Not just Latin Americans, my wife, who is Portuguese, is always stopped for
"random" checks in the US. And a Danish colleague who was in the US for six
months but staying on a research ship was picked up on suspicion of
prostitution since she had no visible means of support.
My wife used to have a permanent visa to the US, but it expired. Figure that
out.
This policy in the UK is really frightening and I have written to several
possible sources of information to find out more. I have routinely travelled
to the UK, both England and Scotland, in connection with EU projects, and I
cannot figure out from the UK web pages what the current policy would be.
The UK is not part of the Schengen agreement that permits free travel within
parts of the EU, so this has serious implications for European scientists as
well.
Bill Silvert
Portugal
----- Original Message -----
From: "Arturo Restrepo" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: quarta-feira, 28 de Outubro de 2009 13:50
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] A WARNING FOR PROFESSIONALS GOING TO THE UNITED
KINGDOM
David: No worries, if this make you feel better, the high likelihood of
this
happening to any Latinamerican professional when enter to the United
States
borders is very common. Hard to believe when they ask you what is your
profession I used to respond Environmental scientist or ecologist, it
looks
to me that they associate drugs with environmentalist movements.
Take it easy and enjoy travelling the world !
Arturo Restrepo
On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 8:25 PM, David R. Anderson <
[email protected]> wrote:
I flew to London-Heathrow a week ago on my way to Glasgow, Scotland where
I was to give a 2-dayworkshop, a day of consultation and a seminar. The
University of Glasgow was to pay for my expenses and services and 41 grad
students, post docs, and faculty were registered for the workshop. I was
detained at Heathrow by the UK Border Agency for nearly 5 hours. During
this time I was searched, questioned, fingerprinted, photograhped and
moved from one secure room to the next -- like a criminal. My carry-on
suitcase and leather bag with my workshop materials were emptied and
searched, along with my wallet. I asked on 7 different occasions to be
able to call the US Embassy -- these requests were denied! At the end of
this long process the agent announced that I was to be deported the next
day! They claimed that I did not have a special visa or a "certificate
of sponsorship." Indeed, I had neither; I had never heard of such
requirements for a US citizen. I have spent 42 years working in
academic/science and have travelled to many foreign countries. I have
never experienced such detention and deportation.
UK universities, travel agents, immigration attorneys, my US Senator's
office and others are now trying to unravel exactly what papers are
actually required. This search has proven to be difficult for a number
of
reasons. This matter is important as all the UK universities have
academic visitors arriving daily for conferences, symposia, workshops,
and
seminars, etc., etc. with countless agreements concerning reimbursments
and honoraria. It seems that special documents are now required or one
faces deportation and all the related expenses. I will post agian if I
learn more; in the meantime, professionals going to the UK should make
every effort to obtain the "required" documents.
