If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
update on visa reqts US
Many thanks to all who responded to the original post. Just to clarify
matters, I've spoken to the embassy and if you've ever been arrested by the police, for anything, no matter what the outcome of the case, you cannot travel under the Visa Waiver scheme and have to apply for a Visa. They reckon that from 26 October, all passengers will be fingerprinted and checked against police records (however I am not sure WHICH police records, US or UK) So I am not going to chance being turned away so I've made an appointment for a visa appointment. However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. Then I have to take a day off work to go down to London (only other place is Belfast and it MUST be a personal interview), pay for travel from Manchester to London then pay £72 for the Visa.Which is getting on towards what the flights to NY actually cost! I can understand this palaver if I had been actually convicted of anything but I'm totally innocent and so am really miffed about it. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
"Stef" wrote in message
... .... However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. Then I have to take a day off work to go down to London (only other place is Belfast and it MUST be a personal interview), pay for travel from Manchester to London then pay £72 for the Visa.Which is getting on towards what the flights to NY actually cost!..... If this is a purely business trip then surely your employer will reimburse the costs of obtaining the required visa. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
"Stef" wrote in message
... .... However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. Then I have to take a day off work to go down to London (only other place is Belfast and it MUST be a personal interview), pay for travel from Manchester to London then pay £72 for the Visa.Which is getting on towards what the flights to NY actually cost!..... If this is a purely business trip then surely your employer will reimburse the costs of obtaining the required visa. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
"Stef" wrote in message
... .... However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. Then I have to take a day off work to go down to London (only other place is Belfast and it MUST be a personal interview), pay for travel from Manchester to London then pay £72 for the Visa.Which is getting on towards what the flights to NY actually cost!..... If this is a purely business trip then surely your employer will reimburse the costs of obtaining the required visa. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
the flights to NY actually cost!.....
If this is a purely business trip then surely your employer will reimburse the costs of obtaining the required visa. And if you are travelling to the US for the purpose of conducting buisness, if you follow the rules, surely you need a visa? --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.766 / Virus Database: 513 - Release Date: 17/09/2004 |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
"Stef" wrote in message ... Many thanks to all who responded to the original post. Just to clarify matters, I've spoken to the embassy and if you've ever been arrested by the police, for anything, no matter what the outcome of the case, you cannot travel under the Visa Waiver scheme and have to apply for a Visa. They reckon that from 26 October, all passengers will be fingerprinted and checked against police records (however I am not sure WHICH police records, US or UK) So I am not going to chance being turned away so I've made an appointment for a visa appointment. I would imagine this is the US-VISIT system they are refering to, which has access to all US fingerprint data. While I was aware that the US is presently fingerprinting all non-US arrivals *with* visas, I wasn't aware that they were going to do the same to all those ariving under the visa waiver programme from 26 October. Does anyone have more information on this? UK Police forces do not give copies of their fingerprint databases to the US authorities. However, fingerprints of wanted person and major criminals are shared via Interpol, and the US would have copies of those. However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. The US is a capitalist country. What else would you expect. Then I have to take a day off work to go down to London (only other place is Belfast and it MUST be a personal interview), pay for travel from Manchester to London then pay £72 for the Visa.Which is getting on towards what the flights to NY actually cost! I can understand this palaver if I had been actually convicted of anything but I'm totally innocent and so am really miffed about it. The reason the US counts arrests as a "problem" is that their view is that arrested people are often guilty and get off through lack of evidence or a clever-dick lawyer who finds a "technicality". It's a load of crap of course, since if you want to screw up someone's life in the US all you do is make an anonymous tip-off which gets them arrested. AFAIK arrests are public data in much of the USA, so can be checked by prospective employers, credit agencies etc.. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
"Stef" wrote in message ... Many thanks to all who responded to the original post. Just to clarify matters, I've spoken to the embassy and if you've ever been arrested by the police, for anything, no matter what the outcome of the case, you cannot travel under the Visa Waiver scheme and have to apply for a Visa. They reckon that from 26 October, all passengers will be fingerprinted and checked against police records (however I am not sure WHICH police records, US or UK) So I am not going to chance being turned away so I've made an appointment for a visa appointment. I would imagine this is the US-VISIT system they are refering to, which has access to all US fingerprint data. While I was aware that the US is presently fingerprinting all non-US arrivals *with* visas, I wasn't aware that they were going to do the same to all those ariving under the visa waiver programme from 26 October. Does anyone have more information on this? UK Police forces do not give copies of their fingerprint databases to the US authorities. However, fingerprints of wanted person and major criminals are shared via Interpol, and the US would have copies of those. However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. The US is a capitalist country. What else would you expect. Then I have to take a day off work to go down to London (only other place is Belfast and it MUST be a personal interview), pay for travel from Manchester to London then pay £72 for the Visa.Which is getting on towards what the flights to NY actually cost! I can understand this palaver if I had been actually convicted of anything but I'm totally innocent and so am really miffed about it. The reason the US counts arrests as a "problem" is that their view is that arrested people are often guilty and get off through lack of evidence or a clever-dick lawyer who finds a "technicality". It's a load of crap of course, since if you want to screw up someone's life in the US all you do is make an anonymous tip-off which gets them arrested. AFAIK arrests are public data in much of the USA, so can be checked by prospective employers, credit agencies etc.. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
"Richard White" wrote in message
... However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. The US is a capitalist country. What else would you expect. Can't you google for a standard landline number? A search on 0207 us embassy grosvenor got me 0207 499 9000 and a load of similar numbers. All premium rate numbers have to be fed into a regular "recipient" landline number (which is often not openly promoted for obvious reasons), but may have "leaked" to google at some stage. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
"Richard White" wrote in message
... However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. The US is a capitalist country. What else would you expect. Can't you google for a standard landline number? A search on 0207 us embassy grosvenor got me 0207 499 9000 and a load of similar numbers. All premium rate numbers have to be fed into a regular "recipient" landline number (which is often not openly promoted for obvious reasons), but may have "leaked" to google at some stage. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
"Richard White" wrote in message
... However to add insult to injury, the number you dial to make an appointment is a premium rate number at £1.50 a minute and by the time I'd listened to the recorded message and actually got through to make the appointment it must have been a minimum of 10 minutes. The US is a capitalist country. What else would you expect. Can't you google for a standard landline number? A search on 0207 us embassy grosvenor got me 0207 499 9000 and a load of similar numbers. All premium rate numbers have to be fed into a regular "recipient" landline number (which is often not openly promoted for obvious reasons), but may have "leaked" to google at some stage. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Visa Advice - Uganda | Danny Boy | Africa | 2 | July 11th, 2004 04:37 PM |
Indonesia - New tourist visa restrictions and fees (update) | Sjoerd | Europe | 0 | February 10th, 2004 06:49 AM |
Indonesia - New tourist visa restrictions and fees (update) | Larry | Europe | 0 | February 9th, 2004 11:49 PM |
Thai visa costs | Tchiowa | Air travel | 0 | September 13th, 2003 06:18 AM |
Thai visa costs | Tchiowa | Asia | 0 | September 13th, 2003 06:18 AM |