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Germany tightens travel advice to US after three citizens detained
- carlmr 2y agoHaving to clarify that it's not a warning is a warning.
- comprev 2y ago> The country's foreign ministry clarified the updated guidance doesn’t constitute an official travel warning to the US. Clickbait headline. Nothing has changed officially.
- tene80i 2y agoThe change they have made suffices for “tightens travel advice”. Not everything has to be an official warning. > "A criminal conviction in the United States, false information regarding the purpose of stay, or even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit," information on the ministry's website now explicitly says.
- reneberlin 2y agoThat is incorrect! https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/reiseundsicherheit/usavereinigtestaatensicherheit-201382 https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/reiseundsicherheit/usaver...
- mathw 2y agoEverything has changed in practice, when people are detained at the border because they posted something on social media which was critical of Trump, in a country which prides itself on having "freedom of speech" in the constitution. When denial of entry means weeks in detention rather than an expedient flight back to where you came from. When going to speak at a conference can get you detained for violating a visa which has always been fine for that before. When people with green cards are getting arrested and sent for deportation... everything has changed.
- intended 2y agoClickbait comment - the headline correctly states that guidance has been tightened.
- aktuel 2y agoAs I said before, I would not travel to the US unless my life depends on it.
- xadhominemx 2y agoThe USA hosts 35 million foreign visitors per year. These enforcement actions are absurd, but if you have your documents in order and are planing a normal tourist trip. you will be fine.
- __loam 2y agoThey detained a green card holder who didn't break any laws and tortured him for weeks. They deported a French scientist over private speech after searching his phone. Why do you think all this is just going to be okay?
- vosper 2y agoTortured?
- PieTime 2y agoTechnically if you’re Venezuelan you could be sent to be tortured in El Salvador
- account42 2y agoComplain to the Venezuelan government for not accepting their citizens back.
- SauciestGNU 2y agoIt's a crime to abduct someone and sell them to a third country's prison that they have no connection to.
- __loam 2y ago
- fabian2k 2y agoI think the perception is the much bigger story here than the actual change in advice by German authorities. Traveling to the US (and other countries as well) always had the chance to trigger some overzealous enforcement and/or arbitrary rejection or detainment. But the current US government is very strongly ramping up the rethoric and actions in that area, so the risk increased and will very likely increase further. That creates an enormous amount of uncertainty and this uncertainty will have effects. For some people (white, from western countries) this is probably still a very low risk, but anyone that fits the target profile of the new government is in much more danger. I don't want to downplay this by pointing to perception, but in the end the perception is much more likely to affect the behaviour of visitors than the murky real change. Even at a low chance, people quite justifiably don't want to risk geting locked up in a cold cell for an arbitrary amount of time. And the perception matters much more here than the quantifiable risk of getting detained.
- spiderfarmer 2y agoHow is this a perception issue? It’s a real issue. Even if the chances of getting detained on bullshit charges are slim, the behavior of the government is now so erratic and hostile that people who care will actively avoid going to the US. And for what exactly? Does anyone still wonder? Or do they just accept that the government constantly does stupid things for no real reason? If my country behaved like the US for just one hour, the press would find enough scandals to talk about for a year. But the US manages to make the press move on to the next scandal. And the next. And so on.
- Almondsetat 2y agoCan you show these numbers are significantly higher than the previous years' average? If you can't then it's perception
- lifeinthevoid 2y agoToo early for stats I think. But yeah, keep on denying the light of the sun.
- afandian 2y agoUK also. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-beefs-up-travel-warnings-over-us-border-enforcement-2025-03-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-beefs-up-travel-war...
- thegreatpeter 2y ago"A criminal conviction in the United States, false information regarding the purpose of stay, or even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit," information on the ministry's website now explicitly says.“
- croes 2y agoAnd even that doesn’t protect you https://thetrek.co/a-german-thru-hiker-has-been-detained-deported-and-banned-from-the-us-without-a-hearing-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ https://thetrek.co/a-german-thru-hiker-has-been-detained-dep...
- Surac 2y agoTrump talked about "Shithole Countrys" on 1/12/2018. I am sure he talked about the future of the USA
- neuroelectron 2y agoGermany is joining that list by destroying their economy to satisfy those who will never be satisfied with Germans.
