visanewbie

Congratulations Sean, so happy it all worked out for you.

Have a brill holiday! (by the way, i'm very jealous your seeing swedish house mafia in NY) haha!

Enjoy!

Sean.lar

Cheers dude and thanks for the input

Duncan Roberts

They were doing their job. Unfortunately you seem to think their job is something different to what it actually is. Put it in reverse, would you walk up to an immigration officer at the border and try to schedule a visa appointment at the American embassy in London? Regardless of what you may think, asking the embassy for visa advice is a very similar thing. If you wanted to know what form to use, how much to send and that kind of stuff the embassy is just as good of a source as anywhere else.

Sean.lar

So back home now after an awesome trip to New York.

Just thought I'd update on the whole visa issue, I didnt need it for shit the customs officer even said so, this is how it went, "hi how ya doin? Why have u got a visa?" I replied because I got arrested " ok that makes sense, what for?" My reply Drunk and disorderly " oh when was that?" >> New Year's Eve " oh dude that's cold you didn't need a visa for that and if it's any consultation I'd have let u go home and sleep if off, have a great time in New York" and off we went.

Hope this helps clear things up for people In the same boat in the future.

Regards Sean

ian-mstm

I'm guessing you mean the immigration officer, even though they both work for the same branch of the government.


A different officer could have sent this conversation in a different direction.


Anyway, glad to hear it worked out for you.

Ian

jeffreyhy

+1

Regards, JEff

Sean.lar

Immigration/customs officer, the person you see when u arrive at the airport and hand ur landing card and passport too.

I have no idea what another officer might or might not say but had I of just applied for an esta which I was eligible for in the first place, he wouldn't have even have questioned it as there was never any reason for me to be denied entry, I went had a good time and came home causing no1 any trouble. Still abit sour about how the London embassy misinformed me and ended up costing me £600 yes I'm sure people will argue it's not there job blah blah then why is it called the assistance line??? Which is what I originally called and it's plain ignorant to say they shouldn't know who does and doesn't need to apply for it because if that's the case then that's how they should answer "sorry but I don't know the answer to that question"

On a side note if any1 outside the us wants to drink at Madison gardens unless ur over 40 or prepared to take ur passport with you then forget about it lol there only excepting us I.D and they did say the rest of New York is gonna be doing the same soon. Unless you look over 40 or have your passport u won't get served.

Regards Sean

jeffreyhy

Probably a good thing. If one were to go by what they read in the US immigration forums here at BE there's hardly a young Brit male who hasn't had a run in with the law from drinking.

Regards, JEff

Sean.lar

The police provoke it alot of the time IMO. Put it like this had there not of been a million and one police around when I was nicked I would have carried on walking home minding my own business, gone home and slept. More worried about make a quick buck and easy arrests to justify there job than catching real criminals.

notonuksoil

Been living in NY 10 years and frequently go into NYC and MSG don't look over 40 and never been asked for ID - must be cause I'm female and smile nicely at the bar staff however the guy in the local liquor store always asks to see my drivers licence - he says he likes the picture!!

Sean.lar

Well they did say it was a new thing how new idk

Regards Sean

rpjs

Cool, I must look at least seven years younger than I am then because I got carded at MSG the other week.

Geert81

Hey Sean,

can I ask how long your new visa will be valid now? Do you have to apply for a new one every time you want to go to the States, or is it valid for quite some time? And what after that, simply use ESTA again?

jeffreyhy

Use the Visa Waiver Program again.

Regards, JEff

captainsensible

I am surprised this point hasn't already been made (its been made elsewhere before) but the Embassy applies different rules to the question about arrests. Their stance is, if you have been arrested for ANYTHING, then you should apply for a visa whereas ESTA/VWP only asks about arrests relating to CIMT.

This often leads to the debate about what actually constitutes a CIMT because its potentially a grey area (depending on the actual circumstances of the arrest).

Regardless, the fact remains that the Embassy and ESTA are very different in this regard and Embassy staff won't care what the requirements for ESTA are - they have their guidelines and they stick to them. They are not rules as it is actually perfectly ok to travel on ESTA without declaring a non-CIMT but the Embassy don't care about that and their 'advice' to a potential traveller will not take this into account either.