http://addxorrol.blogspot.com/2007/07/ive-been-denied-entry-to-us-essentially.html
By halvar.flake
July 29, 2007
I've been denied entry to the US essentially for carrying my trainings
material. Wow.
It appears I can't attend Blackhat this year. I was denied entry to the
US for carrying trainings materials for the Blackhat trainings, and
intending to hold these trainings as a private citizen instead of as a
company.
After a 9-hour flight and a 4 1/2 hour interview I was put onto the next
9-hour flight back to Germany. Future trips to the US will be
significantly more complicated as I can no longer go to the US on the
visa waiver program.
A little background: For the last 7 years, I have attended / presented
at the 'Blackhat Briefings', a security conference in the US. Prior to
the conference itself, Blackhat conducts a trainings session, and for
the past 6 years, I have given two days of trainings at these events.
The largest part of the attendees of the trainings are US-Government
related folks, mostly working on US National Security in some form. I
have trained people from the DoD, DoE, DHS and most other agencies that
come to mind.
Each time I came to the US, I told immigration that I was coming to the
US to present at a conference and hold a trainings class. I was never
stopped before.
This time, I had printed the materials for the trainings class in
Germany and put them into my suitcase. Upon arrival in the US, I passed
immigration, but was stopped in customs. My suitcase was searched, and I
was asked about the trainings materials. After answering that these are
for the trainings I am conducting, an immigration officer was called,
and I was put in an interview room. For the next 4 1/2 hours I was
interviewed about who exactly I am, why I am coming to the US, what the
nature of my contract with Blackhat is, and why my trainings class is
not performed by an American citizien. After 4 hours, it became clear
that a decision had been reached that I was to be denied entry to the
US, on the ground that since I am a private person conducting the
trainings for Blackhat, I was essentially a Blackhat employee and would
require an H1B visa to perform two days of trainings in the US.
Now, I am a full-time employee (and CEO) of a German company (startup
with 5 people, self-financed), and the only reason why the agreement is
between Blackhat and me instead of Blackhat and my company is that I
founded the company long after I had started training for Blackhat and
we never got around to changing it.
Had there been an agreement between my company and Blackhat, then my
entry to the US would've been
"German-company-sends-guy-to-US-to-perform-services", and everything
would've been fine. The real problem is that the agreement was still
between me as a person and Blackhat.
After the situation became clear (around the 4th hour of being
interviewed), I offered that the agreement between Blackhat and my
company could be set up more or less instantaneously - as a CEO, I can
sign an agreement on behalf of my company, and Blackhat would've signed
immediately, too. This would've spared each party of us a lot of hassle
and paperwork. But apparently, since I had just tried to enter as a
'normal citizen' instead as an 'employee of a company', I could now not
change my application. They would have to put me on the next flight back
to Germany.
Ok, I thought, perhabs I will have to fly back to Germany, set up the
agreement, and immediately fly back to the states - that would've still
allowed me to hold the trainings and attend the conference, at the cost
of crossing the Atlantic three times instead of once. But no such luck:
Since I have been denied entry under the visa waiver programme, I can
now never use this programme again. Instead I need to wait until the
American consulate opens, and then apply for a business visa. I have not
been able to determine how long this might take -- estimates from
customs officials ranged from "4 days" to "more than 6 weeks".
All this seems pretty crazy to me. From the point that 2 days of
trainings constitute work that requires an H1B visa, via the issue that
everything could've been avoided if I had been allowed to set up the
agreement with Blackhat immediately, to the fact that setting up the
agreement once I am back in Germany and flying in again is not
sufficient, all reeks of a bureacracy creating work for itself, at the
expense of (US-)taxpayer money.
I will now begin the Quixotic quest to get a business visa to the US.
Sigh. This sucks.
[...]
Received on Mon Jul 30 01:14:10 2007