Did you know that foreigners cannot visit the United States and then make Canada or Mexico their next destination, at least if they’re from a Visa waiver country in Europe or somewhere like Australia (and not actually getting a Visa, something almost no one does) and their stay in that other country extends past when they are permitted to be in the United States?
One Australian learned the the hard way that the rule is onward travel must be to somewhere “other than a contiguous territory or adjacent island unless they permanently reside there.”
An Australian traveller was denied entry to the US, cavity searched, sent to prison alongside criminals and subsequently deported 30 hours after arriving, due to a little-known entry requirement for the US.
The man received his visa waiver, flew to the U.S., and planned to visit Mexico next. He was fully prepared to show his onward ticket, to prove he didn’t intend to stay in the U.S. or overstay his time in the country. He knew he needed to have a flight out of the U.S. but he did not know it had to be “onward travel to a country that does not border the US” (emphasis mine).
- He flew to Honolulu and was denied entry into the U.S., because his onward flight was to Mexico – not to a country which doesn’t border the U.S.
- After being strip searched, detained and deported, the man now rather thinks that travel agencies ought to flag this rule for their customers, as it is little known and they’re travel agencies after all selling tickets to the U.S. and then to bordering countries.
The man had planned to “start in the US to see the NBA playoffs, then spend most of his trip backpacking across Mexico and South America.” He should have gone to South America prior to Mexico, though that’s not necessarily a logical routing for returning to Australia.
He was, however, almost saved by an airline employee:
At one point, Dunn claims, an airline worker offered him his phone to book a flight from Mexico to a third country.
Dunn tried booking a flight to Panama, but did not have enough money in his debit card account, and as his own phone was not connected to the internet, he could not transfer money from his savings account, which held several thousand dollars. He then tried to book a cheaper flight to Guatemala, but the CBP officer re-entered the room and ordered the airline worker to take the phone back, Dunn claimed.
Instead this happened:
Dunn said about six hours after landing he was handcuffed and taken to the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu, where he was told to strip naked and was twice searched under his scrotum and anus for contraband before being admitted.He had no access to his phone or contact with his parents in Australia, and claimed he was placed in a cell with another prisoner who had smeared blood and faeces on the wall. He was told to sleep on a concrete floor with a paper bag for a pillow.
You might think ‘then they should just get a tourist visa’ but the U.S. government doesn’t well-publicize this rule, and tourist visas can involve a two year wait for an in-person interview.
What is the logic behind this rule? Someone, at some point, implemented it, so there must have been a reason.
Is this law or regulation?
Another illustration of the absurd folly of stringent airport CBP while you can simply walk across the border from Mexico.
The biggest crime here is that he was put in a room with no wifi.
He could have backpacked across South America and Mexico first and then walked across President Brandon’s Open Southern Border.
From the cpb website for vwp persons:
Trips to Canada, Mexico, or nearby islands
If you are admitted to the United States under the VWP, you may take a short trip to Canada, Mexico, or a nearby island and generally be readmitted to the United States under the VWP for the remainder of the original 90 days granted upon your initial arrival in the United States. Therefore, the length of time of your total stay, including the short trip, must be 90 days or less. See the CBP website. Citizens of VWP countries* who reside in Mexico, Canada, or a nearby island are generally exempted from the requirement to show onward travel to another country* when entering the United States. Learn more on the CBP website.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html
This is not as uncommon as it might sound . . . just rent a car from Hertz.
@Breathe Free – you realize that the CBP is arresting more people at the border in quite some time. So not sure how you think it’s an “Open southern border”
Between things like this and lunatics with guns there are excellent reasons not to visit our country. I’m sorry, because you know the vast majority of Americans (like people everywhere) are welcoming and not violent. But as my high school science teacher said many years ago, “When you travel watch out for the men in suits.” After visiting 122 countries I’d say he was absolutely right.
This is a problem with giving CBP unlimited powers over people who have no redress (foreigners are given no redress) is that there is no check on CBP exercising its powers properly and proportionally.
Your comment isn’t quite accurate. The US permits you to travel to “contiguous territory” under the VWP, but the duration of the entire stay in those territories must fall within the limits of the VWP. So he could travel to Mexico after the US, but he has to depart Mexico within the period of stay authorised by the VWP to be eligible to use the VWP.
In any case, this is a moot point for him as he now will have a lifetime ban from entering the USA without obtaining a visa in advance.
Before opening the article based on the photo thought it was Ted Cruz that went through this!
On another note, I was able to snag tickets to the NBA finals for cheap.
It really is so funny of course that this was a person of European dissent. Anybody else and they would’ve just let them right in without a visa without a passport without inoculations it’s very sad what happened to the country.
I presume this was part of Biden’s plan that was supposed to be announced to increase foreign tourism to the US?
Beyond sad to read esp. since we are apparently cousins.
I consider myself an experienced traveler and I had no idea. is this sort of thing clearly marked in Timatic or Sherpa?
