Immigrations

Gov’t Wants To Fingerprint Travelers Leaving The U.S., Why It’s A Bad Idea

Yesterday the United States Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-to-5 in favour of an amendment, as part of immigration reform, to require the finger printing of all foreign travelers departing the United States.  The bill, proposed by Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT), implements biometric tracking of foreign travelers under the Department of Transportation in three phases.  …

Dept of Homeland Security’s Disconnect With Reality

On the 23rd of January two tourists from the United Kingdom arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, on board Air France Flight 74 from Paris, for a vacation in Southern California. Instead of posting their trip to Twitter, comments made on Twitter got them deported. Under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Publicly Available…

Reader Mail : Why Does The TSA Rescreen Passengers Connecting From Int’l Flights?

Security is a fact of life for airline travel and screening procedures vary from country to country … which leads to this reader mail from Gene R., from Pittsburgh, PA.  Gene writes “I just flew home to Pittsburgh from Paris with US Airways, as I have done a few times through Philadelphia.  When connecting through…

iPhone App of the Week : Travisa Visa

Visas for international travel can be complicated. Some countries do not require a visa, some require visas for specific types of travel, some require everyone to have a visa … and all this information changes based upon a traveler’s nationality. I know seasoned travelers, top tier airline elite frequent flyers, who have arrived at the…

Reader Mail : What Is The Difference Between Customs & Immigrations At The Airport?

This week’s Reader Mail comes from Molly in Ireland who asks “Immigrations and customs seem to be used interchangeably at the airport. I’ve notice when entering many countries they wear the same uniform. Is there a difference?” Well Molly … While many nations have merged Immigrations and Customs into one larger agency, such as US…

Flying With Contraband Items? Face Deportation Or Worse

29/12/2008 – Flying With Contraband Items? Face Deportation Or Worse With all eyes focusing on airport security over the past few days I’d like to address an every day scenario Customs Agents around the world handle, passengers traveling with illegal items. Illegal items range from the benign Cuban Cigars entering the United States to weapons…