Ahh didnt know that! I've only ever transited onto NZ never stopped over there!
Visa Required For Holiday to New York?
- Thread starter Monster
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Ahh didnt know that! I've only ever transited onto NZ never stopped over there!
Just for information - the US don't have access to the UK's criminal record database so basically no, they can't actually check to see if you have a record or not.
However there is a general sharing of information between the US and the UK, so if you were guilty of certain crimes then there is a good chance you wouldn't just be able to walk in.
I've known 3-4 people who have simply said "No criminal past at all" when filling in the forms on the plane and they have simply walked in to the US and they had some prior dealings with the law in the UK.
However there is a general sharing of information between the US and the UK, so if you were guilty of certain crimes then there is a good chance you wouldn't just be able to walk in.
I've known 3-4 people who have simply said "No criminal past at all" when filling in the forms on the plane and they have simply walked in to the US and they had some prior dealings with the law in the UK.
Soldato
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Bah, US Immigration Forms. The 'Nationality' bit always cheese me off. For instance, you can state UK, United Kingdom or England but it will not be accepted if you state Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. 
Bah, US Immigration Forms. The 'Nationality' bit always cheese me off. For instance, you can state UK, United Kingdom or England but it will not be accepted if you state Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Odd really as none of the above are nationalities.
Man of Honour
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Recently issued machine readable UK passport, which should be almost all these days but just in case, if it isn't machine readable you need a real visa in advance.
Otherwise, I'd have copies of a hotel reservation and flight initerary handy at immigration, seems to speed things up a bit.
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Soldato
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What gets me is the whole fingerprint and photo / eyescan thing: every time I go though US customs I get stopped and have to be interviewed in a sperate room because there is a guy with the same name as me who commited a crime in the US a few years ago.
So the fact this guy is 20 years older than me, looks different to me, has a different passport and different finger prints means that they still have to interview me. Great.
So the fact this guy is 20 years older than me, looks different to me, has a different passport and different finger prints means that they still have to interview me. Great.
When I last went to the US, I went with my wife and were staying at her friends place.
Anyway, I fill in the forms on the plane, arrive at JFK and me and the wife are seperated and both goto different cubicles to hand in our forms and passports to be checked.
The first question this American security guy asks me is "Where are you staying"
I honeslty didnt know the address so just said "A freinds" - He wasnt to impressed at that point and asked for their name, I gave their first name but didnt know the second name.
At this point I thought I was going to be arrested or something as I seemed so dodgy:
Arrive in New York, dont know where im staying, or who im staying with.
The wife sees im in trouble so comes over and saves me in the nick of time and vouches for my story and fills in the blanks.
Anyway, I fill in the forms on the plane, arrive at JFK and me and the wife are seperated and both goto different cubicles to hand in our forms and passports to be checked.
The first question this American security guy asks me is "Where are you staying"
I honeslty didnt know the address so just said "A freinds" - He wasnt to impressed at that point and asked for their name, I gave their first name but didnt know the second name.
At this point I thought I was going to be arrested or something as I seemed so dodgy:
Arrive in New York, dont know where im staying, or who im staying with.
The wife sees im in trouble so comes over and saves me in the nick of time and vouches for my story and fills in the blanks.
Permabanned
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OMG, what a lot of pointless checks! I'm glad I didn't have to go through that when I MOVED to Canada as I had no idea where I was going to stay, I just assumed that I'd be able to find a nice hotel/hostel whilst I sorted out a flat (and I did). I very rarely organize accommodation before traveling.
What are they going to do if you tell them that you have no idea where you're going to stay/haven't made any reservations? Send you back to England? I doubt it so whats the point in asking!
I recently brought a laptop online from the US and it was stopped at the border by homeland security, the reason; "everytime we capture terrorists they have laptops with them, so now we inspect all laptops!" I'm sure they all had trousers as well so do now do a background check on anyone buying those?
What are they going to do if you tell them that you have no idea where you're going to stay/haven't made any reservations? Send you back to England? I doubt it so whats the point in asking!
I recently brought a laptop online from the US and it was stopped at the border by homeland security, the reason; "everytime we capture terrorists they have laptops with them, so now we inspect all laptops!" I'm sure they all had trousers as well so do now do a background check on anyone buying those?
Soldato
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Been though that as well. It just doesn't fit into their training manual.
I also had to take off my flip-flops and have them x-rayed. My wife had to take off her jumper because it zipped all the way to the bottom, but when followed suit and started to take my half zipped top off one of the security guards grabbed me and started to question me about what I was doing. Apparently her's was a coat and so had to be x-rayed, but mine was a jumper and so had to be kept on. Totally paranoid.
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