question about VWP

[mawilson 2,133]

Tracking I-94W information and matching it to applications is already happening.

Hearsay?

No. Read up on the VWP and the tracking and reporting requirements for member countries.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. Member countries don't have access to I-94W

information, only CBP does. The information is useless anyway - changing your name

would instantly invalidate it.

[john_and_marlene 162]

Tracking I-94W information and matching it to applications is already happening.

Hearsay?

No. Read up on the VWP and the tracking and reporting requirements for member countries.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. Member countries don't have access to I-94W

information, only CBP does. The information is useless anyway - changing your name

would instantly invalidate it.

Only the U.S. has access to the I-94W. It is a form the US uses to help satisfy it's tracking and reporting requirements. Other countries have similar requirements and they use their own methods. Part of the calculation for whether a country stays on the VWP list is based on the results of this tracking. There are countries that have been removed from the VWP based on the results.

[rebeccajo 14]

And if he lies on the I-94W and then ever tries to get a visa where he has to disclose the crime, he may encounter a very big problem having falsified the document to gain entry to the U.S.

That's a big IF. You think they are going to keep all the I-94W's and then try to match

the information against future visa applications? Not gonna happen.

I'm not saying he should lie or that it's guaranteed consequence-free, but ultimately it's his decision.

Mark - I'm friends with a VJ member who now lives in London with her husband because of this very scenario. He had a charge on his record but travelled on the VWP anyway.

In the denial letter for the visa (which also gave him a permanent bar to the US) DOS stated one of the reasons for the denial was his indiscrete use of the VWP.

[mawilson 2,133]

Tracking I-94W information and matching it to applications is already happening.

Hearsay?

No. Read up on the VWP and the tracking and reporting requirements for member countries.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. Member countries don't have access to I-94W

information, only CBP does. The information is useless anyway - changing your name

would instantly invalidate it.

Only the U.S. has access to the I-94W. It is a form the US uses to help satisfy it's tracking and reporting requirements. Other countries have similar requirements and they use their own methods. Part of the calculation for whether a country stays on the VWP list is based on the results of this tracking. There are countries that have been removed from the VWP based on the results.

Stating the obvious there, john_and_marlene. You haven't explained the mechanism

by which U.S. Embassies and Consulates overseas (State Department entities) can gain

access to the I-94W information stored in DHS computers and paper archives in the US,

and that in fact they routinely do so. It wasn't in the consular manual a couple of years

ago, so I'm pretty sure they didn't do it then.

[john_and_marlene 162]

And if he lies on the I-94W and then ever tries to get a visa where he has to disclose the crime, he may encounter a very big problem having falsified the document to gain entry to the U.S.

That's a big IF. You think they are going to keep all the I-94W's and then try to match

the information against future visa applications? Not gonna happen.

I'm not saying he should lie or that it's guaranteed consequence-free, but ultimately it's his decision.

Mark - I'm friends with a VJ member who now lives in London with her husband because of this very scenario. He had a charge on his record but travelled on the VWP anyway.

In the denial letter for the visa (which also gave him a permanent bar to the US) DOS stated one of the reasons for the denial was his indiscrete use of the VWP.

I think sometimes people take the VWP too lightly and disregard the questions on the form and the restrictions on use quite offhandedly--until one day it bites them where it hurts.

[rebeccajo 14]

Tracking I-94W information and matching it to applications is already happening.

Hearsay?

No. Read up on the VWP and the tracking and reporting requirements for member countries.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. Member countries don't have access to I-94W

information, only CBP does. The information is useless anyway - changing your name

would instantly invalidate it.

Only the U.S. has access to the I-94W. It is a form the US uses to help satisfy it's tracking and reporting requirements. Other countries have similar requirements and they use their own methods. Part of the calculation for whether a country stays on the VWP list is based on the results of this tracking. There are countries that have been removed from the VWP based on the results.

Stating the obvious there, john_and_marlene. You haven't explained the mechanism

by which U.S. Embassies and Consulates overseas (State Department entities) can gain

access to the I-94W information stored in DHS computers and paper archives in the US,

and that in fact they routinely do so. It wasn't in the consular manual a couple of years

ago, so I'm pretty sure they didn't do it then.

USVisit?

[john_and_marlene 162]

Tracking I-94W information and matching it to applications is already happening.

Hearsay?

No. Read up on the VWP and the tracking and reporting requirements for member countries.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. Member countries don't have access to I-94W

information, only CBP does. The information is useless anyway - changing your name

would instantly invalidate it.

