Back on May 30, there was a international qualifier in England for the US Open (golf) which is played this week outside of Washington DC. Robert Rock (an Englishman) was one of the qualifiers. He played (and won) a golf tournament in Italy this past week and plays a very international schedule on the European Golf Tour. In the past two years he has played in such places as Czech Republic, Abu Dhabi, Morocco, China, and Singapore.
But as of today, he still has not arrived in the USA for the US Open which starts tomorrow morning. (He is rumored to be in-flight as I type this and arriving this evening). Fortunately, for him, his tee time tomorrow is one of the later times. Apparently he had some visa issues with the US Embassy.
Since he has traveled extensively internationally in the past 2 years, I would imagine a visa and travel papers would have been basically rubber stamped. He knew that he qualified over two weeks ago and I would assume his manager would be doing the necessary paper work. He just going from England to USA.
Assuming nothing nefarious in his past, what could be the problems for this guy getting to the USA?
Since he is coming to work, he is coming in on something other than a tourist visa. A minor error or inconsistency in the paperwork, a misfiled form, no reason at all—almost anything can delay a visa. It might not have anything to do with his specific case. The process is surprisingly expedient but the visa-issuing process has complex and byzantine aspects.
He primarily plays on the European Tour; travel between European Union countries is far easier, from a documentation standpoint, than travel from the UK to the US, especially after 9/11.
Yes, one might assume that his manager would have been taking care of this weeks ago…but the article makes it sound like it was a question of paperwork having not been done, and having to be expedited at the last minute. It sounds to me like Rock (and / or his manager) dropped the ball.
As Dr. Drake has noted, coming to play in a golf tournament requires a work visa, which makes things more complicated.
2 weeks is not a lot of time to arrange a visa to visit the US. In fact, I am surprised it is possible at all.
To get a visa you must go through an automated telephone booking system to book a visit to the embassy. This may be several weeks away, in which case you’ve immediately missed your 2-week deadline.
Prior to your appointment you must fill in an astonishingly long and extensive form online, giving details of your life, your schooling, your family, your previous travel, etc. Actually, several online forms (and fees) for different agencies are required, depending on your reason for travel.
On arrival at the embassy you must have all the documents in order, including photos that conform to exact measurements (distance from chin to forehead, etc.) If you do not have everything in order you will not be allowed inside the door of the embassy.
Once inside, you will be interviewed by an embassy official. If he or she is satisfied, they will post out your passport with the visa inside, and you will receive it within a day or two.
All of this applies to British people who are travelling to work, to study, by private transport or for long periods. Tourists intending to stay less than 90 days travel under the visa waiver programme.
Well if it a laborious process, I really do not see why he even tried to qualify in the first place, or he should have put the wheels in motion when he filed out his entry form (which was two months ago). he is a popular player on the tour and pretty sure he is friendly enough with peers who have played golf tournaments in the USA.
He has been journeyman golfer for many years so he should know that visas are time consuming. Logically, I would imagine that paperwork in order to travel/play in China and Abu Dhabi and Qatar is more rigorous than ones to the USA.
If the manager dropped the ball, I would be looking for a new manager. As it is, he is going into the USOpen absolutely blind, never seeing the golf course until tomorrow morning. He plays Thursday afternoon/Friday morning, and there is a pretty good chance he will be flying back to London on Friday night red-eye.
So, right now you can get an appointment in 5 days, then 1 week for processing. You could possibly turn it around in 2 weeks but it’s very tight, and if you make the slightest mistake in your application you can forget about it.
All of the above, plus a) his name could have popped up in a security database as a close match to someone on a lookout list; b) you’d be amazed how many people have criminal backgrounds, even minor things, that pop up at the most inconvenient times.
You’re assuming that either (a) he would have thought to ask them about it, or (b) they would have thought to warn him about it.
It does strike me as strange that they would have a qualifying tournament in England 2 weeks before the U.S. Open, when it can apparently take longer than 2 weeks just to arrange a work visa. Given that, it may also be that Rock had started the process right away (i.e., after qualifying), but it wasn’t complete yet when he wanted to depart for the States.
But, he may have never applied to play in the U.S. You’re assuming quite a bit.
