I’d feel much safer if a plane I were flying on had to make an emergency landing — on purpose, I do not intend to fly to either of the three countries — in Iran or Russia than in the US. Talk about a damaged reputation.
I've been to Russia in the past, before the recent crap, and it was actually a breeze to get in, you just paid the embassy for a visa stamp in your passport and that was it. Why are you coming, "tourism", where are you staying, "this hotel", and once you landed they barely glanced at your passport but just waved you through.
I've also been to a few other semi-totalitarian countries in the past, the most extreme of which would have been East Germany, and that was less painful to get into than the US.
I noticed that too, travel agent said that getting to Europe via not-the-US was literally double the cost of going via the US. I ended up going via Dubai (also very cheap for some odd reason) because it's less risky than via the US.
What wasn’t clear to me (or I missed it in between all the long winded legal citations) - will I need to reveal the contents of non-public social media accounts? I have a private FB account purely to stay in touch with friends. How would I share this content? Handover credentials? Handover a device? Friend some random federal agencies? Flip my profile to public?
Also, does all this checking happen offline before entry or do they analyse and then pick you up for questioning if they find something questionable? It all sounds very East German.
For those in countries with a Visa waiver arrangement (as I am), it kind of defeats the purpose.
One last thing: I did chuckle when he mentioned it would take some months for the regulations to come into force due to the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Is it? Why? I mean, you’ve got to use a pronoun and these days any pick you make is likely to trigger a response in someone. Use “he”? Paternalistic. Use “she”? “Interesting”. Use “they”? Woke.
Also, what does the pride flag have anything to do with it?
I’d feel much safer if a plane I were flying on had to make an emergency landing — on purpose, I do not intend to fly to either of the three countries — in Iran or Russia than in the US. Talk about a damaged reputation.
I've been to Russia in the past, before the recent crap, and it was actually a breeze to get in, you just paid the embassy for a visa stamp in your passport and that was it. Why are you coming, "tourism", where are you staying, "this hotel", and once you landed they barely glanced at your passport but just waved you through.
I've also been to a few other semi-totalitarian countries in the past, the most extreme of which would have been East Germany, and that was less painful to get into than the US.
Not sure it's still a breeze now in Russia.
But that it was simpler in East Germany says a lot.
Funny how "diversity of perspective" now means "don't let in people with these points of view"
and I wonder why I can get flights to the US from Australia at historically low prices?
I noticed that too, travel agent said that getting to Europe via not-the-US was literally double the cost of going via the US. I ended up going via Dubai (also very cheap for some odd reason) because it's less risky than via the US.
Land of the free! ;)
What wasn’t clear to me (or I missed it in between all the long winded legal citations) - will I need to reveal the contents of non-public social media accounts? I have a private FB account purely to stay in touch with friends. How would I share this content? Handover credentials? Handover a device? Friend some random federal agencies? Flip my profile to public?
Also, does all this checking happen offline before entry or do they analyse and then pick you up for questioning if they find something questionable? It all sounds very East German.
For those in countries with a Visa waiver arrangement (as I am), it kind of defeats the purpose.
One last thing: I did chuckle when he mentioned it would take some months for the regulations to come into force due to the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Yes
Interesting that he chose the ‘she’ pronoun while sitting in front of a pride flag.
Is it? Why? I mean, you’ve got to use a pronoun and these days any pick you make is likely to trigger a response in someone. Use “he”? Paternalistic. Use “she”? “Interesting”. Use “they”? Woke.
Also, what does the pride flag have anything to do with it?