Border control…..

[Itsabunthing]

Originally Posted by Yorkie2021

Exactly. You can’t even argue that the US hasn’t been interested in people’s social media activity before, they’ve asked us for our app handles in the ESTA for several years now.

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They have, but this has been an optional question for quite some time so you don't have to give them if you don't want to.

As has been said, I think there is a lot of scaremongering going on, certainly on social media. Sensationalising things, burying important details such as intending to work whilst visiting on an ESTA, misinformation, I could go on!

I shall continue to get my information on any changes to requirements from both our Gov website and CBP website.

[babbymint]

Originally Posted by EssKay

we've got people here genuinely thinking they cant go to WDW because they have a tattoo...with is quite clearly not the case, and pretty daft to even think that it would be.

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Originally Posted by EssKay

What on earth has that got to do with border control?

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You tell me - you brought up WDW and tattoos 🤷

[AnnaMFL]

Originally Posted by eeyoremad

Single parents have always needed permission from the non travelling parent to travel abroad with the children. This isn't just for America you need it to leave the UK with them unless you have a child arrangement/ live with order where you can travel out of the UK for up to 28 days without the other parents permission.

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my 17.5 yr old son went to Portugal for 2 nights with 2 friends (both 18) - I printed off a letter just incase, he rung me from the boarder control and asked me to send him through a photo of my passport as well (I had put my passport number on the letter) and he had to have his mate stand with him the whole time and they both had to answer loads of questions, he was terrified as he's never travelled alone before and there was a bit of a language barrier but it went OK in the end and at least it does good checking young people who may be being forced to travel (trafficked?!) without their own will!

Anyway I agree with a lot of the posters, I think a lot of it is being reported due to the current climate but is actually just things that were happening before / always happening anyway but now they are just scaremongering! I have seen quite a few Canadians worrying about travelling over the NY boarder (on a NYC group I am in) and saying they are seeing on the news loads of Canadians being refused entry or detained etc and cancelling their trips because of it, however DH and I have watched boarder security programmes for years and the one where they come over the boarder from Canada has been on for 10+ years and we've ALWAYS said that they do seem to stop people for random things and sometimes feels like overkill (to us the viewers), but we've seen them "detain" Canadians (and Americans coming back) loads of times because they have found a bit of weed residue in the ashtray and stuff like that so I think it's the same and as strict as it's always been, but they are now shining a spotlight on it because of the current climate.

We go in Aug, we have our passports, ESTA's, we have no criminal records and nothing to hide so I am not worried at all about entry.

[MadHatter1]

Originally Posted by Moorlandman

There was a report today that a French citizen was denied access because they found nasty messages about Donald Trump on his phone.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-new...teful-messages

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This is the most non-random sounding random check I have heard about in a very long time!

In any case this person wasn't going on holiday they were going to a work conference.

People who are genuinely going on holiday shouldn't worry.

If you are travelling from Mexico on an ESTA with all your work equipment you should probably worry. I mean if I was the immigration officer I would have stopped her!

[MadHatter1]

Originally Posted by AnnaMFL

my 17.5 yr old son went to Portugal for 2 nights with 2 friends (both 18) - I printed off a letter just incase, he rung me from the boarder control and asked me to send him through a photo of my passport as well (I had put my passport number on the letter) and he had to have his mate stand with him the whole time and they both had to answer loads of questions, he was terrified as he's never travelled alone before and there was a bit of a language barrier but it went OK in the end and at least it does good checking young people who may be being forced to travel (trafficked?!) without their own will!

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Sounds unlucky I have had my 16 year old fly to Spain admittedly with his 18 year old brother without being questioned. He has also flown back by himself and not been stopped.

[Manny Haines]

Originally Posted by Yorkie2021

The German tattooist was detained because they had a tattoo machine in their luggage and were not on a work visa. Do we seriously have people believing that the US are detaining and deporting people over tattoos?

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So why would you bring your gear with you on holiday?

Sounds like she was bringing her gear in order to do some work, so is trying to enter on the wrong visa!

Tut, tut… No one to blame but herself.

The guy how does my tattoos is an extremely interesting bloke from Nicaragua, he works in the US, Germany, Austria and the UK.
He works as a guest artist and travels the world, BUT he has equipment at all the places he guests at, he’s not daft enough to globe trot with a bag of work tools.

Reminds me of the second season of Auf Wiedershen Pet when they go to work on Alis villa in Spain and Oz take is favourite spirt level and Dennis blows his top saying “you’ll blow our cover man”…

[Miss_Shell]

Having travelled as a tattooed and pierced individual, they (and by extension you and the rest of your party) will be fine! This is not something we'd cancel over.

[Manny Haines]

Originally Posted by Moorlandman

There was a report today that a French citizen was denied access because they found nasty messages about Donald Trump on his phone.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-new...teful-messages

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Ah, another sensationalist claim with no real context.
A French scientist was denied entry, and during a random device search, border agents found messages critical of Trump. That’s the narrative, but let’s apply some critical thinking to this.

First, the US has full discretion over who it allows in, just like every other country. Border agents deny entry for a range of reasons, including prior travel history, security concerns, or visa issues. The idea that they’re scanning phones for “nasty Trump messages” is totally absurd.

Second, device searches at the border are legal and have been US policy for years. The ACLU challenged them in 2017, lost on appeal in 2021 and the ruling still stands. This isn’t some new Trump era crackdown, it’s a longstanding policy.

Third, where’s the proof this was about criticism of Trump? The report says officials found messages that “could be qualified as terrorism.” That’s a big leap from just having rude texts about a politician.
Was this scientist discussing extremist activity? Making threats? We don’t know, and neither does the article, because it conveniently leaves out key details while pushing outrage.

If anti-Trump messages got you banned from the US half of France wouldn’t make it past customs. Yet, hundreds of thousands of French visitors enter the US every year without issue.

So either there’s more to the story, or France 24 a state-funded outlet from a government openly hostile to Trump’s policies, is twisting events to fit a narrative.
Given their track record, I know which is more likely.

[Harry]

Maybe it's because France want the Statue of Liberty back?

[JAL]

I thought the issue was entering Florida not Disney!