probably won't let you in. Make sure to work all this out and write it down. They'll also ask what you're going to be doing, answer truthfully.
3) They're going to ask (the Canadian one is always just on a paper survey) if you're a farmer or grow produce.
Make sure you say you're not unless you want to miss your flight as they ask you questions for an hour because there is a tomato garden in your front lawn.
4) There is usually a line without x-ray scanners.
Unless you want cancer because shooting radiation at tens of thousands of people a day is legal in America for some reason, try to go in that one (it will involve a physical search though). Even if you're in an xray line, you can request a body search instead. It's up to her, really.
Why America adopted the type of body scanner that emits harmful ionizing radiation instead of, you know, the one that doesn't that works just as well is a pretty good question that we'll never have an answer for.
The above poster covered pretty much everything, but I would just like to add a couple more things.
1)Don't carry more than $500.00 worth of cash.
This is mostly an anti-drug trafficking thing, but I have seen people who pay exclusively in cash get held up for an hour just because they pulled out a moneyclip full of twenties.
2)At the passport control do not use your cell phone.
If you do you will likely be pulled out of line and be interrogated. It has happened to me before when I was flying back from Russia.
3)Finally, Don't get piss drunk at a US airport.
I know it's obvious, but I can't tell you how many times I've seen people get refused entry because they reeked of alcohol.
1)Don't carry more than $500.00 worth of cash.
This is mostly an anti-drug trafficking thing, but I have seen people who pay exclusively in cash get held up for an hour just because they pulled out a moneyclip full of twenties.
2)At the passport control do not use your cell phone.
If you do you will likely be pulled out of line and be interrogated. It has happened to me before when I was flying back from Russia.
3)Finally, Don't get piss drunk at a US airport.
I know it's obvious, but I can't tell you how many times I've seen people get refused entry because they reeked of alcohol.
Because the increased risk of cancer is so trivial it's pretty much non-existent. You have a better chance of your plane actually crashing than getting cancer from their scanners.Weaver said:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/family-health-guide/updates/are-full-body-airport-scanners-safe
So if I want to go back to America I just go via Canada? The full itinerary is a little annoying, I had 'road trip across America' as part of my bucket list.Weaver said:
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You really don't need a full itinerary, it kind of just depends on how anal the guy you get is. Most of the time it's good enough to have a vague idea of what you're doing, and knowing where you'll be staying at least on your first stop of the trip. If you want to do a road trip across the US just tell the guy that and tell him what cities you want to visit and why and that should be good enough.Ed130 said:
I live in the US, so I never get questioned about things like that but whenever I have family visit from abroad they've never had much problem.
Unfortunally my legal name is going to ensure I get really anal TSA personal going over everything, at least I visited the US before everything went to hell.Dirty Hipsters said:
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Eh, I did a road trip across the States a couple of summers back and as far as I can remember the questioning was minimal, I just told them the starting and finishing location, and the approximate direction we'd be going, and all was fine. Not worth going through Canada to avoid, really I've been to the U.S. three times in the last two years and never had any difficulties entering, the worst part was the waiting in line. Five minute conversation with a person at a desk, finger prints taken and then free to enter.Ed130 said:
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Well I'm really sorry about that Muhammad. I'm sure in another decade or two people in the US won't be so suspicious of you just because of your name (well, if guys named Muhammad stop blowing themselves up). I mean, this is a bucket list goal, it can wait a while right?Ed130 said:
Or, you know, you can have a bit more of a concrete plan. It's not like they're going to spy on you to make sure you fulfill the plan you told them to the letter.
It isn't Muhammad, but the direct translation of Alexander. Nice try although, the number of Muhammads you meet really boggles the mind.Dirty Hipsters said:
I go to America fairly regularly.
I don't know if it's because I'm British ('special relationship' and all that) or because I'm used to filling out pointless, shitty paperwork, or what, but I've never had a problem taking the 30 seconds it takes to fill out the immigration sheet to get through the border. Normally get given it on the plane anyway, and it's not like there's much else to do on an 11 inch +9
The questions, whilst asked in a fairly dickish way, have never caused a problem either. Closest I came was a visit to California a few years ago where, for 3 months of travelling, by myself, just after a tour of Afghanistan, I was asked at length about whether or not I was deserting/AWOL. They contacted my work and everything just to check.
Which, y'know, seems a little bit out of their remit, but again, for the sake of a 5 minute delay, wasn't the worst thing on the planet.
I suppose it just depends on how one views "Personal liberties" - for every person who gets indignant about the US Border control wanting to know why you're in their country (which seems fairly reasonable to me), I'd say there's thousands of us who just knuckle down and get the fuck on with it.
Being from the EU it can be a bit of a culture shock at first I suppose, we're generally used to pretty lax border controls (or, y'know, none whatsoever, within the Schengen zone). Just make sure you've got your passport, keep a record of your ESTA reference number, and don't try to bring any animals or produce into the country.
Worst part of it is usually the fucking long wait at the border, which after a long flight can, admittedly be a fucking pain. So book any onward flights with plenty of leeway.
I don't know if it's because I'm British ('special relationship' and all that) or because I'm used to filling out pointless, shitty paperwork, or what, but I've never had a problem taking the 30 seconds it takes to fill out the immigration sheet to get through the border. Normally get given it on the plane anyway, and it's not like there's much else to do on an 11 inch +9
The questions, whilst asked in a fairly dickish way, have never caused a problem either. Closest I came was a visit to California a few years ago where, for 3 months of travelling, by myself, just after a tour of Afghanistan, I was asked at length about whether or not I was deserting/AWOL. They contacted my work and everything just to check.
