Travel to Trump's America

prodigy9

Woodstok2000 said:

prodigy9 said:

Thanks for your replies. My question was whether there is any type of insurance that covers the US refusing entry.

Thanks again

 so in theory you could cancel if your ESTA was denied.  I think you are very unlikely to find a policy that covers denied entry at immigration n the US if that is what you are concerned about.  

Ahh, thanks. Yes my concern was about being refused at point of entry. Is the ESTA completed and submitted well in advance of travel?

Woodstok2000

The ESTA is valid for 2 years, so you can complete one now and it will cover you for any travel to the US until December 2027 (under current rules).

Robin9

Have already got your ESTA?

eskbanker

prodigy9 said:

Woodstok2000 said:

prodigy9 said:

Thanks for your replies. My question was whether there is any type of insurance that covers the US refusing entry.

Thanks again

 so in theory you could cancel if your ESTA was denied.  I think you are very unlikely to find a policy that covers denied entry at immigration n the US if that is what you are concerned about.  

Ahh, thanks. Yes my concern was about being refused at point of entry. Is the ESTA completed and submitted well in advance of travel?

It's up to the traveller (with two Ls on this side of the pond!) how far in advance to submit an ESTA application, but if it isn't approved then a full visa would be needed, which can take a long time to arrange, so it's recommended to apply for the ESTA at the earliest opportunity, e.g. when booking travel.

Not sure if the distinction is understood above, but an approved ESTA is no guarantee of entry as such, it's just the first step:

Does a travel authorization guarantee me admission to the United States?

If your electronic travel authorization is approved, this approval establishes that you are eligible to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program, but does not guarantee that you are admissible to the United States. Upon arrival in the United States you will be inspected by a Customs and Border Protection officer at a port of entry who may determine that you are inadmissible under the Visa Waiver Program or for any reason under United States law.

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/faq?lang=en

prodigy9

Robin9 said:

Have already got your ESTA?

No, I'm just starting the process.

user1977

I suspect only a practical concern if you're likely to attract their attention for some other reason - I can't see them routinely delving deeply into the social media accounts of hundreds of plane passengers.

They'd also need to match up your accounts with your real life persona, and I suspect more of the "problematic" accounts are going to be anonymous.

zagfles

user1977 said:

I suspect only a practical concern if you're likely to attract their attention for some other reason - I can't see them routinely delving deeply into the social media accounts of hundreds of plane passengers.

They'd also need to match up your accounts with your real life persona, and I suspect more of the "problematic" accounts are going to be anonymous.

Or they'd do it the other way round, they probably already have a list of "problematic" accounts, eg those supporting terrorists or making racist/anti-semitic posts etc, and want to make sure you're not on the list. 

Social media is getting dangerous these days, say the wrong thing or have a drunken rant about something or even have an "incorrect" opinion and you could get sacked, police could turn up at your door, could even be jailed. 

MyRealNameToo

zagfles said:

user1977 said:

I suspect only a practical concern if you're likely to attract their attention for some other reason - I can't see them routinely delving deeply into the social media accounts of hundreds of plane passengers.

They'd also need to match up your accounts with your real life persona, and I suspect more of the "problematic" accounts are going to be anonymous.

Or they'd do it the other way round, they probably already have a list of "problematic" accounts, eg those supporting terrorists or making racist/anti-semitic posts etc, and want to make sure you're not on the list. 

The risk is that the exact list won't be public and rather than the traditional issues of criminal activity that political considerations come into it like anything vaguely left wing or as the current administration would call it, communist. 

zagfles

MyRealNameToo said:

zagfles said:

user1977 said:

I suspect only a practical concern if you're likely to attract their attention for some other reason - I can't see them routinely delving deeply into the social media accounts of hundreds of plane passengers.

They'd also need to match up your accounts with your real life persona, and I suspect more of the "problematic" accounts are going to be anonymous.

Or they'd do it the other way round, they probably already have a list of "problematic" accounts, eg those supporting terrorists or making racist/anti-semitic posts etc, and want to make sure you're not on the list. 

The risk is that the exact list won't be public and rather than the traditional issues of criminal activity that political considerations come into it like anything vaguely left wing or as the current administration would call it, communist. 

I'm sure that'll become a common conspiracy theory, but it would obviously be completely unworkable to exclude people with mainstream political opinions just because they differ to the current administration. For instance if you were to say something like "Americans need to wake up and take to the streets" that might be problematic, but saying "I think Obama was a great president" is highly unlikely to be an issue. 

I worry more about social media in this country. I'd prefer to be refused entry to a country than get arrested or sacked. 

TELLIT01

It won't worry Trump as he will just say 'do it', but I'd love to know how a system for checking social media of hundreds of thousands of people will be created in the short time scale he wants.