Belgium can be equally excruciating. a friend of mine moved from india to belgium. after living here for more than a year, his parents wanted to visit him. the parents have a house in india, family, the father is on a decent indian pension, etc.
it took the belgian embassy about four months to decide on the application. however, to be able to apply, you have to make all your travel arrangements. they didn't anticipate the process to take this long, had to first move, and then cancel their arrangements altogether. in the end, the application got rejected, but the official reasons were cryptic.
my friend's interpretation was that the embassy was concerned that his parents might not return to india. they had the option to appeal, which can take 6 to 12 months. chances of appealing successfully are low and so are the chances of getting a visa in a renewed application. in the process, they lost about €3000, which is a lot of money in rupees.
instead of appealing, the parents booked a vacation in the netherlands. the visa application went through in less than a month. they got a schengen visa, meaning that they could also visit belgium. and this is how his parents visited him in the end.
his conclusion was that belgian bureaucracy is out of hand and that the EU has interesting loopholes.
I have a friend who's a musician, that's been coming to the US to tour a month a year for a decade. This last time his visa got stuck for a full year and even his immigration lawyer couldn't figure out who was holding it up. Instead they applied for the EB-'Eistein visa' which was issued in only 3 weeks so that he could tour. It did take a call from said lawyer reminding them that a US corporation would be losing money if it wasn't done on time.
Still, he was shocked shocked by a quick EB as a weekend strummer with a few regular US gigs. Lawyer cost $6k.
US immigration is on par (or worse than) third world countries. Having been in it for 10 years now, I highly recommend people to consider doing business in some other country.
At the end, there is only so much time left in life. Do you want to spend months and years pandering to third world bureaucracy or do you want to be quick, efficient and productive in this one single life you have?
Despite being someone from a country that end in -stan, I got my US travel visa approved immediately and processed in a week.
While I don't know why you were rejected the first time around, I think the 102 day wait time is because your application is at the bottom of someone's work pile, where it will stay until they realize something is wrong.
I'd personally ping them again and politely ask if it usually takes this long to process applications of this sort.
I think this is a very common misconception. DHS and USCIS aren't idiots; they can tell there's a world of difference between a former Soviet republic(e.g. KZ,KG,UZ,etc) and other -stan countries. Also, the US maintains the fairly extensive diplomatic staff in those states. Lastly, if you were to apply for a Green Card, while holding an H1-B, you would get it years before an Indian or Chinese national due to the quota system. I would imagine it should be also easier for people like you to get the Green Card through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program.
I think the SF/BA reps and senators are already pretty well-aware that our borders are terrible, but they lack the political situation and/or acumen to do anything about it.
This makes me wonder how many thousands or hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in similar USCIS/USCBP purgatories regardless of the type of visa application they're waiting to receive a response about.
I am risking down votes and flagging on this, and it's so worth it.
I can't help but feel a nasty, uncalled-for sense of schadenfreude at this - White European gets denied entry to the US and it's MAJOR NEWS!! Plenty of equally talented, educated, trained, motivated, law-abiding people face this treatment everyday (or otherwise avoid risking this treatment by just not going) - just because they happen to be from "shitholes" (US Presidential Terminology of course) that happen to be shitholes in no small part because of the greedy raping and looting in quite recent history by regimes (or antecedents) that are today closing their gates (Daniel's own country included).
Nothing against Daniel - deep respect for the guy!! I hope this problem resolves for him.
But man, can't help the smile on my face. Not in the least bit because of the complaining in Daniel's post of the DS-160 - something I had to fill too, and hated it just as much, and wouldn't have made the news if I was the author of cURL because I'm Indian.
I don't exactly know which countries are nowadays classified by president Trump as a "shithole", but I wonder what is a country that classifies as such and had been "raped and looted" by Sweden in the past?
Thinking back to the history lessons about where the historical Sweden waged wars at all in the past, I still couldn't figure it out... Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Norway, Finland? Nope, none of these.
An all-hands meeting seems to be a classic example of "business" assuming they're employed by a non-US entity (even if you work for a US-based company/org, they may have a non-US entity employing you).
I wonder if there is a 'job creation system' at play here for those lawyers to have a job or exist in the first place. If a country has a good and functional administrative system in place, that would not be needed.
This is part of the problem with there not being clear rights for people traveling to countries. You end up with a weird case where most people can get in, but some people end up in administrative balderdash with no recourse.
It would look very different if the country just wouldn't let anyone in at all, but because it lets some people in, we get this "well, you can't complain" situation.
