Complicated Nationality Questions

[osirissail]

Quite true. Marriage only enables the person to "jump" the waiting list to get their application for a "resident alien visa" considered before the regular "quota by country" folks. You still need to "prove" that the marriage is valid and you are actually living together as a couple with co-mingled assets. The procedure for the USA is long and involves considerable, and I mean considerable, amounts of documents, financial statements, police records, etc., etc. And it is not a cheap process and involves considerable expenses. It took me two and a half years of work to get my Russian wife a USA "green card." The vast bulk of the time was in getting together the correct documents into the "packages" that need to be submitted.
- - So the best and simplest solution is to only visit countries where her national passport is welcomed as describe in GordMay's link and list. There are plenty of "everybody is welcome" countries out there to sail to - so avoiding the "difficult" places is not hard.
- - Currently the French islands in the Caribbean are using the "Do-It-Yourself" check-in/out computers so having a "pre-visa" has not been a problem at all. Our first visit to Martinique and the other Caribbean French Islands prior to the "D-I-Y" system required a French "Out-Islands" visa and interview at a French Embassy. Last year, we just arrived and did the "D-I-Y" computer routine at cafes and stores, avoiding any ports where the government staffs officials. No problems at all.

- - There may be problems with the listing GordMay linked to - St Lucia does not welcome Kenyans without a visa obtained prior to arrival. So check out each island/country by going to its government website versus a third party link. For St Lucia see: http://www.stlucia.gov.lc/faq/do_i_n...#Require_Visas

[barnakiel]

BTW a pro crew will have a sailor's book and this one is not an easy one to get. Not easier than getting married in any case.

As far as I can remember the book only allows one to enter, leave, stay within the port. To travel, even to the airport, the crew needs passports, visas, etc.. Some countries turn a blind eye to this requirement, others do not.

b.

[chris763]

Thanks to all who have replied, you are great! The whole thing sucks bigtime, I guess we have to try and get her the right passport. There seem to be ways to get a European citizenship, just very tricky, time consuming and expensive. But what to do? Again: Thanks a lot to all of you, we will keep you updated on our struggle...

[osirissail]

I would agree that the worldwide paranoia about allowing visitors into their country without a "pre-approved" visa sucks. If Christopher Columbus had to deal with this problem, North Americans would still be speaking Native Indian languages and wearing feathers in our hair.
- - But to summarize, you can cruise with her to a lot of places/countries/islands. The little countries tend to be more lenient especially if they need tourist money to survive. You just have to do the research and plan your itinerary to avoid the "visa unfriendly" places.
- - In reality, everybody must have a "visa" to enter another country, it is just that major Western countries have reciprocal "visa upon arrival" privileges with each other and major tourist destination countries. So nobody can enter without a "visa," it is just that as a holder of a major Western country passport you do not need to go through the time-consuming and sometimes expensive process of applying for and getting a "pre-approved visa." You just show up and they stamp your passport giving you 30,60,90 or whatever days to visit. At the end of that "allowed time" you need to go to the country's immigration officials and get an extension for another batch of days as a visitor/tourist.
- - So it is really just a matter of "lazy language" when they refer to "needing a visa" - what they are talking about is needing and getting a "pre-approved" visa that is stamped/affixed into your passport prior to your arrival rather than just getting a stamp when you pass through the border check-point.

[chris763]

We know about the visa issues, that was part of my thread... And we agree that it makes all our lifes more difficult. As I said: We are trying to get her a decent citizenship, then it should be ok. Failing to, we gonna spend our fortunes only in countries/islands that let her in without hassle. Restricts us a bit, but it's gonna be their loss (not that anyone there would care...but it makes us feel better). This is what we are doing since years, and Europe was very good to us and we spend big bucks there and not in the US.

[rgscpat]

My brother-in-law (USA) and his wife (Czech) live in the Czech Republic. After many years, he obtained legal resident status and I believe he finally got an EU passport. But, shortly after they were married, the USA gave her a long-duration (10 year if I recall) multiple-entry visa, so the marriage did have some immediate benefit for traveling.