It sounds like an illconceived plan. Fly to Hawaii then backpack through mexico and South America with no credit card or money in your checking account. Then arrive with no termination date to your North American travel on the visa waiver rules. However if all this is true it seems like a dumb rule. BTW if you break the law and become a “criminal” you do actually get to go to jail with “criminals” and no cell phone sometimes.
They deported Ted Cruz? Isn’t that whose in the photo?
Another Failure by the Brandon Regime.
So, yes, I knew this. He would have had no problems if he could show an onward ticket demonstrating that he was leaving the immediate vicinity of the US within 90 days. FAQs on the visa waiver program will tell you that trips to Canada and Mexico count as part of your 90 days. I may get hate for saying this, but it really is on the traveler to follow immigration rules. He did not follow the rules for the US visa waiver program, was denied entry, and was returned to his country of origin. Back when we were dating, my husband came to visit under the VWP. We went on a side trip to Canada. When re-entering the US, the border officer asked when he’d be leaving the US, asked if we had proof, thanked us for having it printed out, and we were on our way in under 5 minutes.
Tim Dunn, I find the restriction rather stupid and I feel sorry for the person in the story who was affected. But, just to clarify . . .
If this is a *law*, it would have originated in Congress and not the Presidency. If this is a *regulation*, it would have originated within an Administration. Assuming that the restriction stems from a regulation and thus an Administration, you imply that it was created by the Biden Administration. This is a false premise. The likelihood is that it is a long-standing restriction and unaffiliated with the Biden Administration.
I am by no stretch a liberal or a Democrat. But, let’s be fair and reasonable.
This rule that often includes US VWP users time in the US along with time in contiguous territories to the US has been in place for many years now. It wasn’t that long ago that foreign visitors would go from the US to Canada or Mexico to try to re-set the 90-day limit.
“This is the government. We are here to help you”.
This is the rule: “Applicants arriving by air and sea. Applicants must arrive on a carrier that is signatory to a Visa Waiver Program Agreement and at the time of arrival must have a round trip ticket that will transport the traveler out of the United States to any other foreign port or place as long as the trip does not terminate in contiguous territory or an adjacent island; except that the round trip ticket may transport the traveler to contiguous territory or an adjacent island, if the traveler is a resident of the country of destination”.
Dunn would be OK, I think, if his round trip (ticket) would terminate in Australia (or any other country than Mexico or Canada).
The “logic” may be that if Canada or Mexico deny access to the traveler (e..g. for lack of means) he or she may be sent back to the U.S. and the U.S. wants to avoid this risk.
Cody,
Descent, not dissent. 😉
Contrary to what you and Tim Dunn may have believed or have tried to peddle, this kind of rule is also applied to people of non-European heritage. I have seen these kind of removals of US visa waiver program users done during the GW Bush Administration, the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration and also the Biden Administration. While I’ve never been a big fan of this rule counting visitors time in nearby foreign countries as if it were time in the US, there was a reason it was put in place: to be “tough on immigration” and try to crack down on illegal foreign workers in the US.
I live in the border state of NM and I can more than assure you that border is non-existent. Enjoy!
@Breathe Free – pls quit making this geriatric conservative-appeasing president sound way more badass than he actually is. thx
They’re transferring hoards of migrants to Albuquerque, Dallas and LA for starters.
“you realize that the CBP is arresting more people at the border in quite some time. So not sure how you think it’s an “Open southern border””
You mean the ones who are being released in the US after arrest, with their free phone, expected to show up for a hearing at a later date, and never do? Stop swallowing the Brandon line and think for yourself a little.
And, have you considered the record numbers of those not being arrested, coming across freely?
One day we’re going to elect a real liberal president who actually does all this stuff the deranged fever swamp bigots think Biden is doing, and it will be glorious and irreversible. Just a matter of time.
This is NOT correct! I have 1st travelled to USA from UK and then to Canada ( IAD to Ottawa ) stayed in Ottawa for 6 days and returned to IAD,stayed for 2 weeks then travelled to YYZ Toronto stayed for a week then returned to IAD stayed in USA for 3 weeks and left USA ( Iad ) for London ( my origin). All on VWP .NO issues and NO problems. Prior to that about 10 years ago I travelled to US frm UK, took a cruise from Miami to Cozumel in Mexico, and returned to Tampa, Fla after 7 days, again on VWP and NO issues! So the article is kinda Bizzare, there must be more to it THAT particular traveller did to be treated this way.?
Doesn’t sound like you did more than 90 days, as a US VWP user, in the US+contiguous countries under circumstances where that time outside of the US would push you over the 90 day limit.
Many years ago I walked across the US Border from Laredo to Mexico and spent 6 weeks there finally returning to Europe via a flight from Mexico transiting thru LAX to LHR, but CBP didn’t want to give me entry to the US to catch my connection because “I was an overstayer- our records show that you never left the US”. Why? Because with a US flight arrival but a Land Border departure were not logged into the system as “departed”. When debating with CBP as to why, if I had not departed the US, “why, was I standing at International Immigration at LHX, how then could I still be in the US and not left?” I was let thru. The same occurred in San Juan which used to be a Hub for AA, when they asked why I kept going in and out of Pto Rico? There’s an easy solution, it’s known as “Transit” in the rest of the world.