- Sharlin 2y agoThe Foreign Ministry of Finland issued an advisory that ESTA and visa rules have been changed to require that the gender entered must be the assigned-at-birth one (for the obvious discriminatory reasons). If you current travel documents don’t match that, well, good luck. (Edit: Heh, apparently this comment is downvoted for stating facts.)
- mathw 2y agoAbsolutely. Trans people should absolutely not consider travel to the USA at the moment.
- thegreatpeter 2y ago"A criminal conviction in the United States, false information regarding the purpose of stay, or even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit," information on the ministry's website now explicitly says. That’s the updated guideline if you’re only reading titles
- jlg23 2y agoThis is travel advice I've been following for 25 years; because, as the article states, the rules are not new: Go through a port of entry that is not on US soil so being refused entry does not lead to incarceration and deportation. For people in the EU, Dublin is such a port of entry. Once on a plane from there, arrival in the US is the same as for a domestic flight.
- rich_sasha 2y agoSurely the US customs etc can still find a way to intimidate and screw you over. My limited experience is that they either train their staff for it, or pick people who enjoy it. Or both.
- decimalenough 2y agoThe staff in Dublin aren't any better, but the consequences are: you're not on US soil, so you can't be detained or deported.
- rich_sasha 2y agoSure, I got that. I more mean, does it really stop them from being assholes once you land? On paper perhaps, but in practice, I wouldn't bank on it.
- decimalenough 2y agoThe whole point of preclearance is that there is no border control on arrival into the US, you exit the airport like you were coming off a domestic flight.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- sschueller 2y agoWhat port of entry is not US soil? You can be detained in an US embassy and sent off somewhere. In fact the US doesn't even have a problem with kidnapping people in the middle of a European city sending them off for torture[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri
- AhdJa 2y ago[flagged]
- BigglesB 2y agoWas actually planning to be at GDC this week & while there were other factors at play, the clincher was a feeling that there’s now a non-zero risk of getting caught up in some serious nightmare scenario like this. Seemed pretty self evident that the new administration’s rhetoric even a couple of months ago was paving the way to fascist authoritarianism & I don’t see that changing any time soon. Tbh, even having a post like this in my user history is apparently the sort of thing that could cause complications at the border! So much for “free speech absolutism”. Makes me wonder how many others will stay silent to minimise that risk & whether that’ll lead to an illusion of support for these policies…
- TomK32 2y agoIs there a newsletter for the games you release?
- BigglesB 2y agoNot really. I did set up a blog at biggles.games a while back but haven’t been actively updating it for quite a while & there’s nothing about our current project on there yet… probably time to do an update tbh!!
- jajko 2y agoEverything you ever say online can and eventually will be used against you. No reason to tie your real identity into any online forum, including this one. Plenty of reasons against. With AI pairing even semi-anonymous accounts to real people will become much easier over time. Its fine if you never plan going to US but who knows the future right, also maybe they will eventually steer back from current direction... I am not holding my breath though. This is 50% of US population, consistently. Don't forget orange man didn't win previous elections only very narrowly, US folks on the ground don't give a nanofraction of a fuck about other nationalities and love this style of government. Out of 3 attempts, he won twice easily and 3rd time almost. Stay the fuck away from US and any US product in literally any form, best advice for 96% of mankind currently.
- JSR_FDED 2y agoI used to think that letting my foreign affairs ministry know I was travelling was BS. But 100% I will be doing that for my next trip to the USA.
- drstewart 2y agoYou should try traveling to Singapore illegally and breaking the laws there. See how "BS" your own countries policies are.
- JSR_FDED 2y agoOh you mean that time that my friend hadn’t filled out an arrival form and the immigration department at the airport helped him fill it out?
- brettermeier 2y agoWhy planning a trip to the USA? It's like voluntarily visiting Mordor. I wouldn't be surprised if the next tourists end up in Guantanamo Bay ^^
- drstewart 2y agoBecause it's better than your country
- JSR_FDED 2y agoStill have many friends in the USA!
- brettermeier 2y agoMaybe they should visit you first? But sure, there are still many reasons to visit the US, but it wouldn't be a nice flight if you imagine sitting in an airplane for 12 hours thinking about spending your holiday there as planned or ending up in jail and being tortured...
- ionwake 2y agoSorry for a noob question, but aren't the tourists from western european countries exactly who the country WANT to let in? Or is the USA against allowing even the Germans in?
