Please supply your recent experiences with traveling abroad using the format below plus your comment / narrative. This is intended to collect experiences AT THE PORT OF ENTRY IN THE FOREIGN COUNTRY – Fall 2013 and later and being detained, denied or allowed in. NOT about re-entering the US and secondary inspection.
It is assumed that there were no issues before Fall 2013 / early 2014 and that there is always a secondary inspection in some form upon returning to the United States.
In the interest of organization please copy and paste the list and write your details between / over the ***. Any comments should be in direct response to the country in question.
1. Destination Country: ***
1a.Does this country require a Visa?: *** yes / no ***
1b.If Visa required, was the application denied (reasons): *** yes / no (reasons) ***
2. Date of Travel: *** Fall 2013 or later ***
3. Issues: *** denied entry / detained / etc ***
3a.If denied, was there a reason given?: ***
4. Currently registered: *** yes / no ***
4a.If yes, on public web site: *** yes / no ***
4b.If no longer required to register, reason for termination: *** Expiration / Court Order / Other ***
5. Offense child related: *** yes / no ***
6. Offense Level: *** Misdemeanor / Felony ***
7. Conviction expunged or dismissed: *** yes / no ***
8. State of registration (current or former): ***
I like your idea of everyone requesting a freedom of information request, and add that to the list. Have they told you why you are denied. Have they refused to tell you? This is all very important to us, who may wish to travel, even if we don’t have the means yet.
I hope a lot of people do this so we can get this under control. I have traveled out of the country at least 20 times between year 2000 and 2012 . I would go on cruise ships a lot and to Cabo. I am to afraid to try now. I take family vacations with 20 family members and now they are waiting until I can see what’s going on.
One other question might be added: If this country requires a visa for entry, was your visa application denied and, if so, what was the reason given for its denial?
And, while we’re at it: “if you were denied entry into a country, was a reason given for your denial? Did immigration officer indicate what the notification (presumably from U.S./Interpol) asserted about you?
I would like to add again that a F.O.I.A. might be a good way of revealing exactly what the U.S. government is saying about you to other governments. Is it possible that this could even be requested in advance of future travel? A FOIA aficionado would be helpful here.
Are there any countrys that I can visit , With out expecting Bs at the entering
I have been able to fix the problem I had with traveling internationally, after being denied entry from two different foreign countries.
From both several phone calls and information I requested on my cases through FOIA, I can verify the following communication channels.
There are two communication channels that are used to notify foreign law enforcement authorities about registered sex offenders:
1. Travel information is captured by the U.S. Marshals National Sex Offender Targeting Center and the information that shows up in a transcript format includes all originating airport, transfer airports and final destination airport, destination country, flight number, round trip or one way, passport number, and a notation of conviction verified. In addition, the arrest date, arresting agency, arrest date, name of conviction, convicting jurisdiction, and conviction all appears in a transcript.
This transcript information is then sent to INTERPOL Washington, which they draft the information from the transcript into letter format. They start the letter by stating “On behalf the United States Marshals Sex Offender Targeting Center, please be advised that the above-named subject who is a Registered Sex Offender in the State of _______ is visiting your country from…..”.
2. Another/separate channel of communication is through Customs & Border Protection, which then a letter is issued from a liaison officer who works in the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) field house that is housed in the U.S. Embassy of the particular country. The notice is transmitted from the ICE field office to the foreign law enforcement authorities and is similar to what INTERPOL issues except it states that the named subject may be traveling to your country to possible re-commit the same crime.
I have not received the FOIA for #2 channel of communication yet, however, I did talk to the particular liaison officer at the U.S. Embassy who issued the notice on me, and he even read it to me verbatim on the phone.
In my particular case, I was informed by the National Sex Offender Targeting Center that the notices have been stopped through both Customs & Border Protection and INTERPOL Washington and that I should not encounter this problem again when I travel. My 10-year duty and legal obligation to register as a sex offender had already expired by the time notices were issued through INTERPOL and ICE on me when I was traveling but the transcript and notices still indicated that I was a Registered Sex Offender. I have received written communication from the National Sex Offender Targeting Center that it has been determined that I have no legal obligation to register as a sex offender. They corrected my file to say ‘Expired Sex Offender’ which supposedly clears me of any travel problems now.
My advise is that if you are an ‘Expired Sex Offender’ but travel alert notices are being sent to foreign countries on you to contact the U.S. Marshals National Sex Offender Targeting Center to have the problem corrected.