Which, y'know, seems a little bit out of their remit, but again, for the sake of a 5 minute delay, wasn't the worst thing on the planet.
I suppose it just depends on how one views "Personal liberties" - for every person who gets indignant about the US Border control wanting to know why you're in their country (which seems fairly reasonable to me), I'd say there's thousands of us who just knuckle down and get the fuck on with it.
Being from the EU it can be a bit of a culture shock at first I suppose, we're generally used to pretty lax border controls (or, y'know, none whatsoever, within the Schengen zone). Just make sure you've got your passport, keep a record of your ESTA reference number, and don't try to bring any animals or produce into the country.
Worst part of it is usually the fucking long wait at the border, which after a long flight can, admittedly be a fucking pain. So book any onward flights with plenty of leeway.
I go to the USA almost every year, as a Brazilian, other than passport, Visa etc I have to fill a couple of WRITTEN documents thing that are handled inside the plane, if you want to be quick about it you can ask one of the flight officials for those asap so you can get it done with, if by any chance the airplane company doesn't deliver you that it either means that the USA doesn't require your country to fill that stuff or, if they do, that you'll have to get a copy at the airport when you land, it's a matter of marking a few spots with some very obvious questions (really, they're so obvious/needless it's almost offensive...).
At the customs itself... Well keep your cell-phone off your in vibration mode and out of sight, don't even think about looking at the screen or anything, it's written everywhere and for security reasons you can only use the cell-phone once you're clear, I'd recommend you wait for the baggage claim. Most certainly you'll be asked some questions and the range and length of that varies: only once was I treated disrespectfully by an officer with some sort of superiority disorder, every other time (and those were, thank God, many) I was respected, some officers were downright easy going, others were simply doing their job but still respectful as should be. The questions are always around the line of "do you have family or friends here? where do they live?", "where will you be staying?" "are you here for business or leisure?" "how much money do you have with you?" (that's almost 100% of times asked, now you can't be bringing too much in cash, like over 500thousand, but you are expected to have some cash; enough to go by, not enough to disappear inside the USA as an illegal, got it?). That said, once I was asked tons of questions, once I wasn't asked anything at all.
Interesting fact: my mother went there last year representing an NGO group in Brazil that helps children with cancer, she's a volunteer, once she said that it seems the officials almost laid a red carpet for her and her friends lol My point being: there's nothing to be afraid.
All in all, it's public service, so the humor of the officer will depend on who you were (un)lucky to get, however they are very honest and will not throw you back to your country simply because they're having a bad day. Just be polite and answer whatever they ask, but do not speak out of order or elaborate on your answers more than required, and no jokes of any kind for crying out loud (specially violence-related jokes, tuns of imbeciles get turned back because of those). This whole business is for your own safety, even the fingerprint thing (which I don't understand why people get so pissed about, you divulge your fingerprint everywhere nowadays, and it's not like they're treating you as a criminal...).
Hope your friend enjoy the USA, I know I love it!
Edit: oh yes, addresses and phone numbers... Have them all stored somewhere, they never asked me for any (the name of the hotel is usually enough) but it is recommended specially if you're staying at somebody's place, just have that data handy in case they ask for it.
At the customs itself... Well keep your cell-phone off your in vibration mode and out of sight, don't even think about looking at the screen or anything, it's written everywhere and for security reasons you can only use the cell-phone once you're clear, I'd recommend you wait for the baggage claim. Most certainly you'll be asked some questions and the range and length of that varies: only once was I treated disrespectfully by an officer with some sort of superiority disorder, every other time (and those were, thank God, many) I was respected, some officers were downright easy going, others were simply doing their job but still respectful as should be. The questions are always around the line of "do you have family or friends here? where do they live?", "where will you be staying?" "are you here for business or leisure?" "how much money do you have with you?" (that's almost 100% of times asked, now you can't be bringing too much in cash, like over 500thousand, but you are expected to have some cash; enough to go by, not enough to disappear inside the USA as an illegal, got it?). That said, once I was asked tons of questions, once I wasn't asked anything at all.
Interesting fact: my mother went there last year representing an NGO group in Brazil that helps children with cancer, she's a volunteer, once she said that it seems the officials almost laid a red carpet for her and her friends lol My point being: there's nothing to be afraid.
All in all, it's public service, so the humor of the officer will depend on who you were (un)lucky to get, however they are very honest and will not throw you back to your country simply because they're having a bad day. Just be polite and answer whatever they ask, but do not speak out of order or elaborate on your answers more than required, and no jokes of any kind for crying out loud (specially violence-related jokes, tuns of imbeciles get turned back because of those). This whole business is for your own safety, even the fingerprint thing (which I don't understand why people get so pissed about, you divulge your fingerprint everywhere nowadays, and it's not like they're treating you as a criminal...).
Hope your friend enjoy the USA, I know I love it!
Edit: oh yes, addresses and phone numbers... Have them all stored somewhere, they never asked me for any (the name of the hotel is usually enough) but it is recommended specially if you're staying at somebody's place, just have that data handy in case they ask for it.
Many airports are doing away with the full body scanners. Seems they aren't worth all the hassle and don't help out much more than a really good metal detector.
Canadian here. I got my fingerprints taken when crossing the border from Ontario to New York.Weaver said:
As for the x-rays, I'm willing to bet they're the result of a corporate deal. Either that or they're just cheaper to purchase and install.
Yeah I figure as much. Oh well. I guess it goes to show that their paranoia isn't paying off.wombat_of_war said:
The weird part is that was the first and last time it happened despite us being frequent travellers.Weaver said:That sucks. It's been years since I've driven across the border.
Not really surprised
