Entry Reg's n Rules

[boatman61]

Well..... I'm still in the UK....
Should have been halfway to Charlotte by now but myself and the crew were prevented from boarding by US Security... insufficient information...
Basically it boiled down to the fact that the owners of the boat had supplied us with a one way ticket from London to West Palm Beach via Charlotte.... and a return flight from Perth, Australia on the 29th of May.
This it seems was not good enough.. nor were the 50pence a page print outs of the e-mails setting things up... £15 worth...
It boiled down to the simple fact we had no flight out of the US, no definite date/time of departure.... saying 24th or 25th Feb was inadequate...
So... I am now waiting for the owners to send back a completed list of things the 'MAN' wants answers to.. signed by the owners and my contract as skipper and also my crew...
Not having a bitch about it as such...
the owners failed to supply what I requested ie; a return London-US ticket and my signed contract...
The return ticket to London alone could have solved the problem... it would have had a fixed departure date...
Anyway... my advice to any EU/Other citizens who may be headed to the States to collect/buy a boat......
CROSS ALL THE 'T's AND DOT ALL THE 'I's....
To be honest I was expecting something like this having visited the US a coupla 3 times in the past.... in a way I'm grateful it happened this side rather than in arrive in Charlotte and get turned around there...
So far the only extra cost is going to be £130 for the hotel tonight...
Cross your fingers for us tomorrow.....

[capngeo]

FWIW, it is no better if you are a US citizen.... On returning from a recent trip to Canada, the MORON asked me "what is the purpose of your visit to the US?"

"Uh, I'm going HOME?"

"Don't be smart sir"

"OK... if you stop being dumb"

I got sent off to "that room" for further "interrogation"

[atoll]

have allways used a return ticket when flying into micky mouse 3rd world countries,but this takes the cheese.................

[Johnny Cruiser]

Originally Posted by capngeo

FWIW, it is no better if you are a US citizen.... On returning from a recent trip to Canada, the MORON asked me "what is the purpose of your visit to the US?"

"Uh, I'm going HOME?"

"Don't be smart sir"

"OK... if you stop being dumb"

I got sent off to "that room" for further "interrogation"

An outstanding example of our Homeland Security Agency at its' finest!
After all you only had a US passport for ID! And you were coming from Canada!
ROFLMAO
John & Carol

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by capngeo

FWIW, it is no better if you are a US citizen.... On returning from a recent trip to Canada, the MORON asked me "what is the purpose of your visit to the US?"

"Uh, I'm going HOME?"

"Don't be smart sir"

"OK... if you stop being dumb"

I got sent off to "that room" for further "interrogation"

I've been crossing in and out of Mexico and western Europe since I was 14 and every now and then there's some a-hole border guard who pipes up. It's just not worth arguing or being anything less than completely submissive.

You're not going to prove anything to them. If you want to take a stand, go into politics. If you want to clear in, just bend over and take it. It sucks but that's what two well worn passport have taught me. I was with my friend in high school who pulled attitude on a border guard and he ended up getting his car completely disassembled and cushions slashed open.

Lie about what you did, if you bring contraband make sure it's hidden and lie about that too, and act like a dumb yet submissive tourist.

[boatman61]

I'm taken into 'That Room' on every entry into the US.... and accept it as what happens... don't like it... its insulting...
but... its a fact of life one has to accept or don't go there...
The main problem is many owners do not realise how problematic it can be...
Hence my lack of sympathy when US cruisers moan about Turkey changing its Visa requirements... but its still an extremely easy country to come and go to by comparison... with much fewer restrictions..
Hopefully the details requested will do the trick...
I did get really angry... but I guess it was not down to 'George'......
he's just another guy covering his ass and holding an umbrella at the same time....
"Aint no one's crap landing on me"

[belizesailor]

Yes, US border security has gotten totally out of hand and, as these cases illustrate, in a very ineffective and pointless way. I have many friends, both US citizens and not, who have similar (and worse) stories.

Just another reason for me not to go back!

[GordMay]

FWIW:
A new plan announced February 10, by Canadian Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism minister Jason Kenney, will make travel to Canada easier, for those tourists with a minor blip on their criminal history.

The current policy allows a border official to deny admittance based on a single criminal offense, such as a DUI, for which no time was served in jail.

Under the new Tourism Facilitation Action Plan , beginning March 1, those individuals with a single indictable offense in their criminal histories, for which they served less than 6 months jail, are less likely to be turned back at the border.

Under this new plan, if a U.S. Tourist meets the criteria under the Tourism Facilitation Action Plan, they are allowed admission into Canada after filling out a temporary resident permit form. There will be no fee for this permit.

