VasyaV

Yesterday her majesty Queen Elizabeth became the longest-reigning UK monarch and there was a number of articles about it published, some of them containing various fun facts about the queen. One of those facts is that she does not have a passport. I verified it on the official site of the Britsh Monarchy and it is indeed true (link)


Her Majesty has been in the US on several occasions, last time in 2007, since then the US immigration law was not changed much. I started wondering how she crossed the border. Somehow I am confident it was done properly, I cannot imagine Condoleezza Rice just walking her past a DHS guy and saying "hey, she's with me, don't worry".

So I started checking. INA 212(a)(7)(B) clearly says that every alien (a person other than the US citizen) must be in possession of a valid passport to enter the US. Then in further says that a waiver is possible under the subsection 212(d)(4). Let's read it:


A is not good as the visit was planned.
B is not working since UK is not a contiguous territory.
C is not working either as she is not in transit.

So then I thought maybe she was admitted under a waiver for immigrants, not for non-immigrants. It would not be a problem to issue her an immigrant visa for that purpose. But she would still need a passport unless she can get a waiver under 212(k). Let's read it

I can't see how it can work either. She clearly knows the rules, and therefore cannot satisfy Attorney General that it was not known to her before departure.

I am out of ideas. Hope the great legal minds on this forum can help.

Jerseygirl

The Queen does not have a passport or require a visa to visit other countries. As this is more of a discussion thread I am moving it into the Trailer Park Forum.

VasyaV

According to which law?

Jerseygirl

I have no idea.

VasyaV

Me too.

That's why I have conducted some legal research on my own, quoted the INA paragraphs I was able to find and posted it into a section frequented by people with legal background.

Nutmegger

When the Queen travels it is seen as a diplomatic mission. She doesn't just show up at the border and request admission, everything has been planned months in advance with the host country, down to the minutest detail.

Nutek

She normally uses her right one.

VasyaV

One still needs to obtain a visa in this case. He/she does not go to an embassy for an interview, does not get fingerprinted, does not stand in line at a POE but the visa is still needed. Here is the source:

Daily Press Briefing - May 19, 2014

So it looks like a president of China or India would enter the US on A-1 with a valid passport, yes.

The Queen does not have a passport or visa, yet I am sure she enters legally, so I am interested what article she gets the waiver under.

VasyaV

I have addressed this joke in the original post.

christmasoompa

Snort. Coffee/keyboard moment.

ian-mstm

Actually - that's pretty accurate. AFAIK, all visiting heads of state are admitted under an executive order from the President.

Ian

rpjs

I have seen this topic discussed elsewhere (on Flyertalk perhaps) and I think someone suggested that the US does indeed issue Brenda with an A-1 visa, but that it doesn't go into her passport as she doesn't have one. So if that is the case, presumably somebody from the Royal household or FCO picks it up from the Embassy on some special form or other and some other flunky shows it to the US authorities whilst Brenda is inspecting the honour guard or something.

Incidentally, the reason why she doesn't have a passport is that she is, ultimately, the issuing authority for British passports. In the far past, all passports were signed personally by the monarch.

VasyaV

Good thought, but no:

1) As evidenced by the quote from Dept of State provided above some or most heads of states do enter properly on A-1 visas

2) There may have been some exceptions for some very important heads of states, like Her Majesty, but the thing is that there is full list of executive orders published in the Federal Register and there is no orders related to admission of a Queen I can see there.

lansbury

She automatically gets an A visa as Head of State. Having been present in the Royal Suite at LHR when Heads of State travel to the UK the only passports that get checked are those of the accompanying minions. I expect in the US it is much the same the Head of State is just taken straight through a private VIP entry suite by whoever from the US is the official meeter and greeter. The necessary formalities are conducted there by CBP staff without HRM having to some much as check step.

I remember when Putin came to London the first time, we had to politely ask if he had a passport and if so was he expecting it to be stamped. If I recall he didn't have one.

VasyaV

I am pretty sure this is indeed how it happens in terms of logistics, but am wondering how it is done formally. They can issue her an A-1 or any other visa without even bothering her to sign an application, but they must formally waive the passport requirement too.

Well, British have their own immigration laws it may be easier for them to waive the passport requirement, may be a letter from a high-ranking official would suffice and no specific reason is required. For the US I (seem to have) found the exclusive list of reasons and none of them fits.

My interest is purely scientific / exploratory. I of course understand I won't be able to benefit from this procedure myself