I know you guys call it something else, but I can’t remember your words for it.
I’ve been watching several episodes of “Border Security” (about our Canada Border Services Agency) and I’m curious. I’m most curious about CBSA, but what you guys south of the border do is also of interest.
Two episodes - one Australian had a bunch of DUIs, assault, and failure to comply with police orders. One Russian with a long record pertaining (according to him) to participating in protests and the like. Could they possibly be caught quickly if they kept their mouths shut?
Now I know embassies can check up on travellers before they leave their home countries, but assuming they aren’t stowaways the program seems to imply that they can quickly check up on foreign criminal records when the passenger first arrives and before they leave the airport. Is that true??
Note my questions do not apply to Canada<->US trips. I know you guys are set up to be very snoopy about us.
Australia and New Zealand have a programme to share criminal/Police records about each other’s citizens and residents at the border. If you have a criminal record in either country and you don’t declare it on your arrival card in the other country, you are probably going to be found out.
If your criminal record is from some other country, then you probably won’t be found out.
Citizens of the vast majority of countries are required to apply for visas before entering the U.S., and many of those who aren’t still need to register with US Customs and Border Protection before traveling. I don’t know the mechanics of how criminal records are checked, but that’s when it happens, either via the visa application process or via ESTA, not instantaneously on arrival.
Just a quick theory and correct me if im wrong, but if customs had access to other countries criminal records (other than what ever is on interpol, which I am led to believe they have access to) wouldnt they be able to run a check on passports when applying for an ESTA through the VWP program, considering this is a website run by the US Customs and Border Security - the same as US Customs at the airport is it not ?
