Skeptic Ginger
Nasty Woman
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2005
- Messages
- 96,955
Certainly given the money is in escrow or some equivalent Trump cannot claw it back.
Trump's Second Term
- Thread starter Orphia Nay
- Start date
Norman Alexander
Penultimate Amazing
Still have to pay it up front. So, no. Stick that where the sun don't shine.
Incidentally, USD$500 is currently about AUD$770. That's more than enough for a return flight from here in Sydney to Japan.
Oh, indubitably.Yeah, good luck with that.
Norman Alexander
Penultimate Amazing
More like something to allow the suit to be (very badly) shoehorned into existing libel laws based on how they are written.
Norman Alexander
Penultimate Amazing
She and a lot of the rest of the world. A trip to the USA, for business or tourism (I've done both frequently previously), was something I really looked forward to. Now it's become the North Korean hermit kingdom of the American continent. Even going to Russia in 2018 was easier and more welcoming than the USA now (although I don't expect that stayed so good since, however...).
It's the US State Department's new attitude to everyone else on Earth: "We don't care about our tourism dollars. If you are not an Aryan, English-speaking-only, white-skinned Christian nationalist like us then consider yourselves VERY unwelcome." And that message is sinking in rapidly.
chrispy
Graduate Poster
Come to beautiful Guatemala!!
I don't wish to belabour the point, not least because I'm, not knowledgeable about this but I think that people entering the US under the visa waiver programme wouldn't be affected by this. According to this CBS report:
Millions of travelers to the U.S. could be charged a new $250 "visa integrity fee"
The new tax cuts and spending bill includes a $250 fee for visitors coming to the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas. Here's what to know.
www.cbsnews.com
There are no details about how and when the fee would be collected and refunded (which is typical of the Trump administration, grand announcements with no actual detail behind them) but reports say that the fee would be levied when the non-immigrant visa is issued. These visas are good for a single in/out and so it's clear when you've left the country.
For the visa waiver programme you can have multiple in/out over a two year period so it wouldn't be clear when the $250 could be refunded.
Norman Alexander
Penultimate Amazing
A "tourist" is a "non-immigrant", I understand. So, according to the wording extant, it does apply to us non-working visitors, i.e. tourists. They clearly meant it to apply to transient or temporary workers. They completely forgot that most of the people coming to the USA who fall under that definition are actually tourists. So they have made a bad situation, i.e. the precipitous fall off the cliff for US tourism, even worse.I don't wish to belabour the point, not least because I'm, not knowledgeable about this but I think that people entering the US under the visa waiver programme wouldn't be affected by this. According to this CBS report:
Millions of travelers to the U.S. could be charged a new $250 "visa integrity fee"
The new tax cuts and spending bill includes a $250 fee for visitors coming to the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas. Here's what to know.
There are no details about how and when the fee would be collected and refunded (which is typical of the Trump administration, grand announcements with no actual detail behind them) but reports say that the fee would be levied when the non-immigrant visa is issued. These visas are good for a single in/out and so it's clear when you've left the country.
For the visa waiver programme you can have multiple in/out over a two year period so it wouldn't be clear when the $250 could be refunded.
So you are right, in that the whole thing is an absolute ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ balls-up of when and how the practicalities of this "Big Beautiful Bill" provision come into force. It's typical Trump business practices 101 - royally screwed and doomed from the outset.
a_unique_person
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
It says in the article
And who in their right wants to gamble on the prospect of winding in a detention centre because someone overzealous official decides they don't like your social media presence? Heck what about someone like me who doesn't have one, would they decide I must be covering something up?
I'm still annoyed that when they brought in the visa waiver programme that they cancelled the "Indefinite" visa I had in my passport. It was in an old passport, so I had to take that and my current one with me when I travelled, but that was less of an inconvenience than applying for an ESTA each time.
sinnikal
Critical Thinker
Yes! I had exactly the same. I still have the old passport.
Doesn't bother me much, there's no chance of me going back there now. Or ever.
Safe-Keeper
My avatar is not a Drumpf hat
Especially since it's not rules-based anymore, it's entirely up to the official behind the desk. Maybe they're having a bad day, maybe they're prejudiced towards me in some way, maybe they're on a power trip or just like hurting people. I was never worried when entering or leaving the USA when I lived there as a teen, but I'd be terrified to go there now.
Norman Alexander
Penultimate Amazing
I see in the above link:
And has already been noted, the niceties of the differences, if any, by some short-tempered pea-brained border fascist who thinks that a lack of social media presence (which I have) means you are probably hiding something inflammatory about Trump from them. So they will be more than happy to be an absolute bastard and deny you entry and give you a gratis three-week stay in a phone-free Louisiana detention centre as a reward, before pushing you onto a plane back home with a 10-year ban notice and probably a large invoice for their services.
