Uncle Sam backs down on slurping passwords from US visa hopefuls The US State Department has asked the public to comment on changes to its immigrant vetting procedures – particularly the bit where it demands people's social media handles. Asking non-citizens to disclose their online public profiles was put forward during the Obama administration. After the presidential election, new …
You'd think humans would have evolved to not care about birth dates and anniversaries by now.
Those who do are unlikely to be together long enough to raise kids.
So long as procreation occurs before the first time the female has a birthday there isn't any selective pressure against forgetful men!
You have not seen some of the other reqs. Most dependent/spouse visas require the submission of 5 photographs from the official marriage ceremony. The USA immigration official has to approve them officially - they have to "like" them (*).
I am surprised they are not requesting verified snaps of in-bed activity to ensure that you are compliant to the Evangelico-talebanic standards and do it only in the missionary position.
We have only one - the camera broke so the only picture from the wedding is just two of us taken by a different photographer, no pictures of us signing, guests, etc. Not that I would want to immigrate to that lunatic asylum in the first place.
"I am surprised they are not requesting verified snaps of in-bed activity to ensure that you are compliant to the Evangelico-talebanic standards and do it only in the missionary position."
This is easily explained: the standards for in-bed activity you are referring to clearly state that they can only happen with the lights out and under the blanket.
No FaceTwatMyLinkedSpaceBookLinkedin InstaSnapFarkDeliciousCrapChatWhatzapfungalturdwhatsit. Yes this flip phone is my phone, I don't own a smart one that can't be arsed to make a simple phone call when I fekkin need one. No I don't remember all those old employers, I stopped givin' SFA about 'em the moment I quit workin' for 'em. What's that, you won't let me come visit unless I give you all that stuff? Fine, Bye, I'll go spend my vacation cash someplace that DOESN'T treat visitors like shite. Enjoy those jack boots you're wearin', they seem to suit ya'.
That's easy, just search for a name that matches yours, and give them that. WTF are the watch lists for, if they have to do this as well? And going back 15 years? Jobs don't even go further back than 7-10 years because who the hell cares. This is just another example of so-called law enforcers unable to do any leg work, rather they want to Google the criminals, then send out an arrest email and hope the perp turns themselves in, otherwise the giant load eating donuts might have to get in a squad car and do some police work for a change. No wonder they cry "we're heroes" when they molest some poor gran at the TSA checkpoint, or shoot down another unarmed citizen because they're too fat to do a chase like on the TV and they might have had a camera. :P
There is so much waste in the background check scam market. Every single stupid employer goes back at least five years and three or more job positions for the check... why? If each new employer only checked back to the last one, the results would be exactly the same. Criminal checks, sure, do your worst, but the endless looking back further than necessary is a waste of my time and privacy, and a waste of funds that could go into my salary but are flushed away in a pointless search beyond the necessary. HR people are almost as stupid as marketing people. I kid you not.
And in the end, why come to America? The only places worth visiting are NY and CA, perhaps Las Vegas, and that's it. Everywhere else is a god damn shit-hole filled with ignorant gun-muggles cheering for their billionaire heroes while they scrape by on minimum wage and curse those nasty liberals for wanting to help anyone, not just white (immigrant) peoples. Sad fuckers. I just went ahead and joined their "heroes" by incorporating myself, so now I'm their "hero" too. No wonder religious people love guns so much; their gods don't exist, so how can then preach their pretend "word" when it means nothing and no one listens? Why can't their so-called gods do anything for themselves? No skills with money, no ability to cast any wrath on the unbelievers. If they were real, I think I could beat the crap out of them, and I'm not that big. "Gods?" I never met one that I couldn't take away their lunch money. :P
"And in the end, why come to America? The only places worth visiting are NY and CA, perhaps Las Vegas, and that's it. Everywhere else is a god damn shit-hole filled with ignorant gun-muggles cheering for their billionaire heroes (etc. etc.)"
You might want to look at your own ignorant bigoted uninformed attitudes before you so thoroughly insult people you know nothing about. These forums are full of such poison and it gets more upvotes than down. WTF Britain?
Anybody else notice how liberals figure they can insult anybody they feel like? Kinda hypocritical, isn't it?
They can have my FriendFace profile if they want.
Hmmm.. I suddenly have the urge to drink another can of Cuke.
Also...
Could not possibly remember any of that information and I don't tend to keep old passports for souvenirs.
Since USA is on MY no fly list, this is an easy one,
If at all possible, don't go. Choose your holidays elsewhere, vote with your wallet and choose one of the many other countries around the world. Its clear the USA doesn't want you, many other countries do.
I used to the USA a few times a year for work, but told my company I no longer wanted to, no issues, I have relatives there and told them I wasn't coming, which was probably a relief for them.
Its got some lovely countryside, some great cities but a serious attitude problem. Thats fine, I can simply ignore it.
Suggest we all do the same,
Travel history during the past fifteen years, including source of funding for travel.
Address history during the past fifteen years.
Employment history during the past fifteen years.
Well I could get about 3/4 of that right. Maybe. The question is, can I be arsed to jump through all the hoops? No, I can't.
I wonder what the US tourist industry has to say about this.
told my company I no longer wanted to, no issues
Immediate manager asked me if there's any US conferences I want to go to (I live in/am from/work in the UK but I am attached to US part of the business). I replied when you guys change your constitution to cover non-US citizens outside the US and also pointed out that I can no longer carry data through US airports including crypto keys, OS installs, emails etc so if the shit hit the fan I wouldn't be able to deal with it. Think he thought I was kidding; I wasn't.
