There was this dutch couple last year (or 2 years ago) who went on an
extended vacation and went from cost to cost to the US. They were
stupid enough te let their tourist visa expired. So they got pulled
over by some highway patrol and he noticed that is expired, he arrests
the couple and they end up in jail due to something in that Homeland
Security thingie they have in the US. They got out 3 months later...
I had my experiences as well with US immigrations, being shouted at
and humilliated just for picking up a bag without that Immigration
officer saying i could, trying to turn on a laptop when an immigration
officer asked me if it could be turned on (how the hell could i know
she wanted to do that). I have heard tons of stories like mine from
friends and colleagues who went to the US.
Oh yeah and after all this you always immediatly pass a big sign
saying "welcome to the united states of america", they sure know their
sarcasm ;-)
On 17 aug 2009, at 19:53, Matt Chester wrote:
This is a good point - whereas pre 2001 if you managed to get away
with it once but got pulled up another time they would tend to be
lenient, these days if they get the slightest whiff that you'd broken
the rules in the past they will have no second thoughts about denying
you entry on a permanent basis.
A friend of mine who's a visual artist lived in NYC for 10 years on a
legit visa, but recently had some irregularity on a tourist visa to go
back there, and in the process they found that she had overstayed her
work visa previously by 5 days - she is now barred from getting a
working visa for the US for life.
If you're going to play internationally, you pretty much
have to follow the rules, because they WILL catch up with you
eventually, and they usually get really upset if they realize you've
been working in their country without a visa and getting away with
it.
--
matt chester
11th hour recordings
matt-chester.com
myspace.com/mattchester1
