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Holy moley, thanks for the heads up! Your comment should be the top comment, given the business of business which for us non-US citizens still requires often in
by fsloth 5y ago
Holy moley, thanks for the heads up! Your comment should be the top comment, given the business of business which for us non-US citizens still requires often interacting with the said polity!
Also - US, hello? That kind of sucks. Tourism would be a great way to integrate these areas more to the "western" spheres of business (I'm not saying that is a valuable value as such, I take no sides, but I presume US would consider this still advantageous to it's positioning).
When I read this news I immediately thought I could go and visit the ruins of Babylon (yes, I can go and see pieces of it museums in non-ESTA-nulling places but it's not the same thing). Now - ancient babylon vs. ESTA privileges? Oh man, choices, choices.
- bassdropvroom 5y agoI'm European-Kurd, and had to travel to Kurdistan Region (northern Iraq) for my sister's wedding a few years before I had to go to the US. I was denied my ESTA without a refund (it was $20 iirc, so not a huge amount but as someone who had just graduated, every penny counted for me) due to this exemption. Had to get a full visitors visa to go which took a lot longer, and was way more expensive. The exemption, which was put in place due to ISIS in 2013, seems reasonable though unfortunate.
- verelo 5y agoYears back i seriously considered an Iran trip out of general curiosity about the region. It quickly became clear this would inhibit future travel to the US so i figured it wasn’t worth the trouble. Super disappointing, it would be cool to see the area.