The United States government is hopelessly backward and needlessly cruel.
If your phone supports e-sim, make sure you have data access for your destination in advance of arrival from a provider like GigSky. They also sell physical sims for phones that don’t support e-sim.
Reno Joe,
Regardless of where the law originated – and laws do come from Congress – my comment was about enforcement which IS handled by the Administration.
Subjecting a non-violent, unknowing visa violator to what he was subjecgted is inexcusable regardless of the administration.
THAT is not the way I want the US portrayed and I doubt many civilized countries would do the same to an American.
And, yes, the Administration – the current one – has said they are looking at ways to improve international tourism.
This is the complete opposite way to achieve that goal.
It would seem you could treat someone with respect and dignity even if they didn’t know all the ins and outs of our often ridiculous laws and regulations. But no. They have to go all out to be jerks.
Flew from Tokyo to Kona the week that Hawaiian Airlines resumed that flight a few years ago. Less than 20 Americans on board. The USCIS immigration officers flew over from Honolulu to process the passengers. The officer was exceedingly officious about where I as an American citizen live. I apologized, saying that I have Global Entry and hadn’t filled one of those quaint old paper forms for years. He was a total hardass, merely because he could be, and his line of questioning was absurd. And I say this having worked in federal law enforcement dealing with these issues years ago.
Gotta wonder how those types get the plum post of Honolulu. But yeah, deport that Australian with thousands in his bank account because he couldn’t immediately in that minute change his flight to satisfy this stupid regulation.
Following extensive discussion in Tripadvisor forum recently, it looks like the CBP HNL interpretation is wrong. You can’t “overstay” in Canada/Mexico for 2 months after staying in the US for 2 months. There is no requirement to have plans to leave contiguous areas within 3 months. However, if after 4 months you’re returning from Canada/Mexico to Australia through any US port, you’re in trouble, because you’re no longer qualify for VWP. Perhaps this Australian has a return ticket going through US, then he’s in trouble not having proof of a plan staying out of the contiguous areas before the end of the first 3 months.
“a contiguous territory or adjacent island”
Does anyone know the definition of “adjacent island”? I assume it must be a US-held “island” so the Cayman Islands would be a foreign country that is outside the 90-day rule. Correct?
The government is evil. All individuals who enforce it are doing evil and are therefore evil. All cops and agents can decide the conditions citizens and tourists are subjected to in detention facilities, jails, or prisons are inhumane, tortuous, and refuse to abuse people. All cops and agents should be asked how they would feel if their daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, younger brothers, and younger sisters were pulled off the street and treated this way by citizens. I don’t think they would like it. The government should never have power to abuse individuals like this. Their rules and laws which are not consented to by the way don’t justify these abusive conditions.
Victims of this abuse are justified in taking any action they deem appropriate over those who abused them.
The headline and first paragraph is just click bait, typical of this site… I guess it worked on me. And FYI many people still get visas, the world is not made up of only wealthy countries. Most people still need visas
Call 1-800-JOE-BIDEN for free anal probing kits. Note: free kits are not recognized by the federal government for travel.
The Biden Administration is getting rid of the very testing requirement they put in place to fly to the US.
The potato was getting hot and the CDC and the White House could only toss the hot potato back and forth so much before it became just another negative theme they want to have drop out as even a minor issue in the run-up to the mid-term US elections (which are going to be every ugly for Democrats anyway).
Agree with @HkCaGu – And to provide some background, I believe the law is written in such a way as to prevent persons in the US from making a “border run” to renew their visa/entry date. The idea is to prevent someone (VWP or visa) from entering the US, staying 89 days, spending the night in Canada/Mexico, then entering and getting a fresh 90 day I-94.
The biggest problem here though is not giving the guy a way to get out of this situation. What an asshole that officer must have been to not allow him 30m-1h with a phone and a hint to use a bus company in Mexico to travel to Belize. This was an overly confrontational approach that he thought (mistakenly, I believe) met the legal requirements of the law, but made no attempt to actually resolve a situation. Everybody lost here b/c of this officer, and what a sad situation that is.
This is a story only because this guy was from a country colonized by Europeans and presumably white.
If the guy was from Honduras, nobody would have cared.
True
@Jake Just imagine if the bloke was Black of African descent, the dollar stores and wig depots would be burning to the ground.
LRH is still dreaming about RAHOWA, following LHR’s going down the rabbit hole and falling in love with KKKlan literature and talking points.
For millennia, angrily or joyfully burning places to the ground has been a European specialty in parts.
@GUW the guy with 30 million FT posts, all about nothing…
Do facts hurt your feelings creampuff?
The term “adjacent islands” includes Saint Pierre, Miquelon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, the Windward and Leeward Islands, Trinidad, Martinique, and other British, French, and Netherlands territory or possessions in or bordering on the Caribbean Sea.