I have a coworker travelling there in July. Unwillingly, I’ve been more or less been kept in the loop what preparing the trip implies and I’m pretty horrified.
Up until now, these are some of demands made (and accepted):
- full disclosure and acess to social networks
- criminal record
- recent photo, perfectly groomed and in the attire to be used to travel there. No deviations will be tolerated from the supplied photo.
- complete list of possible identifying marks on the body, with pictures (tattoos, moles, melanistic spots, scars, etc)
- name and social networks of parents, siblings and other close relatives, including children.
The person is separated with two children; this is causing a lot of friction.
- has already been warned an interview of up to two hours will be held upon arrival.
The person speaks broken english at best.
- disclosure of place of employment and other connections to public organizations
They are connected to a local soccer club and a youth sports association.
To add to all of this, this isn’t a standard caucasian human but someone who has looks that can be taken for someone from the middle east, slightly darker shade of skin included.
Flying from southern europe straight to Florida.
I’m concerned. I would not go, full stop. They have people waiting there for them but nonetheless. Considering the heated state of affairs, it is something I consider of not easily to overlook risk.
I’m confused about where this list is coming from? Is he applying for a visa? This sounds like something to do with a visa application.
Tourist VISA. Everything I listed came through the travel agency.
Honestly I think this is a bit exaggerated. I think that this list describes pretty much the worst case scenario that still results in you entering the country in the end. There’s no way they interview every tourist flying in from Europe for two hours.
As far as I know it is also not a requirement to list all of your birthmarks or use the same attire in the visa application photo as the one you’re traveling in. These are just “good ideas” that the travel agency think will reduce your chances of being rejected at the border.
I haven’t personally traveled to the US after 2025, but I know people who travel regularly (for work though, not tourism). They’ve complained about a ton of other things, but they haven’t mentioned border checks or ICE being weird in any way.
Edit: As an aside, I traveled to the USA just before Trump was inaugurated. I’m from Iran, so naturally I was interviewed at the border. Dude asked me if I was an IRGC member. I said no. He was just so fucking happy and immediately told me to have a nice trip. As I was walking away, he had to call me back to the desk to answer a few more questions that protocol demanded (like, how much cash are you carrying and are you bringing in weird seeds).
According to what I’ve been told, an entire page of requirements was forwarded by the travel agency; not something they drafted but just passed on.
The application was also handled by the travel agency and it was the agency taking the photo to process the travel authorization, regardless of the passport info already been made available. As personal note: this entire demand on the looks and garments for the travellers make sense if we factor the heavy use of automated tools being used at border controls nowadays. And how poor they can be is also widely known.