America's war on tourist

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Speaking from a personal perspective.. my friends/family won't visit the US right now because of the following:

1. Political Agenda/ Governmental Decisions

2. Fear of Harassment from the Officers at the Boarder

3. Strength of US currency

4. The "lure" of Europe

Strength of the US currency? Last I checked, the USD was to be had for a mere CAD 1.11. Just five years ago, you had to shell out CAD 1.55 for the USD. The USD has just reached a new historic low against the EUR. Soon enough it will be the USP (as in US Peso) if the trend continues. Canadians and Europeans can vacation quite on the cheap here these days.

[cartaverde 12]

No, never. They only introduced fingerprinting for a short time to "get back at" the US for making Brazilians do it (same reason we need a visa). They've stopped that now.

Chances are it actually had more to do with how badly the POEs were managed which resulted in the brazil gov'ts response. it was more a treatment issue than the procedures.

Nope, the day after the American gov't said that foreign nationals had to be fingerprinted at the POE to get into the US, the Brazilian gov't passed a bill that required all Americans to be fingerprinted at the POE in Brazil.

And they didn't have the electronic fingerprint thingy for the first 3 months. It seems that the delivery of those machines was delayed due some "bureaucracy"...

But Brazil fingerprints everybody, both all Brazilians and non-Brazilians. Or did they not have fingerprinted me if I wasn't there to work?

Brazil and Portugal are where I think the fingerprinting is fair : if you fingerprint, then fingerprint everybody.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Speaking from a personal perspective.. my friends/family won't visit the US right now because of the following:

1. Political Agenda/ Governmental Decisions

2. Fear of Harassment from the Officers at the Boarder

3. Strength of US currency

4. The "lure" of Europe

Strength of the US currency? Last I checked, the USD was to be had for a mere CAD 1.11. Just five years ago, you had to shell out CAD 1.55 for the USD. The USD has just reached a new historic low against the EUR. Soon enough it will be the USP (as in US Peso) if the trend continues. Canadians and Europeans can vacation quite on the cheap here these days.

Indeed that's what I heard. Made the news in Britain as record numbers of Brits have been making shopping trips the NYC recently - ever since the exchange rate went past 2:1.

[Alex+R 0]

No, never. They only introduced fingerprinting for a short time to "get back at" the US for making Brazilians do it (same reason we need a visa). They've stopped that now.

Chances are it actually had more to do with how badly the POEs were managed which resulted in the brazil gov'ts response. it was more a treatment issue than the procedures.

Nope, the day after the American gov't said that foreign nationals had to be fingerprinted at the POE to get into the US, the Brazilian gov't passed a bill that required all Americans to be fingerprinted at the POE in Brazil.

And they didn't have the electronic fingerprint thingy for the first 3 months. It seems that the delivery of those machines was delayed due some "bureaucracy"...

But Brazil fingerprints everybody, both all Brazilians and non-Brazilians. Or did they not have fingerprinted me if I wasn't there to work?

Brazil and Portugal are where I think the fingerprinting is fair : if you fingerprint, then fingerprint everybody.

No, they only fingerprinted you I guess either because of when you went there or because you were there to work. They fingerprint no one at POEs.

[Reynaldo 0]

But Brazil fingerprints everybody, both all Brazilians and non-Brazilians. Or did they not have fingerprinted me if I wasn't there to work?

Brazil and Portugal are where I think the fingerprinting is fair : if you fingerprint, then fingerprint everybody.

They don't normally fingerprint people. They do harass Brazilian citizens on customs, though...

Edited May 1, 2007 by Reynaldo

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

your fingerprints, and mine, are in the fbi database. and we're not ex-cons are we?

so why does it take the government 2+ years to complete some people's AOS due to delays in receiving FBI clearances?

do you have any idea how long it takes to look thru all of them on record with a magnyfing glass?

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

your fingerprints, and mine, are in the fbi database. and we're not ex-cons are we?

so why does it take the government 2+ years to complete some people's AOS due to delays in receiving FBI clearances?

do you have any idea how long it takes to look thru all of them on record with a magnyfing glass?

A very good idea since we were one of them (and ours was not as bad as some).

I'm pretty sure the number of tourists coming through is significantly higher than people applying for marriage-based visas - like I said, if they can't figure out whether someone is a bad sort after previously been fingerprinted something like 4 times prior to AOS and submitting a police report with about 9 months to do the work, they certainly can't figure it out in 2 minutes at POE with someone who may never been fingerprinted by the US government.

