usa and visa

[bozzly]

I went through the stressful and time consuming process of getting a visa to travel on holiday to Orlando.
Anyway, when I finally got to immigration at Sanford the officer there asked why I had a visa. I told him it was because of a few convictions I had years ago.
I asked him if I really needed to get a visa and he said he wasn't sure if I had to as he didn't know what we were being told in the UK about getting them.

What he did say was that he (a immigration officer) and his colleagues had no way of knowing if we had convictions or not as they had no way of seeing our police records etc back in the UK. He said 9 out of 10 people travel on the visa waiver anyway!!

 

[dawnpisces]

WOW!!! I find that absolutely amazing! So how is it that some do get sent home again and told never to return? This happened - lets just say to someone I know - because he had drugs convictions. How did they know? Or maybe the person told a few white lies to us back home about the real reason? Mm I shall think about this.

 

[pauldents]

What I find quite funny is the fact that they ask you whether you have had any crimes involving moral turpitude or drugs offences on the Visa Waiver.

If they really have access to criminal records here in the UK, then why do they have to ask?

And another thing. Why is it one rule for "normal people" and another rule for famous people? Mick jagger, Keith Richards and Paul McCartney all travel to the US when they feel like, yet they have all been convicted for various drugs offences.

 

[Cochise]

I find it absolutely hilarious that we Brits have to go through this when Johnathon Ross has Robert Downey Jnr who can simply waltz into this country with whatever convictions he has without question. I think it is about time we started slamming the yanks with a taste of their own medicine. This actor laughed off what he had done in the past as he had gone past this era, grrrrrr annoys me as you can tell.