American efforts to tick off international travelers continue apace
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European travelers who have gotten accustomed to traveling to the US without a visa might need to pay closer attention to the negotiations between the Bush administration and the European Union:
American anti-terror chiefs are threatening to withdraw the Visa Waiver Scheme for British and European tourists unless the EU signs an agreement on the new measures before Christmas.
Under the US Homeland Security scheme, all travellers – including children – without a visa must fill out a detailed online questionnaire about their health and criminal history at least three days before departure.
Travellers are currently required to answer similar questions by filling in forms on board transatlantic flights, which are handed to immigration officials when they land.
But from January 12 next year, the Department of Homeland Security wants this information in advance to check its blacklists for terrorists or anyone considered ‘undesirable’.
The system, the Electronic System of Travel Authorization, is already operational on a voluntary basis. (Gluttons for punishment can test drive it here if you really, really want.)
Travelers who actually do use the new system now will be in for a surprise if they show up at the border without a filled-out I-94 form. As this report indicates, the US Customs and Border Service currently collects volunteers’ data, and makes it look like travelers are avoiding an additional step by participating in the online process, but in reality, they’ll still need to fill out the paper forms anyway. Delightful.
So the U.S. government is spreading confusion by offering conflicting and redundant processes for international visitors. And to what end? Have you seen the questions that the form actually asks? For the most part, they’re laughable. Take a look what our governments asks the citizens of the world:
“Moral turpitude”? How very specific, and not at all relativistic.
Thankfully, this procedure keeps drug-using, diseased, terrorist Nazi ex-con kidnappers looking for work out of the United States. At least, it keeps the scrupulously honest ones, who fill out the form, out.
Why would anyone — even a guilty party — answer “yes” to any of these questions? Do these forms actually catch anyone? And if they’re genuinely threatening people, what’s more important: Keeping them out of the country, or catching them at the border?
At the end of the day, the federal government is willing to tick off thousands of international visitors (and their currency, I might add) over a stricter enforcement of these Mickey Mouse questions. And I don’t mean the Disney-organized pro-customer service PR blitz. What would the mouse think?
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September 28th, 2008 at 8:37 pm |
I like your blog here. It has a lot of great ideas. I’m adding a link to you at my site www.pyrodes.com. Cheers!
September 28th, 2008 at 9:21 pm |
Interesting. One of the possible states you can pick for the address you’re staying at is “Canton and Enderbury Islands”.
It might come as a complete surprise to the inhabitants of those islands that they are, again, part of the USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_and_Enderbury_Islands
September 28th, 2008 at 11:36 pm |
Those are standard questions on the US visa application, as on the visa application forms of several other countries
These are all criteria for denying a visa and/or denying entry to the United States
So, the USA (or other countries) can legitimately exclude drug dealers, ex nazis (if any are still alive and mobile instead of in old age homes), politicians accused of genocide etc. Oh, its a felony to give false answers on that form.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:58 am |
Speaking as someone who has filled out that form quite a few times now, I’ve often had a chuckle at the idea of a spy getting to the “are you involved in espionage” question and going “damn! my elaborate cover story blown”…
SRS almost gets the point - obviously, if you’ve conducted an act of genocide the thought of committing a felony by lying about it on a form isn’t going to phaze you, but that’s not quite what the forms are for.
The US government doesn’t expect people to incriminate on the form; it bets they’ll incriminate themselves by not doing so. If, then, they found a Nazi who had come in but lied on the visa waiver, it gives them the right to kick them out the country immediately as the visa is invalidated. It’s a get-out-while-keeping-US-jails-free card.
September 29th, 2008 at 7:42 am |
Although I hate having to fill in those forms (and some of the questions are indeed stupid) I think the original article is a little overblown as the ESTA asks the same questions as the I-94W so it isn’t a ‘detailed online questionnaire about their health and criminal history’.
My concern is not filling in the form (online or otherwise) but what the USA does with the data - something I suspect will be quietly glossed over during discussions.
BTW the most hilarious thing about the I-94W is if you tick ‘yes’ to any of those criminal questions, it tells you to contact a US embassy before you fly - even though you don’t get the form until you’re already on the plane and in the air!
September 29th, 2008 at 8:10 am |
My 88-year old Italian grandmother will love filling out forms online… I hope that there’s a paper version that the older generation can fill out.
Simon makes a good point that the form captures people who lie by omitting information about their lives. But that undercuts the need for people to fill the form out so far in advance.
If we must answer these kinds of questions in advance, can’t we just answer them at the airport, at check-in?
September 29th, 2008 at 8:21 pm |
Oliver, awesome. You should alert the government of Kiribati of the incursion on their territory.