Confession Time

There is something wonderful about the American approach that one might not get to see if not from outside the country. Bill had to apply for a VISA to travel to the US and as part of that was required to answer the following questions:

A) Do you have a communicable disease; physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser or addict?

B) Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance; or have been arrested or convicted for two or more offenses for which the aggregate sentence to confinement was five years or more; or have been a controlled substance trafficker; or are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?

C) Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved, in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?

D) Are you seeking to work in the U.S.; or have you ever been excluded and deported; or been previously removed form the United States or procured or attempted to procure a visa or entry into the U.S. by fraud or misrepresentation?

E) Have you ever detained, retained or withheld custody of a child from a U.S. citizen granted custody of the child?

F) Have you ever been denied a U.S. visa or entry into the U.S. or had a U.S. visa canceled?

G) Have you ever asserted immunity from prosecution?

The immediate response to this is to crack up laughing at the idea that anyone would ever admit to any of this in writing. I mean, if you could do it, would you be the type of person to come clean about it?

In defense, however, I suppose that if someone is found to have answered falsely this document would potentially be a tool that the system could use to snatch up the person and kick them out or prosecute, etc. Every time we travel to the US, I remind Bill (or anyone else with us) that US immigration has no sense of humour, so don't even think about trying to be funny...