--- Dec For obvious reasons, and not to enrage the DHS, please delete my name and other identifying details as well. I may go to the US one day and dont want my name on file for this post. source itjourno.com.au 18/11/2003 Aussie IT journo caught by US visa trap By Victoria Lea Natalie Apostolou is the third journalist in three months to come forward about being deported from the USA for not having the correct visa. Apostolou, who was last week finger-printed, face-scanned, body-searched and handcuffed, warned journalists to obtain the correct 'I-visa' before travelling to the United States. "There's a lot of secrecy surrounding this issue and I don't believe the US has communicated it fairly to either the media fraternity or the travel industry," Apostolou said. "There's not enough clear information and I feel that Australian passport holders are currently being misinformed." In September, Dan Kaufman reported in the Sydney Morning Herald that he been detained, frisked and ultimately kicked out of Las Vegas for not having the relevant visa for a working journalist. Yesterday, news.com.au ran a report describing how Sue Smethurst, a New Idea journalist, had been handcuffed, body-searched and then deported from LA. Again, the complaint was the lack of correct visa. One week ago, Communications Day editor Natalie Apostolou had her own run-in with US Customs. Apostolou was on a Virgin Mobile junket to New York. The gig had been billed as a 'celebratory transatlantic party', more for Virgin's transport business than the telco side, but nevertheless a look-see opportunity for a telco writer to be in the same space as Richard Branson and other senior Virgin execs. Apostolou, who has been to the US five times previously as a working journalist and never before used a visa, boarded the plane without one. On arrival in Los Angeles, en route to New York, Apostolou wrote on her immigration form that she was, by profession, an 'Editor'. "Like most journalists, I didn't want to write on the form that I was a 'Journalist'," Apostolou said. "But I also didn't want to outright lie." Once at Immigration, Apostolou was "grilled" by a Customs official. "She asked me why I was here; I said I was here for a conference. She asked if I was a journalist; I said in effect I was. She asked if I might interview someone while I was here; I said it was a possibility." Apostolou's passport was confiscated and she was put in a private room. After an hour, two different officials entered with a new batch of questions. "They brought up this stipulation that there are certain people who don't qualify for the visa waiver program and those people include journalists," Apostolou said. "They asked me if I was aware of that and I explained that I was in the country as a guest of Virgin, but not actually there in a working capacity. "They were like: 'Are you saying that our person at the immigration desk lied?'" Apostolou was then put through another interview, this time 'under oath'. She was fingerprinted, body-searched and her mug shot was taken. Her luggage was searched and her handbag contents itemised. Her palms and face were scanned and she was body-searched again. After an interval she was told she was being deported. "They hand-cuffed me and marched me out of LA Airport and put me in a detention centre for ten hours." Apostolou was then allowed a collect phone call. She dialled her host, Virgin Mobile's managing director in New York. "He said, 'Natalie! Are you in a bar or something uptown?' I told him, 'No, I'm in a detention centre in LA.'" After 10 hours, Apostolou was put on a plane back to Australia. Almost one week later, she is in the process of filing an official complaint with the US Embassy in Sydney. She also has plans to write up her own report on what happened. In the meantime, she had two points to share with fellow media members. "Most Australians can travel to the US under the visa waiver program but there are various groups exempt from that, and they include journalists," Apostolou said. "What the US immigration told me in no uncertain terms is that a journalist, whether they are travelling for work or pleasure, and if they are going to be honest about their profession and say they're a journalist, will always need an I-visa. "It is all a matter of luck of course - perhaps the person at the desk might let you through. But the impression I came away with is that September 11 has changed everything: US immigration has decided to start enforcing this law about media. They've heavily cracked down and there are now no grey areas." However, Apostolou claimed that information regarding the issue remains grey. "If you look at the US Embassy site, depending on how you read the section on visas, you could believe that a journalist doesn't need one," she argued. On the Visa Waiver Program page, media is not mentioned. The page reads that as long as you're planning to be in the US for less than 90 days, for the purpose of business or pleasure (not government), have an onward ticket and no criminal record, you'll be fine. Yet it does say this: "Some travellers are not eligible by law to enter the United States. These include people with... certain visa refusals and other problems with US immigration laws or visas. Such travellers may apply for specially annotated visas; but they may not use the visa waiver program. If they attempt to travel visa-free, they will be refused entry into the United States." That includes media, which you can find on another page if you keep reading the fine print. "Visitors to the United States who report on news events and who are engaged in activities to gather information for the media should obtain an I-visa." Apostolou would like this information brought out of fine print territory and into general understanding. _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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