Worth noting: there is a way to do this well. I've been through a visa screening involving domestic and international criminal and espionage background checks that completed in about ten minutes while I waited (that country was the Philippines). There are also a great deal of countries where they allow visas on arrival, where presumably the quite minimal screening happens at the airline.
While this is true for just about every single other country, the US remains an impossible-to-grok travesty of justice. When I read about what my country does to the people that seek to be a part of it, I can only think back to the 1700s where many many countries wouldn't just deny you entry, they'd imprison you for the horrible horrible crime of just being at their borders.
The father of the guy that wrote The Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned for two years in the Kingdom of Naples for the horrific crime of needing provisions after a storm killed their self-reliance.
It's exactly the kind of barbarism I think of when I consider the US stance towards any kind of interested interlopers. You must be doing something wrong, wait until I go through the X days process to decide you're not a horrible person.
>Among other things it requires me to provide info about [...] and every email address I've used during the last 5 years.
the other requirements are quite easy to fulfill, but the last one... what if you used disposable mail sites (think mailinator), or a bunch of registered throwaway emails that you simply don't remember anymore?
In the first couple of paragraphs I immediately thought 'haxx' is it. In the past at work when I downloaded from haxx.se I was always worried that IT security would swat me.
Administrative processing (a euphemism for a security background check) often takes multiple months. This happens regularly to engineers and students from places like China or Iran. It can easily take half a year. I'm sure it feels Kafkaesque, but it's not unusual or exceptional.
I wonder what would come out of Daniel filing a FOIA request about himself to CBP. FOIA is a nice law in that "any person" (as written in the statute) has standing to file a request, regardless of relationship to the U.S.
Who lobbies for our awful travel system? I mean, of course there's a large contingent of Americans who are xenophobic and nationalist, but such pseudo-fascist bureaucratic red tape doesn't come into being unless powerful entities who stand to benefit from the bureaucracy take advantage of the populist zeitgeist to bend political will to their favor. Who gains power by arbitrarily rejecting random Swedes' visas and ultimately chilling international intrapersonal relationships and flow of culture?
> such pseudo-fascist bureaucratic red tape doesn't come into being unless powerful entities who stand to benefit from the bureaucracy take advantage of the populist zeitgeist to bend political will to their favor.
I assure you it can arise entirely out of negligence, ignorance, and the mindless application of poorly thought-out rules. The impulse to look for the hidden "powerful entities" behind the curtain is an understandable but unfortunate form of conspiracy thinking, and it's unlikely to guide you to the truth of situations like the author's.
My first guess is that a lot of this happens somewhat behind the scenes. Senate committee asks what's been done to keep the bad people out, bureaucrat replies with new 20 item checklist. Next year it's 40 items... Insane senators certainly want lots of public showboating, but also probably believe in their mission and try to apply the screws even when voters won't know.
American voters. American paranoia causes things like "Extreme vetting" to be totally acceptable. The consequence is global businesses need to move things out of the country.
Immigration laws have largely been unchanged for decades and are severely out of touch as a result. Nobody with actual power (i.e. Congress) wants to touch immigration as it's a politically charged subject. Politics is ugly in the US nowadays, everybody knows this but it's hard to break out of the deadlock.
Lots of ugly and false assumptions you're making in this comment, but I'll bite.
Billions of people want to come to the US. Many more than want to go to, say, Argentina. So our immigration laws need to be a bit more strict to restrict what could be a flood of immigrants to a more manageable flow. This is necessary for cultural and economic reasons, to promote unity and stability, which make America great.
Second, we are understandably paranoid about security, which also leads us to more restrictive immigration laws.
That said, nearly a million people immigrate into the US each year. Most Americans like legal immigrants contrary to what propoganda you may read or hear, considering we are a nation of immigrants.
[+] [-] n1231231231234|7 years ago|reply
it took the belgian embassy about four months to decide on the application. however, to be able to apply, you have to make all your travel arrangements. they didn't anticipate the process to take this long, had to first move, and then cancel their arrangements altogether. in the end, the application got rejected, but the official reasons were cryptic. my friend's interpretation was that the embassy was concerned that his parents might not return to india. they had the option to appeal, which can take 6 to 12 months. chances of appealing successfully are low and so are the chances of getting a visa in a renewed application. in the process, they lost about €3000, which is a lot of money in rupees.
instead of appealing, the parents booked a vacation in the netherlands. the visa application went through in less than a month. they got a schengen visa, meaning that they could also visit belgium. and this is how his parents visited him in the end.
his conclusion was that belgian bureaucracy is out of hand and that the EU has interesting loopholes.
[+] [-] kurthr|7 years ago|reply
Still, he was shocked shocked by a quick EB as a weekend strummer with a few regular US gigs. Lawyer cost $6k.
