A friend of mine was going to drop by while on a trip to San Francisco in a few months. Not anymore. He’s a french citizen living in the UK. When he went to renew his passport, he discovered that the french consulate can’t provide him with a machine-readable passport. And from October the 1st, the US is refusing visa-waivers to anyone without one. You have to get a normal visa. Male visa applicants aged between 16-45 also have to fill in this new extra form, DS-157.
Questions on the new form include:
- Mother and father’s full name.
- All the countries you have entered in the last ten years (with year)
- Your last two employers (with address, telephone number and supervisor name)
- All professional, social and charitable organisations to which you belong or have belonged, contribute or have contributed or with which you work (or have worked)
- All educational institutions you attend or have attended (excluding elementary school)
- A list of specific locations you will visit in the US
Understandably, he objects to filling in this form. So he’s not coming.
There’s a lot of problems with demanding info like this, but I just want to concentrate on one.
Most American voters will never see this form, and neither will the citizens of countries that the US media listens to.
But the majority of people visiting the US will. Any male between 16-45 coming from these countries will:
| Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Arctic Ocean Argentina Armenia Aruba Ashmore and Cartier Islands Atlantic Ocean Azerbaijan Bahamas, The Bahrain Baker Island Bangladesh Barbados Bassas da India Belarus Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Cook Islands Coral Sea Islands Costa Rica Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Europa Island Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern and Antarctic Lands Gabon Gambia, The |
Gaza Strip Georgia Ghana Gibraltar Glorioso Islands Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City) Honduras Hong Kong Howland Island Hungary India Indian Ocean Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Jamaica Jan Mayen Jarvis Island Jersey Johnston Atoll Jordan Juan de Nova Island Kazakhstan Kenya Kingman Reef Kiribati Korea, North Korea, South Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Lithuania Macau Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Man, Isle of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Midway Islands Moldova Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Navassa Island Nepal Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia Nicaragua Niger Nigeria |
Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Oman Pacific Ocean Pakistan Palau Palmyra Atoll Panama Papua New Guinea Paracel Islands Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Slovakia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Southern Ocean Spratly Islands Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard Swaziland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tromelin Island Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands Wake Island Wallis and Futuna West Bank Western Sahara World Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe |
And this is what they will learn of this country: that it requires that a large amount of biographical data be handed over to its government. It obligatorily requires anyone to reveal any and all organisations, political or social, of which they are a member. That its government also demands to know the location of those within its borders, and the precise time of their movements. And that men and women are to be treated differently.
I think it’s one thing to require visitors to a country to obey its laws, and comply with its values. But to propose a set of rules like this that seem to me to represent the very opposite of those values – well, that seems to be not only wrong, but a strong danger sign.
I keep on asking: if this bureacracy, this data collection, this process is necessary or even useful, why is it not applied to all Americans too? Or, if the administration is only worried about foreign terrorists, all visitors?
I cannot imagine that the percentage of terrorists in the sum of non-visa waiver countries is much larger the some total of terrorists globally. Either way, it is a tiny fraction. Why are we collecting so much data on the rest of the world? And if it is not a problem – a minor inconvienience – why don’t we subject ourselves or the majority of Europeans to it, too. What do we have to fear?
I really think that these questions should be universally required, or not required at all.
Or is it simply because we know that Europeans, and Americans have a greater voice; can declare these questions to be against their natural rights? Do they have more natural rights than others? Is that what the bill of rights means? That these rights are reserved only for American citizens and their companions? Is that what the creators of these rules propose?
I worry about this, and I worry about any number of other proposals that seem to go through without the slightest oversight by all the checks and balances of this country. And I worry that the people who are in charge don’t seem to consider what they are doing might be wrong.
The point at which the Constitution becomes little other than a crucifix one waves at powerful figures who have no understanding or sympathy with the values it represents, is a point I believe it at risk of becoming useless, even to those few who can still shelter behind it.