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by jim767

I would not attempt bringing your wife into a US port without a US visa. We are afraid of all foreign nationals at this time.

You cannot even change planes in the US anymore without a visa.

We were en route from Australia to Mexico. Got stopped by immigration in Los Angeles. They separated my Indonesian wife from me for 5 hours. Finally gave her a C-1 (transient) visa, good for 30 days. We wound up needing a lot of that even though our layover was originally about 6 hrs.

Never made it to Mexico that time. Mexico only gave her a 20 day visitor visa. Not enough to justify splashing the boat.

Still sorting it out... slowly

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by rgscpat

My brother-in-law (USA) and his wife (Czech) live in the Czech Republic. After many years, he obtained legal resident status and I believe he finally got an EU passport. But, shortly after they were married, the USA gave her a long-duration (10 year if I recall) multiple-entry visa, so the marriage did have some immediate benefit for traveling.

Just a couple of points of clarification. The term "EU Passport" is an abbreviation for a "passport from a country that is a member of the EU." Passports are issued by "nations" not a "collective" which is what the E.U. is.
So he had to have obtained a citizenship in the Czech Republic and now has a Czech Republic passport. He should also still have his USA Passport. If he only has a "legal permanent resident" status in the Czech Republic then most likely (just like a USA "LPR/green card") he can travel freely in the E.U. member states but it would have little effect on visiting other countries, where his US Passport would most likely take precedence.
- - I am certain that he and his wife filed for a normal B1/B2 long term multiple entry USA visa for her so they could visit the USA when they wanted. And since she has both financial and property "ties" to her home country, she was approved. It is not difficult to obtain a B1/B2 if you have sufficient financial depth, a job and/or property in your home country. It is just an expensive hassle of visiting a USA Embassy and presenting the documents. The only extra advantage being married to a USA citizen would have in this circumstance would be to increase the depth of their combined financial assets/worth. Or in other words, if you have plenty of money you can pretty much go anywhere you want.

- -

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by Minggat

You cannot even change planes in the US anymore without a visa.

We were en route from Australia to Mexico. Got stopped by immigration in Los Angeles. They separated my Indonesian wife from me for 5 hours. Finally gave her a C-1 (transient) visa, good for 30 days. We wound up needing a lot of that even though our layover was originally about 6 hrs.

Never made it to Mexico that time. Mexico only gave her a 20 day visitor visa. Not enough to justify splashing the boat.

Still sorting it out... slowly

Unless she is from a participating Visa Waiver Program country (Indonesia is not one of them) she should have obtained prior to arrival in the USA a "Transit Visa - C". Here is the reference: Transit Visas

- - So it was rather nice and lenient of the Immigration officials in Los Angeles to let her get one - after arrival - when legally she could have been deported back to Indonesia. It is remarkable that the airline and Australia both let her on the airplane in the first place without any form of USA visa. Normally the airline would be fined severely and be liable for transporting the "no-visa" passenger back to their point of embarkation. So most airlines are quite "up-tight" about making sure all passengers have appropriate visas.
"Never say, never" but basically nobody other than US citizens can enter or transit the USA without some form of a pre-approved visa. For approved scheduled airline travel (and cruise ships/ferries) you have the "Visa Waiver Program." For Canadians and some other neighboring countries there is a simplified system for frequent border crossing purposes.

[Minggat]

- - So it was rather nice and lenient of the Immigration officials in Los Angeles to let her get one - after arrival - when legally she could have been deported back to Indonesia. It is remarkable that the airline and Australia both let her on the airplane in the first place without any form of USA visa. Normally the airline would be fined severely and be liable for transporting the "no-visa" passenger back to their point of embarkation. So most airlines are quite "up-tight" about making sure all passengers have appropriate visas.
"Never say, never" but basically nobody other than US citizens can enter or transit the USA without some form of a pre-approved visa. For approved scheduled airline travel (and cruise ships/ferries) you have the "Visa Waiver Program." For Canadians and some other neighboring countries there is a simplified system for frequent border crossing purposes.[/QUOTE]

You are correct. It was nice of immigration in LA to give her the C-!. They could have gone with the typical "I've got the power, you must comply" attitude that we all bump up against. And you are also right. Not only were we caught unaware of the rule, but the airline as well. They did get a hefty fine.