[+] [-] justAnotherNET|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] NTDF9|7 years ago|reply
At the end, there is only so much time left in life. Do you want to spend months and years pandering to third world bureaucracy or do you want to be quick, efficient and productive in this one single life you have?
[+] [-] amingilani|7 years ago|reply
While I don't know why you were rejected the first time around, I think the 102 day wait time is because your application is at the bottom of someone's work pile, where it will stay until they realize something is wrong.
I'd personally ping them again and politely ask if it usually takes this long to process applications of this sort.
[+] [-] villedepommes|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dsr_|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rabidrat|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] olivierlacan|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bodas|7 years ago|reply
"Haxx is a bunch of friends who work as software developers and hackers in Sweden"
Yep, that'll do it.
[+] [-] cyberferret|7 years ago|reply
Then again, I have come across many Americans who think "boffin" is a derogatory/negative term too...
[+] [-] lawrencegs|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nhebb|7 years ago|reply
https://www.google.com/search?q=hacker&tbm=nws
In the US, it would be unusual to find someone outside of tech circles who thinks the term "hacker" means something non-malicious.
[+] [-] mehrdadn|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codeisawesome|7 years ago|reply
I can't help but feel a nasty, uncalled-for sense of schadenfreude at this - White European gets denied entry to the US and it's MAJOR NEWS!! Plenty of equally talented, educated, trained, motivated, law-abiding people face this treatment everyday (or otherwise avoid risking this treatment by just not going) - just because they happen to be from "shitholes" (US Presidential Terminology of course) that happen to be shitholes in no small part because of the greedy raping and looting in quite recent history by regimes (or antecedents) that are today closing their gates (Daniel's own country included).
Nothing against Daniel - deep respect for the guy!! I hope this problem resolves for him.
But man, can't help the smile on my face. Not in the least bit because of the complaining in Daniel's post of the DS-160 - something I had to fill too, and hated it just as much, and wouldn't have made the news if I was the author of cURL because I'm Indian.
[+] [-] jnurmine|7 years ago|reply
Thinking back to the history lessons about where the historical Sweden waged wars at all in the past, I still couldn't figure it out... Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Norway, Finland? Nope, none of these.
[+] [-] lowbloodsugar|7 years ago|reply
[1] https://de.usembassy.gov/unpaid-work-is-work-make-sure-you-h...
[+] [-] smelendez|7 years ago|reply
I think attending meetings of a US parent company is a pretty common use case. It is an elitist rule but what isn't.
[+] [-] tgsovlerkhgsel|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lawrencegs|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oneplane|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] projektir|7 years ago|reply
It would look very different if the country just wouldn't let anyone in at all, but because it lets some people in, we get this "well, you can't complain" situation.
[+] [-] hawkice|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vinceguidry|7 years ago|reply
The father of the guy that wrote The Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned for two years in the Kingdom of Naples for the horrific crime of needing provisions after a storm killed their self-reliance.
It's exactly the kind of barbarism I think of when I consider the US stance towards any kind of interested interlopers. You must be doing something wrong, wait until I go through the X days process to decide you're not a horrible person.
Disgusting.
[+] [-] gruez|7 years ago|reply
the other requirements are quite easy to fulfill, but the last one... what if you used disposable mail sites (think mailinator), or a bunch of registered throwaway emails that you simply don't remember anymore?
[+] [-] dmh2000|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] KKKKkkkk1|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nhf|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] colanderman|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Niten|7 years ago|reply
I assure you it can arise entirely out of negligence, ignorance, and the mindless application of poorly thought-out rules. The impulse to look for the hidden "powerful entities" behind the curtain is an understandable but unfortunate form of conspiracy thinking, and it's unlikely to guide you to the truth of situations like the author's.
[+] [-] tedunangst|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NTDF9|7 years ago|reply
American voters. American paranoia causes things like "Extreme vetting" to be totally acceptable. The consequence is global businesses need to move things out of the country.
[+] [-] zavi|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] olefoo|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] j0057|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CostanzaKing|7 years ago|reply
Billions of people want to come to the US. Many more than want to go to, say, Argentina. So our immigration laws need to be a bit more strict to restrict what could be a flood of immigrants to a more manageable flow. This is necessary for cultural and economic reasons, to promote unity and stability, which make America great.
Second, we are understandably paranoid about security, which also leads us to more restrictive immigration laws.
That said, nearly a million people immigrate into the US each year. Most Americans like legal immigrants contrary to what propoganda you may read or hear, considering we are a nation of immigrants.
[+] [-] cozzyd|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] microcolonel|7 years ago|reply