Redress Number

[Amyyduck 20]

So my fiance and I, like most of the rest of you I'm sure, like to viist each other as often as possible. He comes to Boston to visit me every couple of months and is always pulled aside at immigration for secondary security. I understand that this is normal (at least for people in our situation) but I was wondering if its also normal that everytime he checks in for his flight to depart London, the ticket counter writes SSSS in big red letters on his boarding pass and he gets pulled aside for extra security before even leaving the UK! Luckily this has never caused him to miss a flight (at least not yet!) despite a few close calls. He's clearly on some sort of government watch list now and I was wondering if anyone else has had this same thing happen to them?

I was also wondering if anyone had tried getting a redress number. Supposedly you can apply for one if you think you've been (unfairly) referred (continuously) to secondary security or if you've been denied or delayed boarding a plane or entry into the US.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/redress/index.shtm

Anyone applied for one? Has it helped?

As a personal note I'd like to vent for a tiny second that I think its disgustingly unfair that my fiance is now on some government watch list and has to go through hell just to come visit me when that a-hole who put a bomb in his underwear and tried to blow up a plane flying into Detroit over last Christmas, who was on a TERRORIST watch list, can buy a one-way ticket with cash and waltz onto any US bound plane that he likes. It makes me absolutely steam at the ears just thinking about IT !!!

[Amyyduck 20]

I forgot to mention that he gets the big red SSSS on his way OUT of the US as well, not just on his way in, so clearly this is not just an immigration thing, they must think he's some sort of terrorist! He's never overstayed on the VWP, never even come CLOSE to the 90 day limit! He's never brought anything sketch into the US, he's never done anything wrong at all! It makes me so upset!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I know one person who was added to a TSA watch list because he apparently got into an argument with a TSA officer who he thought was being too rough with his laptop computer. He suspected something was up when he got pulled into secondary screening on his next 3 consecutive trips. He managed to get his name removed from the list by submitting a US TRIP redress request, but it took several months. He never found out for certain why TSA had added him to the list. I told him he should file an FOIA request, but he was sure it was because he had argued with the officer about his laptop.

I would guess your chances of success probably depend on why his name was added to the list.

[Bernie C 24]

Could be something so simple as that his name is the same or similar as someone on the watch list.

There was a case awhile back where a kid (don't recall his age but I think he was around 13) was screened because his name matched a name on the watch list. It was quite obvious that this child was not the person but yet they still performed the screening.

[Amyyduck 20]

Months! Yikes! Good to know he was successful at least. As for why my fiance's name was added to the list, other than flying in and out of Boston fairly regularly (I'd say once every couple of months on average) neither he nor I have any idea why they would have put him on a list. Though last summer when he came for 3 and a half weeks he did bring about a thousand dollars in cash (because he got it all exchanged by his bank who gave him a better rate than if he had exchanged money here or used credit) and they did give him a hard time about that. Of course they had a reasonable excuse, I mean who legitimately carries around a thousand dollars in cash? But this whole SSSS red letter thing didn't start until a visit or two after that.

Anyway I guess I'll tell him to look into it. It obviously can't hurt

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Months! Yikes! Good to know he was successful at least. As for why my fiance's name was added to the list, other than flying in and out of Boston fairly regularly (I'd say once every couple of months on average) neither he nor I have any idea why they would have put him on a list. Though last summer when he came for 3 and a half weeks he did bring about a thousand dollars in cash (because he got it all exchanged by his bank who gave him a better rate than if he had exchanged money here or used credit) and they did give him a hard time about that. Of course they had a reasonable excuse, I mean who legitimately carries around a thousand dollars in cash? But this whole SSSS red letter thing didn't start until a visit or two after that.

Anyway I guess I'll tell him to look into it. It obviously can't hurt

A thousand dollars is far below the limit that would even require a declaration on the customs forms. It's not even enough to cover a week in a hotel in any major city in the US. I bring several times that much cash when I travel to Asia. I seriously doubt that's the reason.

[Amyyduck 20]

I only mention it because when they pulled him into secondary at immigration they specifically asked him how much cash he had on him. He wasn't going to lie obviously so he told them he had about a grand. From what he relayed to me, they really didn't seem to like that.

Might I mention we're both rather young, and at the time he was a student. Neither of us look like the kind of people that can afford to be walking around with $1000 in our pockets. But even still, you're right, that shouldn't have put him on a list. And I'm so at a loss to think of any reason that they would have!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I only mention it because when they pulled him into secondary at immigration they specifically asked him how much cash he had on him. He wasn't going to lie obviously so he told them he had about a grand. From what he relayed to me, they really didn't seem to like that.

Might I mention we're both rather young, and at the time he was a student. Neither of us look like the kind of people that can afford to be walking around with $1000 in our pockets. But even still, you're right, that shouldn't have put him on a list. And I'm so at a loss to think of any reason that they would have!

If anything, I think they would have thought "You're going to be here for 3 1/2 weeks, and that's ALL you've got??". Someone intending to enter with a non-immigrant visa or pass and then stay in the US would likely have someone waiting to take them in, and probably wouldn't bring much cash. In other words, I doubt if they thought it was too much cash. They probably thought it wasn't enough.

[Amyyduck 20]

I see your point but they weren't interested in how much money he had to his name, just how much physical cash he had on his person. He has a debit card and credit cards as well, and I'm sure they assumed this. Most people in America tend to use debit/credit for almost everything, people rarely carry around much cash anymore. And when they do, its usually way less than $1000!

But I think you were originally right in saying that this was unlikely to have caused his problems.

As a side note, he's actually on a flight on his way here right now and I'm sitting at work desperately trying to make the time go by faster by perusing VJ and anxiously awaiting his arrival. I am crossing my fingers that there aren't any problems this time at immigration!

[pencils 0]

So my fiance and I, like most of the rest of you I'm sure, like to viist each other as often as possible. He comes to Boston to visit me every couple of months and is always pulled aside at immigration for secondary security. I understand that this is normal (at least for people in our situation) but I was wondering if its also normal that everytime he checks in for his flight to depart London, the ticket counter writes SSSS in big red letters on his boarding pass and he gets pulled aside for extra security before even leaving the UK! Luckily this has never caused him to miss a flight (at least not yet!) despite a few close calls. He's clearly on some sort of government watch list now and I was wondering if anyone else has had this same thing happen to them?

I was also wondering if anyone had tried getting a redress number. Supposedly you can apply for one if you think you've been (unfairly) referred (continuously) to secondary security or if you've been denied or delayed boarding a plane or entry into the US.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/redress/index.shtm

Anyone applied for one? Has it helped?

As a personal note I'd like to vent for a tiny second that I think its disgustingly unfair that my fiance is now on some government watch list and has to go through hell just to come visit me when that a-hole who put a bomb in his underwear and tried to blow up a plane flying into Detroit over last Christmas, who was on a TERRORIST watch list, can buy a one-way ticket with cash and waltz onto any US bound plane that he likes. It makes me absolutely steam at the ears just thinking about IT !!!

Does he have a really really common name like Bob Smith or Steve Jones, or something like that? My best friend's mom has a VERY common name, and she got put on the watch list just because her name is so common. She had to write a letter to TSA I think, and they eventually took her off.