ARGH! The steps we have to take to make a stop in the Atlanta Airport... All Hail USA
 

As many of you know, my wife is from Mexico, and we live together here in Toronto. Her family lives in Mexico City, and we have a trip planned for a month, leaving the day after my birthday on Dec 10th.

I found a crazy deal on tickets some months back, and after 2 solid days on the phone, plus a follow up call a week later, we got it booked.. (delta...) I must have talked to 15 different agents trying to get 2 tickets booked, and then they didn't even book them.. I realized a week later, and luckily found someone there nice enough to admit their mistake and honor the original price.

Anyways..

Because my wife is not a citizen of Canada yet and is a "landed immigrant" (able to live and work here indefinitely) she still only has a Mexican passport. This means we have to jump through a bunch of hoops to enter the US. Here's what I had to do:

- Pay $10 to get an appointment with a US customs/border worker for an interview
- After you pay, there is no queue. The Toronto office works on a 6 week schedule, so you have to be doing this and have your trip booked a solid 2 to 2.5 months in advance. Once you pay, you get access to a website with a calendar, and a couple times a day at random intervals they release appointments for the final day of the 6 weeks (as they're always fully booked). This means you need to sit and refresh that fucking calendar every 10 minutes all day long in the hopes you get it in time. There are probably hundreds of other people doing the same thing.
- I was hardcore, and made sure we got it first day. My trip was leaving the 10th of Dec, and the first booking date was Dec 3rd... Plus it takes a few days for them to mail it, so it was verrrry close. We got an appointment though, success.
- Go to a Scotia Bank and pay another $131 USD in advance of the interview for a travel Visa
- Fill out a couple different forms, basic stuff, where you've worked, every school you've attended, bunch of standard questions.
- Go to to the interview, can't bring anything or anyone. Not even your baby!

Oh, and I had to call a 1-900 number once to ask a question I wasn't sure about, at $1.89 a minute...

Fuckin nuts... And this is all to land in a frickin shitty airport where they almost always lose my luggage.. endrant

Yep, that's pretty much the proccess people from countries that require visas have to go through when they decide to visit the USA, even if it's just for a couple of hours because of a connecting flight.

I saw on the news the other day the US is now requiring all airlines to submit passenger lists for all aircraft, period. Whether they land on US soil or not. The news story was ambiguous too, it kind of said all flights flying over the US, but it kind of also said just "all airlines operating in the USA" so I wasn't entirely sure if it's a airspace thing, or if that means that if Quantas has a flight from England to Ireland, if they do business in the US, they want passenger lists of that too.. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised.

Is this because she has a mexican passport and from Canada? I can't see the same trouble happening if she was coming from Mexico.
WG

Not at all, she's way better applying here than trying to visit from Mexico.. They're worried about you skipping out at the airport and becoming another illegal alien.. So since she's done all the stuff to live and work here, plus has a place, husband, kid etc, they'll see her as low-risk. They'll clearly see she has residence in a superior country to theirs anyways... ;)

PS How's things WG? Haven't spoken in a while.. Hope you're doing great man!

seriously, that sucks. but nothing much we can do because of all these terrorists running amok...

be glad that these security measures are in place to project ordinary people... although they seriously suck and might not even work, but still, its worth a try

Mexicana flies direct from Toronto to Mexico City, but you probably know that already. That would take the nasty hassle out of it even if it's somewhat pricier.

Wow what a pain in the ass :(
Flying sounds like a temp. job, not a vacation by any stretch.

Yeah she usually flies Mexicana, but it's way more expensive.. We got these flights for $365 each + tax roundtrip, during the christmas season, and since our baby is under 2, he flies for a $12 Mexican tax. Total flight prices came to $965 I think.

Update..

I had to call the 1-900 number again, chaching..

I ALSO need to provide them with:

- A printout of my BANK ACCOUNT showing that I can AFFORD to stop in their airport, and go on a trip.

- A pre-paid envelope so they can ship me the document (I guess they can't fit $0.50 into the $131 fee, which was $160 Canadian)

- Print out a confirmation letter from their website

This is getting ridiculous.

Wait, you didnt need to be in a corridor where someone shouted "ALL FOREIGNERS TO THE RIGHT WALL!! NOW!!" like i had to do last september?

If it makes you feel any better they treat the natives like shit too, busting your balls over a cup of water.

What a bunch of shit.