For those people who are a ‘Registered Sex Offender’ it is in my opinion that a customs officers at the airport of departure should make a reasonable effort to notify the traveling registered sex offender prior to boarding the aircraft that an alert notice is being issued and that is it likely to result in the denial of entry into the particular foreign country.
The U.S. Marshals Service National Sex Offender Targeting Center does not make any recommendation to any foreign country on whether a U.S. Citizen who is lawfully traveling to a foreign country should, or should not be allowed to enter the foreign country. However, one can surmise that when a alert notice is issued to the foreign country that the particular country will most likely deny entry to the named subject.
AdvocateVoice
I have two questions. I know Mexico is blocking sex offenders. Does this also apply to cruise ship traveling as well?
Second question, is there any way to get around the alert? For example, let’s say I want to go to Thailand. I buy a ticket and go to Germany. From Germany, I buy another ticket to go to Thailand. Since my flight is originating from Germany, will an alert still be notified?
I know that SORNA requires one to report all intended international travel information (flight, locations, duration, etc.) 21 days prior to departure. I would assume that this is the triggering event for any RSO that is in a SORNA state. Wouldn’t it be possible to inform the registering authority of your travel plans, cancel them at the last minute, and then file a FOIA request? There’s nothing that requires an individual to make travel purchases prior to departure. I would assume any international information sharing is done well in advance (hence the 21 day advanced notice) of travel. I’m not advocating anything illegal, but travel plans do change last minute for many different reasons, one of which is the fear of rejection at an international point of entry for a RSO.
1. Destination Country: Antigua Dec 2013 & St Barts 2014
1a.Does this country require a Visa?: No Neither
2. Date of Travel: Dec 2013 and Summer 2014
3. Issues: No issues
4. Currently registered: Yes
4a.If yes, on public web site: Yes
5. Offense child related: No
6. Offense Level: Felony
7. Conviction expunged or dismissed: No
8. State of registration (current or former): CA
Traveling next month and now worried after I have seen all of these horror stories
I have also been curious about “work arounds” for this issue. For instance if one lives in a Non-SORNA state and they were to take a bus to San Diego or some US border town and then walk into Tijuana or someplace else that would not require showing a passport, could you jump on a plane from Mexico to whatever other country you wanted? It would seem that no notice would be issued based on that. But then again I know nothing about purchasing a plane ticket or using a US passport from a foreign country to another foreign country. No idea if anything would be sent back to the US when/if your passport is scanned. I doubt it in most countries but again I lack the knowledge to say for certain.
Along the same lines I would love to know if when one resides in a Non-SORNA state, there would be any legal consequences from going this route. For instance, Colorado does not require RSO’s to inform them when they are traveling out of the country. They request that you do so but there is no law on the books saying you must. So would someone be violating any federal law if they followed Colorado law and did not inform them of international travel plans. From what I can see, SORNA is not actually a law. It is a set of guidelines that the Federal Gov’t wants the states to enforce but is not actually law. The only actual law I see that COULD be applicable is 18 U.S.C. §2250, which is for failure to register. But again, Colorado does not require RSO’s to inform them of international travel and the Federal gov does not have the ability (nor as far as I can tell) the authority to make an individual update their registration at the federal level. Anyway, any thoughts or certainly any advice from someone with a law degree would be greatly valued.
David,
I think that is where several well aimed law suites aimed at SORNA and international travel will do us all a world of good in clarifying what is currently a muddy morass and just might go as far as overturning these draconian travel infringements.
Question –
My husband is registered with a misdemeanor offense yet his neither his name nor his likeness appear on any publicly accessible website – would he still be flagged by the U.S. Marshals National Sex Offender Tracking Center (NSOTC)?
Can anyone please elaborate on what they think would happen with a cruise? I am going on one that makes day stops in countries like Mexico, etc. Of course on a cruise you cant go beyond the tourist zone of the countries. Will they make me stay on the boat? They cant make me fly back, because you need a passport for that, and the cruise only requires birth certificate and ID.
Anyone know or who has been recently???