The not so nice part is that law makers "do their job" with callous disregard to what that may mean to the traveling public. In our case it means traveling hours by car on 3rd world roads to the nearest US consulate, & spending however many nights in a hotel while waiting/hoping that the visa is approved. I could go farther and include my flying to her country to accomplish this, and then leaving empty handed when the visa was refused.

I watched a cruise line employee from Bali who may well have lost his job because he had always followed the rules and needed a new visa when his old one expired. Consulate simply told him, "go someplace else for a while" in those exact words.

So we come to a thread like this to learn what others already know. I do feel grateful to immigration in LA for finally releasing her after 5 hours. I continue to feel less than grateful for the "security" that is so... ineffectively administered.

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by osirissail

- - So it was rather nice and lenient of the Immigration officials in Los Angeles to let her get one - after arrival - when legally she could have been deported back to Indonesia. It is remarkable that the airline and Australia both let her on the airplane in the first place without any form of USA visa. Normally the airline would be fined severely and be liable for transporting the "no-visa" passenger back to their point of embarkation. So most airlines are quite "up-tight" about making sure all passengers have appropriate visas.
"Never say, never" but basically nobody other than US citizens can enter or transit the USA without some form of a pre-approved visa. For approved scheduled airline travel (and cruise ships/ferries) you have the "Visa Waiver Program." For Canadians and some other neighboring countries there is a simplified system for frequent border crossing purposes.

You are correct. It was nice of immigration in LA to give her the C-!. They could have gone with the typical "I've got the power, you must comply" attitude that we all bump up against. And you are also right. Not only were we caught unaware of the rule, but the airline as well. They did get a hefty fine.

The not so nice part is that law makers "do their job" with callous disregard to what that may mean to the traveling public. In our case it means traveling hours by car on 3rd world roads to the nearest US consulate, & spending however many nights in a hotel while waiting/hoping that the visa is approved. I could go farther and include my flying to her country to accomplish this, and then leaving empty handed when the visa was refused.

I watched a cruise line employee from Bali who may well have lost his job because he had always followed the rules and needed a new visa when his old one expired. Consulate simply told him, "go someplace else for a while" in those exact words.

So we come to a thread like this to learn what others already know. I do feel grateful to immigration in LA for finally releasing her after 5 hours. I continue to feel less than grateful for the "security" that is so... ineffectively administered from the top.

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by osirissail

For Canadians and some other neighboring countries there is a simplified system for frequent border crossing purposes.

Canadians need no other document than a passport to enter and resided in the US for 6 out of any 12 month period. No waivers or other documents. Yes we can get an enhanced drivers licence that lets us cross the border by any mean besides Air transport, without a passport, but they are harder to get then a passport so most just use have their passport. The pass to quickly cross the border (for "frequent border crossing" it's another document entirely it called a NEXUS Pass, which just allows you to use a quick lane at the airport or border, it is issued by Canada and the US to the individual after you have one of the other documents)

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by Minggat

. . . The not so nice part is that law makers "do their job" with callous disregard to what that may mean to the traveling public. . . .

So you are expecting (or hoping) that politicians will do the logical/common sense thing? What planet do you live on? (just kidding)

[goboatingnow]

But to summarize, you can cruise with her to a lot of places/countries/islands. The little countries tend to be more lenient especially if they need tourist money to survive. You just have to do the research and plan your itinerary to avoid the "visa unfriendly" places

This is NOT good advice.

Dave

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

This is NOT good advice.
Dave

Duh! It is not "advice" - it is reality. I sailed with my foreign born wife for 3 years with the same restrictions and found out that they really were not that restricting. The "little islands/countries" are the best places to visit and explore. The big "1st World" places are both expensive and a hassle, especially since one of the core reasons to go cruising is to get away from the hub-bub and relax.