Only the U.S. has access to the I-94W. It is a form the US uses to help satisfy it's tracking and reporting requirements. Other countries have similar requirements and they use their own methods. Part of the calculation for whether a country stays on the VWP list is based on the results of this tracking. There are countries that have been removed from the VWP based on the results.

Stating the obvious there, john_and_marlene. You haven't explained the mechanism

by which U.S. Embassies and Consulates overseas (State Department entities) can gain

access to the I-94W information stored in DHS computers and paper archives in the US,

and that in fact they routinely do so. It wasn't in the consular manual a couple of years

ago, so I'm pretty sure they didn't do it then.

Nor do I care to go looking up the information again. I am not the one suggesting that someone can lie on the I94W and never have to account for it. Dangerous advice and against the TOS here.

[mawilson 2,133]

In the denial letter for the visa (which also gave him a permanent bar to the US) DOS stated one of the reasons for the denial was his indiscrete use of the VWP.

Thanks Becca -- I have no reason to doubt the possibility of this scenario, but I wouldn't

be surprised if the Embassy found out about his use of the VWP from the information

he himself had disclosed on one of the forms.

To be specific, one of the immigration forms asks you if you have ever visited the US

and the dates of your visits. Assuming your friend had met his wife in the US, he

probably answered 'yes', and since the Embassy could easily verify (using their own

computers) that he had never applied for a tourist visa (which is something a person

with a criminal conviction is supposed to do), they subsequently denied his visa.

[mawilson 2,133]

USVisit?

Right. USVisit does change things a bit, but still can be beaten with a simple name change.

A person's biometrics are only compared with the biometric record attached to his visa

(or the machine-readable information in his passport), not with everyone else's biometrics.

[rebeccajo 14]

Mark, what are you gonna simply change the name on? The passport? The ticket?

I don't get what you are saying.

[mawilson 2,133]

Mark, what are you gonna simply change the name on? The passport? The ticket?

I don't get what you are saying.

The passport and the ticket. A deed poll (£30) and a new passport (£70) and the

USVisit will never know than Jane Smith is Rebecca Jo.

When you're ready to immigrate, another deed poll (£30) and a new passport (£70)

and you're Rebecca again.

All perfectly legal.

[rebeccajo 14]

Mark, what are you gonna simply change the name on? The passport? The ticket?

I don't get what you are saying.

The passport and the ticket. A deed poll (£30) and a new passport (£70) and the

USVisit will never know than Jane Smith is Rebecca Jo.

When you're ready to immigrate, another deed poll (£30) and a new passport (£70)

and you're Rebecca again.

All perfectly legal.

Don't you have to produce your birth certificate to get a UK passport?

[mawilson 2,133]

Mark, what are you gonna simply change the name on? The passport? The ticket?

I don't get what you are saying.

The passport and the ticket. A deed poll (£30) and a new passport (£70) and the

USVisit will never know than Jane Smith is Rebecca Jo.

When you're ready to immigrate, another deed poll (£30) and a new passport (£70)

and you're Rebecca again.

All perfectly legal.

Don't you have to produce your birth certificate to get a UK passport?

Only if it's your first passport or you're replacing a lost passport. Otherwise, you only need

your current passport and a deed poll - you can change your name every day if you want.

[rebeccajo 14]

Mark, what are you gonna simply change the name on? The passport? The ticket?

I don't get what you are saying.

The passport and the ticket. A deed poll (£30) and a new passport (£70) and the

USVisit will never know than Jane Smith is Rebecca Jo.

When you're ready to immigrate, another deed poll (£30) and a new passport (£70)

and you're Rebecca again.

All perfectly legal.

Don't you have to produce your birth certificate to get a UK passport?

Only if it's your first passport or you're replacing a lost passport. Otherwise, you only need

your current passport and a deed poll - you can change your name every day if you want.

Oh Mark - stop pulling my leg. You're talking about renewing a passport then - which first of all they don't do until the other is about to expire. I can't believe a person could walk into a passport office in the UK and ask to renew an old passport in a completely different name without some legal proof of name change.

Edited July 26, 2007 by rebeccajo

[mawilson 2,133]

Oh Mark - stop pulling my leg. I can't believe a person could walk into a passport office in the UK and ask to renew an old passport in a completely different name without some legal proof of name change.

Rebecca - there's no "legal name change" procedure in the UK. There's no "registry of names".

You can change your name at any time and as many times as you want, and a deed poll

(a contract between you and yourself that states that from now on you will call yourself

Mr or Mrs X) is all you need to get a passport in the new name.