Author Nick Hornby ("High Fidelity" denied entry to US
 

Happened at US CBP at Toronto Pearson...by time they figured out he was allowed in for a book tour it was too late to make the event.
Only post is on his FB page.


Nick Hornby
23 hrs ·
Chicago friends - I'm sorry that I won't be able to meet you this afternoon, and that the event at Anderson's is cancelled. I was stopped from leaving Toronto by US customs officials and missed my flight. I love America and Americans, but your unpleasant, bullying officials are an embarrassment
to you. I feel sick about letting people down, but there was nothing I could do.

Dylan Smith and 184 others like this.

Why was he denied entry/travel? Not eligible for travel without a relevant visa due to the purpose of his trip and/or some past incident or confusion over such?

From what I understad of the FB post
 

He was coming to Chicago as part of a book tour to promote his new novel as a bookstore/signing event. The first CBP officer believed that according to "the letter of the law" without a work visa he was not entitled to enter the country and earn any $$, but the 2nd officer disagreed and finally let him enter but it was too late to get to the event. I don't know the ins and outs of overseas artists and book tours but he certainly has done this before without a work visa.

That's all I know.

The first CBP officer believed that according to "the letter of the law" without a work visa he was not entitled to enter the country and earn any $$, but the 2nd officer disagreed and finally let him enter but it was too late to get to the event.


Hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar. Were their names Tweedledee and Tweedledum?

For say a singer from a VWP country, if the singer is merely recording an album that will not be sold/distributed in the US and isn't making public performances/concerts, then they can use the VWP to enter the US. Otherwise a visa is required of VWP users.

I have to check what the process is for celebrity speakers and book signing engagements -- even as I should know this off the top of my head -- since it may have changed after DHS got constituted and did things like demand that journalists from VWP countries have I visas despite that not being generally required of journalists from VWP countries back in the days of the INS.

I've seen CBP look for I, O and P visas in some such situations, but I'm not sure how consistent they are. It seems they aren't all that consistent, although some may expect that the supervisors would be more consistent than the non-supervisors.

Why not lie about the purpose of his trip? For most of my trips, I claim I'm merely a traveling student, regardless of whether I plan to do business.

" Direct"lying can come back and bite as permanent disbarment for entry.
he should have said he was invited to autograph books, assure then he was not going to earn any $$$ directly from them and produce the letter of invitation from the sponsor of the event. One presumes he would be on the book store, TV circuit.

This is quite alarming if there's no consistency, since it will (and has in this case) cause all sorts of problems for people. That's compounded by US embassies generally not being willing to give visas for activities that they believe do not require a visa.

And, of course, it leads directly to the situation where people are tempted to lie.

As someone who sits somewhere near the border of requiring a visa (but, in theory, and according to the London embassy, not actually requiring a visa), it's a situation I find very stressful. It's compounded by the vague and old-fashioned job characteristics published by the US in the guides available online - they just don't relate to many roles in the modern inter-connected world.

Making false representations to the immigration authorities could land you in serious trouble.

At least I've not encountered a consistent denial of entry to visiting celebrity speakers; but the speakers to whom I paid attention have mostly been former very senior government types with very established senior USG contacts (speaking of those speakers who are/were from VWP countries). I'm sure some of them said they were in the US for a family or friends visit -- true as it was also -- but turned out to show up for one or more very lucrative speaking engagements on the side.

My understanding is that an "O" visa would apply in this case - Visa for Persons of Extraordinary Ability (which has a very loose interpretation). This normally covers people coming for paid speaking engagements, among many other things, so I think it would apply in this case.

If you're a non-US citizen coming to the US to make money (and are not already legally domiciled or otherwise allowed to work), you need a visa. That shouldn't be hard for the embassy/consulate peeps to understand, but for all of the requirements to be hired by the Foreign Service, they don't seem to do a good job of keeping the education going once they're in.

Yes but it's often not that simple. Usually you are coming to the US as part of a job somewhere else, being paid abroad but carrying out some of your duties in the US. For example, an employee based abroad but visiting the US office and carrying out duties there for a few days. Or indeed, in this case, it could be that an author has a US book deal, signed abroad. The main part of that deal is obviously to permit the book to be published, but a side part, and not separately remunerated, could be to attend some book signings and promotional activities.

This is getting pretty technical...we all know that once a person is in the US, it's pretty easy to get away with a lot of income-generating activities which are rarely declared at the border crossing, but...

IF you want to follow the letter of the law, unless you are from a VWP country, you need a visa for your visit (obviously): "Foreign travelers coming to the United States to conduct temporary business, for example business meetings and consultations, attending conventions and conferences, or negotiating contracts, need visitor visas unless they qualify for entry under the Visa Waiver Program" (U.S.Department of State).

For your example, for non-VWP citizens a B-1 visa covers most of these short business- and tourism-related visits, but the business activities covered are for work on behalf of an employer. If the book signings were part of the contract with the publisher, then the author probably would fall under this visa category (VWP or B-1). If the book signing was a freelance activity, an O visa would be the correct one, VWP country of origin or not.

Since Hornby is British, he's got the VWP on his side, but if he made the CBP officer think that he was earning money on his own outside of "normal" business duties under contract with an employer, this could have caused confusion.

If Hornby was importing books to sign and sell, then he would be engaging in business requiring a visa. Instead he was signing books that were legally printed or imported by some other entity, and legally sold by entities in the USA. Signing books surely encouraged more sales, but the benefits went to the book seller and the US publisher.

As a published author myself, I can assure you that there is no way the royalties he would have earned on sales of the signed hard bound books would have come any near to covering his travel expenses. I earn five percent of each retail transaction on my book. The hardcover edition of High Fideity retails for about $40. Assuming $3000 for air fare, $1000 for hotel and other expenses, that is 1000 books to sign just to break even. To close a real estate with fewer than 25 documents to sign takes me two hours at a title company. Do the math.

Note to self: next time I am in foreign country and am approached to sign a book, decline because I am breaking some silly immigration law. :rolleyes:

Or give my reader two dollars to offset my royalty.

Good lord the stupidty of DHS never ceases to amaze one.

Your phone has zero work-related emails or texts on it? Zero work-related calendar appointments and reminders? Ditto your computer?

You are travelling with zero business cards or other work-related materials?

The attire you travel with is similar to what a 'travelling student' would pack?