I’ve not had any issues yet, but would this create any problems for me:
-sexual battery 96/97
-wobbler/reduced to a misdemeanor
-expunged 2000
-received SUMMARY PROBation! Stay away from massage parlors ect? No legal issues prior or after. In summary, all charges dismissed, but still required to register
I brought this up in another thread on the same subject but will offer a repost. Until the dust settles on this newly implemented “protocol” of issuing advisories about traveling registrants, I would suggest reaching out to the nearest Consulate office of the country you plan to visit. Let them know of your plans to visit their country, where you would plan to stay, maybe even a tentative itinerary for when you are there and tell them given your concern with news about people being immediately expelled or denied entry, if they can provide in writing an acknowledgement from their government that can be handed to agents at the port of entry when they receive their travel advisory. I don’t know if this will work if you have had a sex related conviction because of all the taboo that comes with it, but folks I know in the travel industry who have had clients with other types of criminal convictions have suggested this approach to avoid a sudden unexpected termination of your vacation.
For all I know, a good international travel agent may be able to assist in this process. The presumption we are having is that this means you will automatically be refused entry. We should not have to jump through such hoops, but perhaps this is HOW you must get in… and I surmise some won’t.
Ok, I traveled to Cancun with no issues. I called the local bay area reporting agency and they didn’t know what to do with me telling them I was traveling out of the country. Now, from what I am gathering here…since California isn’t part of SORNA, I have no obligation to notify anyone of my impending travel, so I can get on a plane and fly to a country I can still visit with no issue. Am I wrong? No one is notifying them, right?
Jo – when did uou travel ? Was the child related ?
I have have traveled ally and have had no problems at all. I’m concerned now.
If you can provide more info on your recent experience that would b helpful.
Had entered Canada successfully on 2 occasions earlier this year for work. On Oct 14 was unsuccessful. Was allowed to leave the country on the next flight out. Part of my job s to visit customers in Canada.
Have now hired a Canadian Immigration Attorney to try to help me w visiting again. Been registered in Ca since 1996.
It NEVER ends. Lots of $ thrown at this to try to save my job.
Thank you for this website. I keep hoping for positive change.
@cd but hasn’t Canada always been that way ? If you have a dui you can’t get in.
what does your attorney say about this ?
maybe this is helpful
http://ojp.gov/smart/caselaw.htm
CD, I’ve visited Canada as well and had no issues. Do you still have a record? Expunged? Child related? Just curious. Sorry for your issues. Not a cool thing.
I have noticed a lot of people are asking if the offense of people denied entry is “child related”.
Is there some reason to believe this makes a difference? I thought they were sending notifications for anyone with any type of offense where we have to register as a so.
Also, what is a “child offense”? What’s the age cutoff? Like someone pointed out, In Canada and many other countries the age of consent is 16 but in CA and many other U.S. states they consider sex with a 16 year old a serious sex crime. When I was 23 years old I had a one-time sexual encounter with a 16 year old and had to register for 16 years before finally getting a certificate of rehabilitation. Now I’m afraid to travel and be turned away from countries where what I did isn’t even illegal.
And I am also not any less worried about travelling being no longer registered as a so. They are being so non transparent about all of this I still can’t tell from the limited information we have whether the notices are based on registration only or based on being previously convicted of a sex crime.
Furthermore, I’m confused because some people have suggested the alerts are generated from a national RSO database, but people in CA who are registered but not on the ML website still get the alerts sent out. Is that because ICE and INTERPOL have access to more comprehensive sex offender databases than the public ones?
I feel like I’ve done everything right – expungement, reduction to misdemeanor, certficate of rehabilitation, there is no more I can do and yet I still live in fear that I will lose my job the next time they send me overseas. It really never ends I guess, even when you get off the list.
People are asking child related under 18 because theirs some news article saying they are targeting pedophiles. It doesn’t just say rso’s. By child I think we all mean under 18. Hopefully the person who commented above boy vising cancun with no problem can give us more information. I’m starting to think it might not be all rso but those related to child offenses.
I concur with David Kennerly, are the only people being denied with child related offenses? Just curious. Or, are they only refraining from allowing high risk or serious offenses? Remember, we have offenses deemed other as well (battery/indecent exposure). The bottom line is this. We would or should be made aware of this in order to avoid spending money and just be turned back!
@davidkennerly – did you mention on a previous post you were turned away from Argentina ? If so can you give us further detail about you with the questions asked above in the thread ?
I traveled to Puerto Vallarta on Delta Airlines out of LAX. I was met right outside the door of the plane by federales. They took my passport, separated me from my spouse and questioned me in broken English/Spanish. The federales signed me off, but immigration would not because I “sign the paper once a year”. They put me right back on a plane to LAX.