one time I got stuck in a special waiting room in a US airport for an extra hour, having to go into an interrogation room for questioning, because I accidentally said I was there for "work" when I meant "business" (and that was before the US was on its current, uh, rapid decline into fascism arc) - ThreadSky

freya.bsky.social • 60 days ago

one time I got stuck in a special waiting room in a US airport for an extra hour, having to go into an interrogation room for questioning, because I accidentally said I was there for "work" when I meant "business" (and that was before the US was on its current, uh, rapid decline into fascism arc)

Reposted from Erik Robson

I have serious concerns about anyone coming to the US for GDC.

People are being held for WEEKS. This is not currently a safe place for *anyone* from *any place* to visit.

Comments

christinacoffin.bsky.social•60 days ago

I remember one time being asked the question ‘have you ever been arrested before’ when being screened and the question just seemed absurd and stunlocked me so bad I just responded with a confused pause “uhhhh No!” and the officer snapped at me and said “ oh so you had to think about that huh?!”

😡

vipox.bsky.social•60 days ago

Next time say nothing, first rule is not not play the game.

lumin8.bsky.social•60 days ago

I told the border guards I was taking a course for the weekend and they told me I planned to take a job away from an American with the knowledge I learned from my 3 day course. 😂

matesrsen.bsky.social•60 days ago

Presumably they were already very upset that Avatar wasn't made by an American, you now taking a 3 day course was simply a step too far.

lumin8.bsky.social•60 days ago

😂

aoifemackay.bsky.social•60 days ago

Honest to God, everybody should just stay the fuck away from the US unless they absolutely have no other choice but to come here. It's not worth it.

ashnod.bsky.social•60 days ago

Yep, never say work

acelister.bsky.social•60 days ago

Do you know why are the two treated differently?

andrybak.dev•60 days ago

Because it can be construed as intention to stay indefinitely in the US for a job or job-seeking purposes. The usual tourist/business visa (B1/B2), of course, doesn't allow it.

At $dayjob, I was explicitly told to never say the word "work" during the visa application process and the border checks.

tomforsyth.bsky.social•60 days ago

My parents were coming to visit me and they accidentally said to immigration they were "staying" with me (i.e. not in a hotel) and the immigration lady kept saying, more and more sternly "you're not staying in this country" and that was a very exciting discussion until finally my mum understood.

docseuss.bsky.social•60 days ago

i remember being warned not to do this when entering canada as well. i had to say 'meetings' and not 'work'

stefanwerner.bsky.social•60 days ago

I’ve had the pleasure too, it was a very desperate and depressing room at SFO.

themrx.bsky.social•60 days ago

there's a difference between work and business?

freya.bsky.social•60 days ago

"business" implies you are an employee doing business with some other company, while "work" implies you're there looking to get hired

themrx.bsky.social•60 days ago

huh good to know, thats why I like being ultra specific with these things, I don't like leaving things up to interpretation.

matesrsen.bsky.social•60 days ago

Yeah it's very cool how they do it, fortunately border agents always deal with people who are super fluent in English so reading into their individual word choices is incredibly smart and effective.

snutt.bsky.social•60 days ago

this has happened to me as well but for no reason given whatsoever and since then I've been "randomly" checked at every single airport in the US :P

chetsucks.com•60 days ago

Ugh. The only time I was stopped was in Amsterdam on a connecting flight and they kept insisting I was working - I gave a talk and that I could show them the talk on the internet proved I was paid… or something.

It so quickly turns into a kafkaesque comedy it’s hard not to laugh but… you are stuck

nickbulavin.bsky.social•60 days ago

Plenty of gaming events coming up in Europe. I’d not bother with GDC considering the crazies running the US

infinitefreetime.com•60 days ago

I had no idea there was a difference.

adalacecard.bsky.social•60 days ago

There shouldn't be, but to a border agent's ears, "coming for business" implies employment elsewhere and a business trip but "coming for work" implies unemployment and job seeking.

infinitefreetime.com•60 days ago

Hm. Okay, I can buy that.

rebeccafernandez.bsky.social•60 days ago

Oh yes, I had this happen to me too. Luckily the interrogator was a gamer and was super excited about what I had worked on.
Also probably helped that I was the whitest person in the waiting room. All the people with darker skin than I were waiting much longer to be interrogated.

etra0.lat•60 days ago

to be fair, though, it goes both way, if you say the same whilst arriving to EU (via Madrid or France), you'd have the same consequence (from experience). Not sure how much bad it is in the US, but still happens the other way around.

moppius.bsky.social•60 days ago

Yep, I did the same many years ago (default British brain) and had to rapidly course-correct to "business" because the customs officer started looking at me very suspiciously. Managed to avoid the interrogation room at least, damn. So jumpy.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply