Is it at all possible now a days to sneak into a country completely undetected (1st world country) and blend into the local/native population without being detected by government?
Given that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States alone is estimated at 12 to 20 million, I would say the answer is “yes.” There are large numbers of illegal immigrants in European countries as well.
While many of these people may have entered by legal means (e.g. tourist or student visa) and overstayed, a lot of them entered via land or sea borders.
It’s not clear exactly what you mean by “undetected” or “blend in,” however.
Undetected meaning that their presence is not known by government authorities in any capacity
Blend in meaning that they are able to successfully assimilate or appear to be a part of the local/indigenous population (thus the expression “blending in”)
Answered already by Colibri.
I’m sure there are a fair number of illegal immigrants with forged IDs that would withstand some scrutiny. But there are also probably millions of undocumented immigrants who simply avoid activities that would require them to produce documents they don’t have. They may be detectable if investigated, but they just keep a low profile. And for a lot of government authorities, detection of illegal immigrants is not high on their list of priorities.
Given that the US population includes a lot of recent legal immigrants, or descendants of recent immigrants, that’s not a problem in many areas.
If no one is specifically looking for you it is very easy to have no one notice you.
What about in a more authoritarian first world country such as the Russian Federation? Does detectability correlate with level of freedom/authoritarianism?
Right. Lots of people slip into the US and work informally or under the table. Lots of agricultural jobs don’t ask many questions as long as you’re willing to go out into that field and work hard, and they can pay in cash. I know a white, native-born US citizen who did that once - no docs, paid in cash, zomg milk those cows now! There wasn’t any real need for that sort of arrangement since he was legal, but that’s how that farmer did it. If one doesn’t need to work, it could be even easier. There are probably a fair number of stay-at-home spouses who are here (and in other 1st world countries) illegally. They aren’t detected because they keep a low profile, don’t get themselves arrested by doing stupid things, and don’t need to worry about employment documentation because they are being supported by someone who has sufficient papers.
You’d have a hard time doing that in Norway. Not the sneaking in, that’s relatively easy, but you’d be limited to cash payment, off the books employment,and/or identity fraud, since any regular employment or bank account requires a National ID number. Since most Norwegians under the age of 75 use debit or credit cards for nearly all purchases, you’d be standing out there as well.
Probably not in any simple way. It probably correlates just as much with government efficiency and corruption. (Though I suppose if you have to pay bribes you are in some sense "detected.) As in naita’s example of Norway, although the country is not authoritarian it is very organized so that those without the proper documentation would stand out. In the case of Russia, I don’t know how efficient or conscientious the current authorities might be in trying to detect illegals.
You might have a lot more trouble blending in if the country was more ethnically homogeneous. All other things being equal, an American citizen (of non-Japanese descent) trying to sneak into Japan would stand out more than a Japanese citizen trying to sneak into the USA.
In Russia, it’s common for the Police to stop people on the street or metro and ask for passport or work visa. And yeah, often they’ll look the other way for a bribe. Though in five years in St. Petersburg, I haven’t been stopped yet. Perhaps I look too American/touristy. My father-in-law has been stopped, and he’s Russian.
And some people actually comply, rather than telling them to go to hell? What a country!
Plenty here in the UK. Race or colour and poor language skills won’t even raise an eyebrow. We too use credit and debit cards a lot, but there is still plenty of cash. No problem to buy a fairly decent car but documenting it would be difficult. Of course a legal friend/relative could do it for you.
Renting somewhere and working for cash is pretty easy, so yes - not that easy to sneak in, but very easy to blend in after.
No ID required here so a stop-in-the-street shouldn’t be any great problem with the cops scared of being accused of prejudice.
And even then, a Japanese citizen would probably blend in much more easily in some areas of the US than others. They could probably last quite a while in San Francisco or Honolulu as a nondescripit tourist, grad student, Honda executive, or whatever. Rural West Virginia, not so much.
In Russia, everyone is supposed to carry a passport to show if stopped for an ID check. Citizens have “domestic” passports. From what I’ve seen, most of those stopped looked foreign but not European. It very likely would not go well if one refused.
But even the Norway-Russia border has fences with sensors on the Russian side, along with an exclusion zone all along the border. In Norway you can walk right up to the border.
In the US you could not open a bank account and certainly not get a credit card without a SS number. I guess if your spouse was legal you could get a joint account or at least get a second card on his credit card and simply avoid any interaction with the authorities.
Why must I sneak in? I’ll fly in as a tourist and then go AWOL.
Need answer fast?
Isn’t that sneaking in?