Young Family Member Travelling Alone

Voyager2002

Roland_Flagg wrote: »

He's 20 and is quite introverted, but much to the surprise of his family has decided to fly to Florida to meet someone he has been internet friends with for a couple of years.

Of course he's and adult and he can do what he wants, but the family do not know much about this person, so we would like to know how best to check out this person and if who they are and where they live is true.
For example would the Police or British Embassy hold information on people who try to lure young people to the U.S?

Any other advice on how to handle this situation and how best to make sure he is safe would be appreciated.

Thanks.

BTW, He's bought a one-way ticket and has a 90 day Visa, so does that means he has already been accepted or could the U.S passport control still turn him away?

Most scammers would not have the patience to maintain an on-line friendship for as long as two years: unless your relative has been sending money in the mean-time. And by the sound of things, he is unlikely to have access to enough money to interest a criminal based in the USA.

There are plenty of commercial detective agencies in the USA: just Google for them. Expect to pay perhaps fifty pounds and they will run a check of police and financial records to give you some background on the person. Of course, they would require a full name, address and date of birth in order to do this.

andycris3107

There are two issues here.

(1) whether a one way ticket will result in any problems
(2) does the person in the US have an ulterior motive

For the ticket it is odd nowadays to buy just a one way ticket when you are not resident or at least have permanent leave to stay in the US. Opinions differ as to what the legal status is but it 'appears' that while there is nothing inherently wrong with this he may will be pulled up and questioned. If the authorities feel that he doesn't have funds to at least purchase a return ticket then while there then they can refuse entry.

As for the motive of the person in the US that's difficult to say. It sounds like he has a long standing relationship with this person and that at least is something, however it depends very much on how well he feels he knows this person. If he knows the persons name, address, and telephone number (the very minimum I would want in order to fly across the world to visit someone) then it is actually very easy to find out about this person. If he has a photo then even better (since realistically anyone could give any name and address).

A good starting point is the white pages http://www.whitepages.com/ which lists telephone and address information across the US.

Other sites can tell you a lot more however you could also just google their name or telephone number and see what comes up.

callum9999

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Mexico would not do, since the onward ticket has to be to a place outside North America. This could end up being rather expensive...

Isn't the requirement to either have an onward ticket or prove you have the funds to be able to get one though? I had an open jaw into the US and out of Brazil a couple of years ago and they were happy with my onward flight to Cancun (I could have shown them proof of the Brazil flight but they didn't ask for it - maybe they could already see it as it was on one ticket?).

Though saying that, never ever ever trust an anecdote when it comes to something like this! Saying "but callum9999 did it" to a border agent is going to get you precisely nowhere!

John259

Department of the bleedingly obvious perhaps, but FWIW you need to have contingency plans for things which could happen, such as:
He gets turned back at the UK airport and needs transport home.
He gets turned back at the US airport and needs to purchase a flight home.
He's allowed into the USA but for some reason this person doesn't provide him with any transport or accommodation there. Maybe use Google Maps to research motels near the airport which have free courtesy buses.

pelirocco

callum9999 wrote: »

Agreed! I had a return ticket plus an itinerary showing every flight, coach and hostel I was staying in yet the G4S agents at the gate still gave me the third degree! (Though that was nothing compared to Chicago immigration, not something I wish to experience again...)

We have only ever been asked where we will be staying by US immigration , how ever have also been asked how many nights we will be staying , and had a grilling last time when i got confused over nights as we were we also in and out of Canada . They ask how much money you have , whats your job , get funny when you tell them how much cash as they dont seem to take into account debit and credit cards , in fact I wonder why we bother lol

DTDfanBoy

andycris3107 wrote: »

There are two issues here.

(1) whether a one way ticket will result in any problems
(2) does the person in the US have an ulterior motive

For the ticket it is odd nowadays to buy just a one way ticket when you are not resident or at least have permanent leave to stay in the US. Opinions differ as to what the legal status is but it 'appears' that while there is nothing inherently wrong with this he may will be pulled up and questioned. If the authorities feel that he doesn't have funds to at least purchase a return ticket then while there then they can refuse entry.

He won't even make it onto the aircraft without proof of a ticket out of the US, so there's no point considering what US immigration will make of the situation

Doshwaster

It does sounds a little suspicious but as he's an adult he's entitled to make his own mistakes and there's nothing you can do to stop him.

However, I'd be interested in why he bought a one-way ticket when he only has a 90 day "visa" (or more likely an ESTA). There is a very high probability that he would just be refused boarding in the UK as he wouldn't pass pre-clearance from the US authorities and the airline wouldn't risk being fined.

Mojisola

andycris3107 wrote: »

As for the motive of the person in the US that's difficult to say. It sounds like he has a long standing relationship with this person and that at least is something, however it depends very much on how well he feels he knows this person. If he knows the persons name, address, and telephone number (the very minimum I would want in order to fly across the world to visit someone) then it is actually very easy to find out about this person. If he has a photo then even better (since realistically anyone could give any name and address).

A photo could be of anyone - not necessarily the person he thinks he is in contact with.

Has he ever skyped her? I'd want that, as well as the above details, before any plans were made to visit someone who is just a name on the computer.

callum9999

pelirocco wrote: »

We have only ever been asked where we will be staying by US immigration , how ever have also been asked how many nights we will be staying , and had a grilling last time when i got confused over nights as we were we also in and out of Canada . They ask how much money you have , whats your job , get funny when you tell them how much cash as they dont seem to take into account debit and credit cards , in fact I wonder why we bother lol

I think my background and travel patterns give the impression I may be some kind of drug smuggler! Regularly travelling alone in and out of major drug producing countries with an income a fraction of that you'd expect someone funding my level of travel would have...

Sometimes I'm basically just waved through, others I've been held for around 2 hours for additional (rather aggressive and very irritating - constantly calling me a liar!) questioning.

Voyager2002

andycris3107 wrote: »

There are two issues here.

(1) whether a one way ticket will result in any problems
(2) does the person in the US have an ulterior motive

For the ticket it is odd nowadays to buy just a one way ticket when you are not resident or at least have permanent leave to stay in the US. Opinions differ as to what the legal status is but it 'appears' that while there is nothing inherently wrong with this he may will be pulled up and questioned. If the authorities feel that he doesn't have funds to at least purchase a return ticket then while there then they can refuse entry.

The rule is very clear: if you travel on a 'visa waiver' (with an ESTA) then you must have a return ticket or an onward ticket to somewhere outside North America. If you wish to travel on a one-way ticket then you need to get a visa, something that involves an interview at the US embassy or one of its offices.

If he has a one-way ticket and no visa he will not get on the 'plane.