International Travel 2025

Just flew phnom phen to bangkok, AW endorsed passport. No problems

TRIP RECAP

Status: No longer registered in any jurisdiction. No longer have a marked passport. My conviction is 30yrs old (I still maintain that it wasn’t a crime), involved a minor, spent 30 days in jail, 170 days with an ankle monitor, and 5 years’ probation. SORNA II classifies it as a tier 3 lifetime registration, but fortunately California made it a tier 2, allowing me to petition for relief from registration.

We flew direct to London (Heathrow), had an 8-hour layover, then flew direct to Delhi, India. We did have the new UK ETA, but when our passports were scanned, they said nothing about it.

Spent 5 days touring India (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur). Our main objective was the Taj Mahal, but we saw many other interesting sites and experienced the total insanity of driving in India.

Flew from Delhi to Mauritius with a stop-over in Mumbai. On a 14-day NCL cruise, visited Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and then UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi), and Qatar in the Middle East. Flew from Doha, Qatar, to Casablanca, Morocco, with a short layover in Bahrain.

Toured Morocco for 12 days, visiting Tangiers, Chefchaouen (the blue city), Rabat (the capital), Meknes, Fez, Ifrane, Erfoud, Ouarzazate (the Moroccan movie capital), AÏt Benhaddou –Tizi-N-Tichka Pass (also popular filming locations), Marrakesh (the most fascinating Moroccan city), and finally back to Casablanca. We ended our trip with dinner at Rick’s Cafe, a classy tourist spot taken from the movie, Casablanca.

After a crazy schedule of 4 flights on TAP airlines, and a terrible overnight stay in Paris, we finally made it back to San Francisco. The Customs officer scanned my passport and said, “did you report your passport stolen?”, and I said, “yeah, I had some passport issues a few years ago.” He nodded his head, like that explained what he was seeing on his screen and told us to have a safe trip home. That makes 6 times in a row with no Secondary.

Update: Was in Bangkok 7 days, Not Vacation trip. Can not expound on it here but the importance of the trip was enormous, many Thai people in important positions related to the USA handled my AW endorsed passport, no issues. Flew back to Phnom Phen Cambodia, thru immigration in 1 min.(Literally) Back home.

Never had to register, my misdemeanor charge was dismissed. Why is HSI sending a letter to the Phillipines telling them I was charged but acquitted? I was denied entry and now out over 8k. I’ve never been registered or convicted of anything. Does anyone have any idea what authority gives HSI the ability to send emails ahead of my travel?

I keep getting the feeling that once off registry I should initiate my travels via a Schengen country like Germany or France. Seems it will make other countries much more “comfortable” to enter without any possibility of some random notice. Any opinions?

Question regarding Ireland sex offense laws and their registry

Good morning all. I am an Irish citizen on the sex offense registry here in the US. I was planning on leaving the country due to the current political climate, traveling to Europe, staying in a country for a while, then returning to Ireland. Now, I am a citizen, have an Irish passport, so that is not a problem. But researching the Irish laws, they say that you have to report when you get into the country. Can someone tell me how they’d know? Is the 21 day notice going out to every country? I know it goes to the destination of my flight from the US. But if I then return home to Ireland, will I get flagged on entry?
Thanks in advance, I know this is a very specific question, and probably open to all of us guessing or interpreting the laws our own way.

Successful cruise to Belize, Mexico, Bahamas. No issues whatsoever, entered at all ports. MSC.

Given the recent spate of people (both US citizens and non) being hassled coming into the US from abroad, has anyone seen or heard anything about this rolling downhill on people forced to register?

There are reports of “regular” people having their devices searched, so am concerned how this will affect us even worse.

My family and I travel very often, like a cruise or week on an island in the south pacific or the Caribbean, and very seldom do I have any issues… I had my passport revoked last year for no endorsement and was pulled aside a few cruises ago to remind me to return it and was denied entry to Puerto Vallarta once. That’s it in almost a dozen Mexican Riviera cruises on three different cruise lines… until our latest cruise.

We returned to the Long beach cruise terminal from a Mexican Riviera cruise a couple weeks ago, and upon debarkment I was pulled aside by security escorted very kindly to customs and border patrol’s office in the terminal. I was met by one of the agents and asked us to have a seat while they finished up with the rest of the people brought in for whatever reason they were there for. About 10 minutes later when the room was empty except the agent, my Wife, and myself the agent asked if I was a 290 registrant. I told him yes, and he said nobody there except himself knew what that was. He said they needed to search my luggage and electronic devices. Minutes later another agent came for me and took me in the back room and asked if I packed my own luggage and if I wanted to bring anything illegal to her attention. I told the agent it’s all mine and nothing to hide. I’m diabetic and my blood sugar was real low and I was shaking. I asked if there was a granola bar or something available and explained why. The agent left for a minute and came back with a couple pastries and a glass of water.. she said her dad was diabetic and she knew what I was dealing with. So while one agent casually searched my luggage while the other randomly flipped through my phone for about 5 minutes while we talked about her kid and my kids, the Regent seven seas cruise line ship she boarded and how luxurious it was. When she had finished, the agent told me I was good to go and brought my Wife to me, smiled and wished us a safe journey home.

Not at all the experience I expected! Everyone involved was professional, and unexpectedly friendly through the process. In the end, we made it out of the terminal faster than if we would have just wrestled our way through the terminal with the hungover hordes of typical Carnival cruisers…

It seems like electronic device searches may be the new norm upon return to the states unfortunately, but that’s not going to deter me or slow me down in the least! I encourage all of you to get out there and see the world! I’ll continue to travel, and report my experiences

There are cruise lines with Itineraries that most any PFR can book and successfully cruise!
European countries to fly to… Caribbean Islands that welcome us and our marked passports to their little paradise!

Remember, If we quit Traveling.. THEY WIN!!

I am PFR in California with a AW endorsed passport, and I intend to travel to Vietnam with mom and uncle next month. I recently got the 5-year visa in my passport. But based on what I’ve read, even with this approved visa, am I correct to assume that if I fly directly from CA to VN, I will definitely be turned away/sent back on the next flight out?

If that’s the case, should I instead plan for a layover in some Schengen Nation before flying into VN? I wonder how that works with the 21-day notice: Report my intended travel dates but only list the Schengen Nation layover (apparently only city is needed) and make no reference to VN on the form? And once physically at the layover, go through CBP at the airport so I can satisfy that the AW notification was actually read by someone?

I used to think the same -if you’re a registered citizen you’ll just face the same harassment as before but not more. But now I do wonder because the new administration has empowered Customs agents to such an extreme that it can invite abuse (more abuse). I’d like to read some accounts of how it went for returning citizens at Secondary, who are on a registry …