Travelling to the USA - criminal records in home country and medical conditions

[dopamimetic]

When I thought about traveling in past, somehow I always excluded the states from my list of possible destinations because I thought of all these new requirements for to get a tourist visa, like questions about your health and even your Facebook account (what do you do if you don't have one?) together with all the data mining they apparently do, so maybe / probably could have already some file about me because of whatever data leaks happened or what I ordered from US companies and so on.

But how strict is this system really, and how accurate? I know that when you e.g. move from Switzerland to Germany, you need to go to police and get an original of your police records because other countries can't see them even when investigating you as a suspect they only see the records of crimes committed on the relative territory. So could you go away by just saying 'no'?

Same about medical / mental conditions. Let's say things like substance abuse disorder. Or methadone maintenance, which adds the problem of bringing the take away amount of pills into the country while you officially are healthy.

This is just of theoretical interest, I neither intend nor condone fraudulent behavior.
Thanks

 

[Rabbit]

If you can get through security at the airport/border you're fine. They'll let anyone into this country. As long as you haven't been plotting to blow up federal buildings and buying bomb making material they'll probably pass you right through. They don't really check you for drugs when you come in unless you're bringing in pounds of cocaine. I've flown with all sorts of pills, tabs, powders and even weed on domestic flights right in my carry-on bag. I don't advise you do that but most people I know do it.

As far as how accurate they are: assume they know everything about you. They have a world wide surveillance program in place and they store everything forever. They can probably read everything you send encrypted over the internet and everything encrypted on your device. Not because they can break the encryption directly. They don't have to break it. They hold all the keys and have back door access to every modern device and exploits for all the old ones. If you're a person of interest they probably know more about you than you know about yourself.

Not having social media accounts most likely flags you as being interesting. They might look at you a bit closer when you come through screening. They might check your hands for bomb residue or ask you questions. 9 times out of 10 they're just going to wave you by. They do a lot of profiling so a lot of that stuff depends on how you look and act. Someone flying in from a warzone to stay in D.C. for 72 hours is going to trip more flags than a family flying in from London to stay in Orlando for the week.

Oh a little tip: When you fly into the States you'll get the option of being blasted with radiation from a poorly maintained x-ray machine or having someone in a side room checking up your butthole. As bad as the second option sounds it's better than the first. They do this for all domestic flights. People that fly often raise their life time cancer risk by a lot.

 

[dopamimetic]

Okay, then this DS-160 form you have to submit before traveling sounds like the biggest obstacle. Most questions are basic stuff but there are security related Yes/No questions. Were you ever involved in terrorist acts etc. yet also were you ever a drug addict, ever sentenced to a penalty etc. which we have to assume that through the surveillance (they had even the cell phone tapped of German chancellor Angela Merkel, among others) they will know the answers beforehand even when the country of origin doesn't give them out officially unless in some strict cases, and act more as a check whether you're honest? But as this form gets checked and approved or declined before the flight, one might just try his/her luck

Just know from a Mexican girl who wanted to visit a family member in the states, and she had a history of mental illness and was in psychiatry multiple times. She gave the 'right' answers and got her visa approved.

Crazy fact about the x-ray machines. Recently noticed that they now use these 'nude scanners' in Amsterdam too. Don't know if they work with classical x-ray but seems like the days of just stashing some drugs into the underwear and make sure not to have any remaining metal pieces but even if the detector warned, they'd just manually scan again and wave through but Amsterdam's new terminal looked tight last time.

 

[Rabbit]

Okay, then this DS-160 form you have to submit before traveling sounds like the biggest obstacle. Most questions are basic stuff but there are security related Yes/No questions. Were you ever involved in terrorist acts etc. yet also were you ever a drug addict, ever sentenced to a penalty etc. which we have to assume that through the surveillance (they had even the cell phone tapped of German chancellor Angela Merkel, among others) they will know the answers beforehand even when the country of origin doesn't give them out officially unless in some strict cases, and act more as a check whether you're honest? But as this form gets checked and approved or declined before the flight, one might just try his/her luck

It's mostly an idiot test. They give a similar multiple choice test over here when applying for a gun permit. Just answer honestly and don't incriminate yourself. They asked me if I'd ever smoked weed when I applied for that. I'm an obvious pot head but there was no record of such so I answered no. Gave the same answer for "Have you ever been addicted to any substance like opioids?".

Just use common sense.

Just know from a Mexican girl who wanted to visit a family member in the states, and she had a history of mental illness and was in psychiatry multiple times. She gave the 'right' answers and got her visa approved.

Mental illness doesn't disqualify you from entering. If there are records saying you've been committed for violent acts you might want to answer honestly but most things related to medical stuff are private information that you don't have to admit to. Getting a Visa isn't really hard. America has the most lax immigration policy in the entire world. I'm serious we'll take in anybody. We might not let you become a citizen but getting into the country legally or illegally isn't that hard.

Crazy fact about the x-ray machines. Recently noticed that they now use these 'nude scanners' in Amsterdam too. Don't know if they work with classical x-ray but seems like the days of just stashing some drugs into the underwear and make sure not to have any remaining metal pieces but even if the detector warned, they'd just manually scan again and wave through but Amsterdam's new terminal looked tight last time.

I think it's more like a CT scan than an x-ray. If they see anything funny they will take a closer look. I once forgot to take off my belt and was greeted by a lot of security on the other side of the machine. Once they realized my mistake I was quickly waved by. Attempting to stash something up your butt or in your underwear is the worst place to put something. You're better off just putting it in your luggage. I prefer using my carry-on because I always have access to it. The only time my luggage was searched (that I know of) I didn't even have anything illegal in it. They just pulled it randomly or something in there tripped their scanners. They aren't really concerned about personal amounts of drugs. They're looking for bombs, weapons, and large amounts of drugs.

Same deal with the dogs when you see them at airports or places like Disney world. They're sniffing for bombs not drugs. America is pretty lax on allowing small amounts of drugs in. It isn't Australia, China, or Japan where they're looking hard for them. It's a security theater in US airports. The people doing security are being paid minimum wage and most of them give no fucks. If you're someone interesting that the people way up the chain are concerned about they're probably waiting for you before you even arrive at the airport.

They do look more closely when things out of the ordinary happen. I once flew with my family on vacation. One member of the family had the wrong last name on their ticket. They flew down and were waved right through all security check points. On the way back we discovered the error and she had to get the details on the ticket changed. They looked her over hard when you came back through security. She had her hands tested for bomb residue and everything. Meanwhile I'm waiting on the other side of the checkpoint with a wallet full of LSD, several capsules of MDMA and half a joint in my carry-on, all while being very obviously hung over from a night of candy flipping. I was reading Ted Kazinski's latest book while waiting for her.

They probably know I'm half crazy, use drugs, and don't like the Government but they also know I'm poor and not violent. So they don't care.

 

[Shady's Fox]

As other said, you'll be beyond fine. Keep a watch on the clock, that's all.