As I had mentioned in a previous post, there is a new Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for entering the United States of America on a tourist status.

I had been waiting for my e-ticket to arrive to apply for this travel authorisation beforehand. As of now this method of application is still on a voluntary basis until January 2009.

My travel agent just sent me the USA-Einreiseformular (US entry permit application), which instructs me  to fill it out and submit to the ground personnel before the departure. This made me shiver. Why? Well, I want to know beforehand – while still in Germany – that my paperwork is good enough for entry. I travel with my daughter ( a minor) and a non-English speaking sibling. If my entry got refused and I’d be put on the next plane back, this would leave two stranded folks in New York City.

Why do I want to take extra precaution? For one – I am married to a U.S. citizen and residing in Germany. So entering the United States will put me in the highest risk category for illegal immigration as I have no green card and immigration believes that non-green card spouses would like to stay longer than permitted. Number two – my daughter is a U.S. citizen, which puts my tourist intent in double jeopardy. Immigration officials only do their job and try to fish out anyone looking to stay beyond their limited time. I have no intention to stay more than four days in the United States.

We are what we experience, so here goes my real-life fairy tale:

Once upon a time, in the last millennium, there lived a fairly young German wife with her U.S. American husband in a far away land called Japan. They were so happy when their son was born and they were so proud of him and wanted to take him to the kingdom where his father had been born and raised. His paternal grandparents wanted to hold their first-born son who would carry on the family name. (Back in those days, those things were still important.)

So they planned on taking their son across the Pacific Ocean to be held once by his grandparents for a couple of weeks before the family would continue across the Atlantic Ocean to take on a new post in another old country.

Luckily the couple inquired at a Japanese outpost of the kingdom to learn whether traveling with a one-way pass for the wife would be enough to enter the kingdom. The Consul yet told them there might be trouble as the guards watching the kingdom gate would get suspicious with anyone showing up with a one-way pass. The kingdom thinks of itself so highly and believes it to be so beautiful that once you have entered it, you will never want to leave again.

And because the wife was married to a citizen of that kingdom, then it was assumed she would definitely stay without proper permission from the king. She was advised she was in the same risk category as some dark haired people who liked to swim across the river or sneak through the border at night.

The couple felt very discouraged and tried to think of a way to show the baby to the aging grandparents.

One night they had an idea. If the problem lay with a one-way pass, surely a two-way pass would be sufficient to enter the country for a short visit. The two-way pass would definitely prove the intent of leaving again. Again the couple inquired at the outpost station and were told that a two-way pass held better chances to get in. But still, the couple had no proof of the new post in Germany as in those days, contracts and such were delivered by postal courier only and those sometimes took a while.

So the couple packed up their belongings and traveled via Taipei/Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia to Frankfurt/Germany. Then they went to a travel merchant and bought a two-way pass for entering the kingdom.

Two days later they crossed the Atlantic Ocean to meet the child’s grandparents and everyone was overjoyed.

All together, they had to travel 27,000 km because the kingdom’s guards thought the wife to be a prime risk for illegal immigration.

The wife’s kingdom never questioned her husband’s entry on a one-way ticket.

-The End-

The moral of the story: Always travel with your complete paperwork, but be prepared for the unexpected.

Tags: ESTA, Modern fairytale, U.S. immigration

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Free ESTA Application for the USA
• New U.S.A. travel authorization effective 12 Jan 2009
• Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Anything Japanese, General, New York. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.