I don't really object to fingerprinting visitors - I don't think it's a big hardship though I understand why people object to it. I just don't think it does anything at all to prevent terrorists from entering the country.

[mawilson 2,133]

I was never fingerprinted at POE, in the U.S. or elsewhere.

[prpplague 0]

this aspect of tourist visa problems and harrasment at the borders has cost the US tremendously with technical conferences. alot of the techincal conferences both in bio and tech industries have suffered greatly due to the fact that many people will no long come to the US to either speak at the conference or attend them. alot of the conferences that used to be held in new york and boston have slowly moved to ottawa and toronto where its much easier for many people to attend. many of the conferences that used to be held in seattle have now moved across the border to vancouver.

[natty bumppo 297]

Nope, the day after the American gov't said that foreign nationals had to be fingerprinted at the POE to get into the US, the Brazilian gov't passed a bill that required all Americans to be fingerprinted at the POE in Brazil.

And they didn't have the electronic fingerprint thingy for the first 3 months. It seems that the delivery of those machines was delayed due some "bureaucracy"...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1231-02.htm

From this 2003 article:

A Brazilian judge has announced that US citizens will be fingerprinted and photographed on entering the country. Judge Julier Sebastiao da Silva was reacting to US plans to do the same to Brazilians entering the United States.

He made the order after a Brazilian government office filed a complaint in a federal court over the new US immigration measures.

From 5 January, travelers from all countries which need a visa to enter the US will undergo the same checks.

Let me make sure I understand correctly ... the brazilian gov't made this rule in response to the US declaration .... without seeing how it would be implemented. Then conducted this process for a short period of time to all people visiting brazil who were required to have a visa for entrance to the US.

resulting in:

brazil spent the R$ to implement for a short period of time and does not perform this service at this time and has not for some period of time.

And, the US has implemented this process and continues to use this process as a means of recording aliens entering this country

[natty bumppo 297]

your fingerprints, and mine, are in the fbi database. and we're not ex-cons are we?

so why does it take the government 2+ years to complete some people's AOS due to delays in receiving FBI clearances?

do you have any idea how long it takes to look thru all of them on record with a magnyfing glass?

in the small smoke filled room under a single light bulb

[Nancy2015 2]

I doubt that the U.S. is half as unfriendly to tourists as France is. I'm surprized at these poll results.

Fingerprinting in the U.S. is a big deal, though - I know that a lot of people are resentful of that. Having to remove shoes at the airport doesn't seem like a warm welcome either. But I wouldn't call the U.S. the most tourist-unfriendly.

Edited May 1, 2007 by Jewel12

[Alex+R 0]

Nope, the day after the American gov't said that foreign nationals had to be fingerprinted at the POE to get into the US, the Brazilian gov't passed a bill that required all Americans to be fingerprinted at the POE in Brazil.

And they didn't have the electronic fingerprint thingy for the first 3 months. It seems that the delivery of those machines was delayed due some "bureaucracy"...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1231-02.htm

From this 2003 article:

A Brazilian judge has announced that US citizens will be fingerprinted and photographed on entering the country. Judge Julier Sebastiao da Silva was reacting to US plans to do the same to Brazilians entering the United States.

He made the order after a Brazilian government office filed a complaint in a federal court over the new US immigration measures.

From 5 January, travelers from all countries which need a visa to enter the US will undergo the same checks.

Let me make sure I understand correctly ... the brazilian gov't made this rule in response to the US declaration .... without seeing how it would be implemented. Then conducted this process for a short period of time to all people visiting brazil who were required to have a visa for entrance to the USrequired to have a visa to enter Brazil resulting in:

brazil spent the R$ to implement for a short period of time and does not perform this service at this time and has not for some period of time.

And, the US has implemented this process and continues to use this process as a means of recording aliens entering this country

Edited May 1, 2007 by Alex+R

[Otto 83]

And your point is? Brazilians are not coming to the US as tourists now?

[Anna C. 4]

Still waiting for an explanation where they do iris scans. They don't do them at the embassy nor at the point of entry nor at my biometrics appointment - why did they do that to you Robin and where and when???!?!??!? That sounds so scary and kinda wrong. Never heard about it before, now I am worried!!!!