This is not an official change in the law, and the ultimate decision is still up to the border official, but they are to be guided by this new policy.

[David_Old_Jersey]

That sucks

I guess the days of someone turning up at LAX Customs / Immigration without an address (nor any plans).........and asking the officer for a suggestion on Hotel Accomadation (and him giving one! - Holiday Inn ) are over .

I think it's called progress ......but at least when you arrive you will feel "safer" .

[youmeandthed]

we just crossed the border to go down to our recently purchased boat in FL. maybe spend a bunch of money and go cruising. the border guard told us they didn't want us stealling jobs (we're canadian). i almost asked him what jobs? they then told us our $500 van wasnt allowed, but everything else was. we now have to scrap a perfectly good van as a condition of entering, we can't sell it to someone here who needs it, plus they never gave us our cruising permet after we showed them the canadian boat registration. we're getting out of this country asap. i'd rather help out economies that want it

in total it took us a day to be legal cruisers in the usa. seems very unneighbourly.

but what can you do.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by youmeandthed

we just crossed the border to go down to our recently purchased boat in FL. maybe spend a bunch of money and go cruising. the border guard told us they didn't want us stealling jobs (we're canadian). i almost asked him what jobs? they then told us our $500 van wasnt allowed, but everything else was. we now have to scrap a perfectly good van as a condition of entering, we can't sell it to someone here who needs it, plus they never gave us our cruising permet after we showed them the canadian boat registration. we're getting out of this country asap. i'd rather help out economies that want it

in total it took us a day to be legal cruisers in the usa. seems very unneighbourly.

but what can you do.

Our country has a huge immigration issue, and you're getting the fallout from it. Our illegal alien population is 1/3 of the entire population of Canada. And that's with the fences, surveillance systems, barely-professional border guards, and beyond-stringent, visa policies. By any count there are tens of millions of people who would instantly move to the United States if they could, and roughly half a million enter illegally every year. Our country is gridlocked on ideology regarding the issue so rather than make progress in any particular area we're just dragging the bleed-out process further.

So for whatever it's worth, don't take it personally. It's a part of our republic that's a little jacked up (currently).

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by youmeandthed

we just crossed the border to go down to our recently purchased boat in FL. maybe spend a bunch of money and go cruising. the border guard told us they didn't want us stealling jobs (we're canadian). i almost asked him what jobs? they then told us our $500 van wasnt allowed, but everything else was. we now have to scrap a perfectly good van as a condition of entering, we can't sell it to someone here who needs it, plus they never gave us our cruising permet after we showed them the canadian boat registration. we're getting out of this country asap. i'd rather help out economies that want it

in total it took us a day to be legal cruisers in the usa. seems very unneighbourly.

but what can you do.

Why did you not buy a boat in Canada, and avoid the American problem?

[bobofthenorth]

US Homeland Insecurity has been a mess for a long time now and hard as it is to believe it is still getting worse. But like someone else has already pointed out - you either suck it up and take it or you don't go there. Sometimes going there is unavoidable.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Our country has a huge immigration issue, and you're getting the fallout from it. Our illegal alien population is 1/3 of the entire population of Canada. And that's with the fences, surveillance systems, barely-professional border guards, and beyond-stringent, visa policies. By any count there are tens of millions of people who would instantly move to the United States if they could, and roughly half a million enter illegally every year. Our country is gridlocked on ideology regarding the issue so rather than make progress in any particular area we're just dragging the bleed-out process further.

So for whatever it's worth, don't take it personally. It's a part of our republic that's a little jacked up (currently).

Yes , but for example Europe has equally an enormous illegal immigration issue, both from eastern states and North Africa, arguably as bad or worse then the US, however it not deal with obviously well intentioned visitors in the way the US does, I mean finger printing, photographs, etc, massive invasion of personal privacy by way of advance information transfer ( a fact that the EU formally objected to) No please you are made to feel like a criminal entering the US these days. In particular US persons have no right to raise the tinyist of protests in other countries, without first addressing their own countries issues.

Dave

[youmeandthed]

first off, we bought our boat in florida because they are well equiped for good prices and we can sail the caribbean then the pacific.

i can see not allowing people into your country if they are drains on the social system, and not paying their way. however a country should encourage open workforce policies, just to avoid red tape. plus for the most part in north america they do exist, and cross border delays are just ways to create government jobs unsustainibly.

i digress, i just wanted to cruise and work on my boat and we were treated like pilfering job pirates.

i just learned that lying is the quickest way to get across the border.