Maybe, maybe not. It wouldn’t surprise me if China is difficult; I have no idea about the others. But, bear in mind:
a) the U.S. rules were probably tightened considerably after 9/11
b) playing on a regularly-scheduled tour, you know where you’ll be playing months in advance (and have the time to deal with lengthy bureaucratic delays). In this case, he only learned that he’d qualified to play in the U.S. Open 2 weeks ago.
The rules for entering the U.S. are more complex than you can possibly think they are – I know this from personal experience – and they apply to a semi-famous person from a friendly country like the U.K. just as much as they do to poor unskilled Mexicans try to get through the border fence. Furthermore, people who have travelled extensively internationally, but have never travelled to the U.S., often do not realise this. So this guy and his handlers probably did not realise how long and difficult extracting a visa from the embassy in London was going to be.
The thought that crossed my mind was that he might have had a lot of middle east countries on his past travel list, and some computer flagged it. (As in terrorists who travel to see their bosses to get orders or money or inspiration or training.)
If the State Department is overworked, it may take an extra couple days before someone got around to looking over it.
In baseball for decades you always hear about Latin America baseball players “having visa problems” and reporting late for spring training in February. I always suspect they actually want a few days extra vacation before returning to work.
China was easy (from Canada).
Mail away your passport(!!), a 2-page form, and a passport photo with a cheque for about $85 to a travel service in Ottawa that walks it over to the Chinese embassy. Back in a week with a nice pretty 1-page sticker and all the necessary stamps.
The only warning was don’t be employed by a media organization, and don’t say you are planning to visit Tibet. (Made that arrnagement after the visa arrived). Customs was very quick and informal, looked at passport/visa, no questions, no hassle.
Just for clarification (and not being picky). Does Robert Rock really need a “work” visa? Technically, he is an independent contractor and not employed by anyone. I could see more of a problem if he was bringing his own caddie to the tournament. (he could be hiring a local caddie)
I guess he would have been better off if he were an amateur and not competing for money. and I guess his wife or girlfriend could have made the trip more routinely.
Yes, he absolutely needs a visa to compete as a professional, the fact he’s not a member of a sports team doesn’t matter. Not sure if it’d be different if he was an amateur, but since he’s a pro, he can’t just say he’s a amateur for this weekend. It is classified as a P visa which applies to both athletes and entertainers.
Indeed, I make it a point not to bring my work laptop into the USA on vacation; not that I ever was a contractor, I have a regular employer, but the risk that you end up facing some dick at the border who decides to give you the 3rd degree just because he can. And… if he arbitrarily decides not to let you in, then it’s months of paperwork back and forth with the embassy in Ottawa to get it straightened out.
I knew some not too swift kids about 19yo, tried to go snowboarding in the States. The border guard asked “ever been arrested?” and one kid said yes. (As a juvenile). The border guard asked what for, and he laughed, pointed at the other kid and replied “breaking into his dad’s cottage.” The border guard decided crime was not a laughing matter, told them to turn around, and warned them if they tried to use a different crossing they would be arrested. At least most countries have an explicit rule, not arbitrary decisions. (IIRC, New Zealand’s was something like “Spent 2 years or more in jail in the last 10 years”)
Watching ESPN and Golf Channel this morning apparently Robert got into Newark at 11:30 pm last night. And he is was going to drive from Newark to Washington DC. (either overnight or this morning).
And according to Golf Channel, he spent 15,000 pounds in legal Fees. Geez.
I’ll be rooting for him to make the cut. He will be exhausted (and frazzled) today and I hope we get the rest of story after his round this afternoon. Hope he can put it together and have a good tournament.
Not that surprising, considering what it takes to put together a rush P visa petition, get it approved, and get an expedited visa appointment in London. That’s a lot of work, much of it highly specialized.
How does this kind of thing affect UK/Irish citizens who regularly travel back and forth from the United States on business? Or touring European rock bands? Do Coldplay and U2 regularly get grief from U.S. officials when coming to America to perform?
Was this difficult for Robert Rock because he wasn’t a regular “commuter” to the U.S.? Are visas easier/quicker if you’ve got a solid history of Europe-to-U.S. travel?