- pjc50 2y agoThe US wants some arbitrary violence against foreigners. This now includes Canadians as well as white Europeans. Because the frothing rage against immigrants has reached that level of blindness. Also things like the (not new! present under Democrats!) border searches of social media for evidence of disloyalty.
- lifestyleguru 2y agoThey also shouldn't ruin relations with their best neighbour along their longest land border. It looks they are in a state of vicious writhe "WE against THEM".
- brettermeier 2y agoFor the first time those border guards are equally racist :P
- account42 2y agoThe USA is allowing tourists from western European countries. They are not allowing "tourists" that they suspect of coming for other purposes e.g. to work without an appropriate visa.
- ionwake 2y agoYou didnt understand, I was not saying they are not letting them in I am talking about their changed stance.
- graycat 2y agoThe US needs: (1) To be strict and strong on illegal immigration. (2) To be welcoming, courteous, gracious, flexible, understanding, and helpful otherwise.
- oblio 2y agoThat's not how it works. The system is designed that everyone is suspected of wanting to overstay their welcome in God's Most Graciously Developed Country in the World. Even funny scenarios where they do that to people coming from Switzerland or the like :-) I'm not sure how this works for American citizens, but almost every interaction with embassy personnel and definitely with personnel at airports and such, feels.
- jajko 2y ago> God's Most Graciously Developed Country in the World Its funny how far from truth this is. Go and compare better parts of US with with Switzerland for example. Now compare worse parts of both. Literally any aspect - cleaniness, nature, society, personal freedom, criminality, development, public transport, access to education, healthcare and so on and on.
- oblio 2y agoAnd here I was, thinking the funny capitalization and the weird and over the top title would be enough to signal sarcasm :-)
- Propelloni 2y ago"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Unhindered immigration was part of the recipe of success for approx. 92% of the lifetime of the US. What changed?
- piva00 2y ago> Unhindered immigration was part of the recipe of success for approx. 92% of the lifetime of the US. What changed? They got extra-greedy and fascist.
- consumer451 2y agoAs Europeans look upon what is happening in the USA and think "that could not happen here..." Please be aware that what happened in the USA was largely a product of Fox News (News Corp.) While still in their nascent forms, the EU equivalents are Axel Springer [0] and Euronews [1]. If what happened in the USA is to be avoided in the EU, then these extremely ideological news publishers must be tarred and feathered as soon as possible. Avoiding the path of the "post-truth" USA [2] is the greatest task of our time. [0] https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/06/axel-springer-politico-media-scandal-germany-bild/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/06/axel-springer-politico-... (Politico, Bild, and more!) [1] https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2024/04/11/orban-s-shadow-looms-over-euronews-takeover_6668144_19.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2024/04/11/orban-s... (Victor Orban) [2] https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/sites/bc-magazine/summer-2020/features/welcome-to-post-truth-america.html https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/sites/bc-magazine/summer-2020/feat...
- timonoko 2y agoWeird thing was that one time USA had Finnish-speaking customs officer at US-Mexico border. Reason was that Finnish Passport was printed or sold in Russia en mass. Russian cannot pronounce any of the vowels in "HYVÄÄ PÄIVÄÄ". That is what the American Copper said and I was momentarily stunned speechless and some tension was observable, but I then answered appropriately and the immigration officer's interview was over.
- nobodyandproud 2y agoIt’s good advice to its own citizens and even business travelers have a right to worry. Many years ago, I asked my wife why’d she give up her green card (or chance for a dual). She didn’t want to deal with the hassle or a non-zero chance of getting rejected for renewal and getting deported. Her perspective was based on the ease or difficulty based on who was in power at the time. I thought she was paranoid, but she was right and I was so very wrong. If you’re not a citizen (and even if you are, but of the wrong “type”), things are looking worrisome.
- esbranson 2y agoConversely, I doubt anyone has any idea what Germany does, least of all the Germans. PACER gives us a glimpse into the actual US government practices, but we don't even get a glimpse into actual German practices. Same goes for the UK and other large European countries. At most you get some, but probably not even all, of their highest court decisions, not including things like the underlying case documents. Ignorance is bliss, so Europe must be a blissful place where nothing bad happens lol.
- EasyMark 2y agoIt's amazing how one out of control wanna-be-dictator can destroy the reputation of the USA in weeks and half the country doesn't care, although I suspect will care when the long term implications inevitably happen to _them_
- geenkeuse 2y ago[dead]