[Foundation-l] Entering the US : privacy and visa issues

Sat Oct 22 19:26:32 UTC 2005

I've heard people complain variously that  a) the US requires European
airlines to share private data about passengers for security
screening,  b) the US stores passenger name records centrally, "for an
indefinite period of time",  and  c) the visa process is prohibitive,
and can't be trusted to let people into the country.  In response to
each:

a) True; also true in Canada.  Canada and the EU this month signed an
agreement to share passenger info (including phone #s and credit card
#s), similar to, if somewhat more limited than, the one signed with
the US last year:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8D0JK80E.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db

b)  Not at present.  The US CAPPS/"Secure Flight" program, which would
involve centrally storing information about passengers from all
airlines, had its "testing phase" first postponed and then suspended
indefinitely, following criticism from many government and private
groups.  It also had its technology budget cut last week.
  http://www.epic.org/privacy/airtravel/secureflight.html
  http://www.compliancepipeline.com/171202490
  http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051018-075400-1017r

Both the US and Canada (see a, above) store some passenger information
for 3.5 years.

c)  Sometimes time consuming, but fairly reliable.  I wrote/spoke to
three people who run regular international conferences in the US.  Two
independently pointed me to the office of the local Senator.  Sure
enough, Senator Kennedy has an active and competent immigration group.
The woman in charge spent 10 minutes asking about Wikimania's subject,
history, timing, and international scope; and offered good advice on
how to prepare visa applications.
   She suggested that for this kind of conference, venue, and
audience[1], there should not be extensive visa trouble[2].  She added
that she was there to help with the trouble, including cutting through
red tape and salvaging visa rejections ("if an application is
rejected, call me immediately and we'll work to get it overturned").
You can see a summary of the advice here:
     http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006/Boston/Visas

[1]  With the caveat that she wanted to look at more information and
give a better-detailed answer next week.
[2]  What she could say for certain : Attendees from a few countries
(Iran, Libya) will have a difficult time getting a visa, and will need
particularly strong supporting documents and local connections.  Those
from other countries (China, Colombia, India, other parts of the
Middle East) will usually have to wait for over a month and should
apply well in advance.   Other difficult cases will be single young
men residing in non-visa-waiver countries, out of school and
unemployed, with few family ties or financial resources; these will
need extra support from our end (in the US).  All of this should apply
in Canada as well, to some degree.

++SJ