That's not actually true (and the embedded link fails too). The Visa Waiver Program is called ESTA, and it provides a 90-day "permit with conditions". The holder is subject to the same entry, travel and work limitations as any ordinary visa, and has to pay for it too. While it is described as "not a visa" or as an alternative to a different visa type, it is, for all intents and purposes, a short-term tourist visa. About the only difference is that it is available online.
And has already been noted, the niceties of the differences, if any, by some short-tempered pea-brained border fascist who thinks that a lack of social media presence (which I have) means you are probably hiding something inflammatory about Trump from them. So they will be more than happy to be an absolute bastard and deny you entry and give you a gratis three-week stay in a phone-free Louisiana detention centre as a reward, before pushing you onto a plane back home with a 10-year ban notice and probably a large invoice for their services.
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newyorkguy
Penultimate Amazing
Fears are well-founded. I was appalled to read recently in local news about one such horrible example.
This was a Canadian citizen (white) who had lived in the United States for over forty years. He was brought here by his parents when the was 3-years-old and has permanent resident status. He's employed, married to an American woman, they have four kids and own a home. He says he held on to his Canadian citizenship all these years with the idea that when he retired he would probably move back to Canada. He says he still has a lot of family there, visits often, and his wife loves Canada. Around this time of year he usually takes a couple of his kids and they visit family members in Canada for a couple weeks vacation. This year, when he drove back with two of his children he was refused reentry to the US by ICE. Why? In 2007 he had been arrested and charged with Aggravated Reckless Driving, a criminal offense. ICE agents at the border told him, based on his having "a criminal record" they would not allow him to reenter the US. He was with his daughters and they tearfully pleaded with the ICE agents but were finally threatened themselves with arrest if they continued.
Right now this gentleman is still in Canada. His lawyer says, yes, he was once arrested for Aggravated Reckless Driving, and it's on his record. but he was never tried, much less convicted. The charge was reduced to Reckless Driving, a traffic violation, and he paid a fine. So far, the lawyer says, ICE has been non-responsive.
The man says he's trying to handle it as an extended vacation but meantime problems mount. His wife works but is unable to cover their mortgage payments on the house they own. His job is in jeopardy. His wife and kids are traumatized by these events.
The underlying problem may be, we have a tyrant in Washington, and the ICE agents are under pressure to show actions. They're doing what they think they have to do.
An absolute nightmare.
This was a Canadian citizen (white) who had lived in the United States for over forty years. He was brought here by his parents when the was 3-years-old and has permanent resident status. He's employed, married to an American woman, they have four kids and own a home. He says he held on to his Canadian citizenship all these years with the idea that when he retired he would probably move back to Canada. He says he still has a lot of family there, visits often, and his wife loves Canada. Around this time of year he usually takes a couple of his kids and they visit family members in Canada for a couple weeks vacation. This year, when he drove back with two of his children he was refused reentry to the US by ICE. Why? In 2007 he had been arrested and charged with Aggravated Reckless Driving, a criminal offense. ICE agents at the border told him, based on his having "a criminal record" they would not allow him to reenter the US. He was with his daughters and they tearfully pleaded with the ICE agents but were finally threatened themselves with arrest if they continued.
Right now this gentleman is still in Canada. His lawyer says, yes, he was once arrested for Aggravated Reckless Driving, and it's on his record. but he was never tried, much less convicted. The charge was reduced to Reckless Driving, a traffic violation, and he paid a fine. So far, the lawyer says, ICE has been non-responsive.
The man says he's trying to handle it as an extended vacation but meantime problems mount. His wife works but is unable to cover their mortgage payments on the house they own. His job is in jeopardy. His wife and kids are traumatized by these events.
The underlying problem may be, we have a tyrant in Washington, and the ICE agents are under pressure to show actions. They're doing what they think they have to do.
An absolute nightmare.
Tero
Philosopher
All those crimes. Some of us immigrants might even have a ticket for jaywalking from 50 years ago. Applying for citizenship without listing the jaywalking might now be a crime.
The best word I've seen used about this is "lubricious" - who ever uses that?
Armitage72
Philosopher
My sister-in-law is from Germany and never became a citizen. She met my brother when he was stationed there in the Air Force. She regularly returns to Germany to visit her family and I dread what might happen someday when she comes back.
Oh man. I keep mixing up lugubrious and lubricious. And I keep accidentally making up the word lucubrious.
P.J. Denyer
Penultimate Amazing
Which one's in the Fast and Furious films?