You'd have to be insane to carry any private data or access keys through basically any airport on the planet at this point - and you can't crypto it else best case they'll think you're a terrorist and/or backdoor your gear. This is only slightly improved by Trump's view that waterboarding is for pussies.
Travel history during the past fifteen years, including source of funding for travel.
Address history during the past fifteen years.
Employment history during the past fifteen years.
All passport numbers and country of issuance held by the applicant.
Names and dates of birth for all siblings.
Name and dates of birth for all children.
Names and dates of birth for all current and former spouses, or civil or domestic partners.
Social media platforms and identifiers, also known as handles, used during the past five years.
Phone numbers and email addresses used during the past five years.
That's pretty much the list I had to provide for my Canadian security clearance (except they also asked about grandparents, including those on the present and former partners' side, which made for some interesting digging). Of course, I ended up quitting that particular employer before the application was fully proceessed, so I guess I'll never know whether I could be trusted with them canadian state secrets.
On a serious side, this list sure sounds excessive for something as mundane as a visitor's visa application. One has to hope that this data, which is likely stored indefinitly, is tightly protected: otherwise, this is a dream came true for identity thieves and worse.
I am also curious whether any other country requires this much information on their visitor's visa applications.
For a Russian visa a few years ago I had to provide ten years worth of travel history - fortunately only needed country+years. As it was I had to trawl through old emails and photos to work out where it was I had been on various holidays, conferences, and stopovers. The length of the resulting list was something of a surprise to me, I must say.
The notice is for ALL visa applicants. Not just immigrants. When I read it, all I can say they are out of their frigging mind.
Travel history during the past fifteen years, including source of funding for travel.
For the last 15 years, my per-annum travel has been as much as 125k miles business, 15k miles personal with the family via air and up to 5-8k on top of that international travel by car. 40+ trips in a really bad year. For 15 years that is 600+ trips, some of which with 5+ countries to transit.
That is nothing - I know people who clock 80+ trips a year in a really bad year.
So if I one of us runs into issues with the stupid visa waiver and has to apply for a visa the application will be 15+ pages just for the trips. The only ones who are even more deluded in their data collection are the 1d10ts in the Home Office which ask for the same information from the date you came to the UK in order to issue permanent residency.
I do not see what is the purpose for the collection of this information. It serves no purpose whatsoever.
"email addresses used during the past five years."
What, every single one-time throw-away email I've used to buy a one-off item from a supplier I'm unlikely to ever use again?
Anyway who want to visit a country where the inhabitants are so terrified that they have to carry an assault rifle to go down to the grocery store?
How many seconds do you think it will be before they by pass the filters once they raise everyone blocks everything to anonymous users?
Plus I can barely remember the places I have flown this year and this has been a slow year. How will I remember 15 years worth? Eu travel isn't in my passports, but I'm sure they know about it
Passwords = no
They wanted banking passwords? What are they smoking? Many people don't even trust themselves with that information and use password manager.
This list seems like more of a way to reduce all trips to the US. I can't remember what I ate the day before yesterday...
Most people probably couldn't tell you the trips they made in the last 5 years, let along 15. Do they think someone coming to America is going to list 'terrorist camp' as number 6?
I get the need for background checks for immigrants, but I'm doubtful they're effective. This is one of those cases where paperwork doesn't solve the problem. Without a live interview by someone trained to detect lies, they're wasting their time.
Last I checked Canadian immigration applications required providing every address you've ever lived at since you were born, not just the last 15 years. Might be the requirements are less extensive if you're already in the Commonwealth, though.
Fact is most countries have immigration policies that look for as many excuses as possible to say no. Only reason it's notable when the US does it is because we used to propagandize about taking huddled masses yearning to breathe free etc.
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Are they really that silly?
you don't have to keep your tax records for that long.
Do the phone companies even have them?
What about that phone you got as part of your job? The one that got returned when you left?
Does it include the numbers you might have called from your desk at work?
What about any payphone?
What about calling for a Cab from a bar (sometimes a free call from a supplied phone)
Doh! Icon naturally
Of course no one in the EU or UK needs a "visa" to enter the USA, so its moot, you DO need to sign up for the visa waiver program though.
US visas are complicated things. My O-1 needed a comprehensive list of where I'd been and why, where I'd lived etc etc, 4 years ago, when, I believe, the sainted Mr Obama was in charge
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Thank you US Homeland security for reminding me why I will never again set foot in your wonderful country. I would love to see New England in the Fall, travel Route 66, see "Blackpool on Speed" that is Las Vegas or enjoy the majesty of the Grand Canyon. I consider myself lucky to have seen New York about 20 years ago.
I've never so much as had a parking ticket and I'm well in my 40's but the US Gov is so paranoid they consider me and the rest of the world's population, to be a terrorist-peado threat. Such a sad state of affairs that the US Gov doesn't really want people to visit their country anymore.
Well now, some people who work in 'security' have some, how shall I put this, 'interesting' phone numbers and e-mail addresses for work. You know, like when they do work for the government and need secure e-mails for sensitive communications. Wouldn't want the USA government selling or otherwise divulging those to a commercial organisation.
Is there any statement on what the USA DHS can do with the information? I get enough spam already. As the USA has a lamentable history of securing the personal information of its own employees on its own computer systems, it would be interesting to see how much security they are prepared to commit to for visa applications. And as the USA is keen on enhancing its own cyber-warfare capabilities, I presume that permission would have to be sought from the owning authority before divulging the details to a foreign power. Unless, of course, it is only personal e-mail and phone numbers they want, in which case they'll just hack away at their leisure.
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