The German Foreign Ministry has revised its travel guidance for Germans visiting the United States following incidents where three German citizens were refused admission and held upon arrival.
"Conviction for a crime in the U.S., providing incorrect details about your reason for staying, or exceeding your visa duration slightly at any point of entering or exiting could result in being arrested, detained, and deported," states the explicit warning currently displayed on the ministry’s website.
Advice for travellers now also warns that possessing an electronic system for travel authorisation (ESTA) document – the automated system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to the US under the visa waiver programme – does not automatically guarantee entry into the US.
"The ultimate authority for allowing an individual entry into the United States lies with U.S. border officials. However, this isn’t unexpected; it’s identical to how things work in Germany,” stated a representative from the ministry to the German newspaper Der Spiegel.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also emphasized that the revised guidelines do not amount to a travel advisory for visitors heading to the United States.
Entry denied
The revised travel guidance follows the announcement made by the foreign ministry on Monday. probing the case of three of its citizens who had been denied entry and put in detention as they attempted to enter the U.S.
"The Federal Foreign Office is aware of three cases in which German citizens were unable to enter the United States and were placed in deportation detention upon entry," a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Among those detained was Fabian Schmidt, 34, a legal permanent US resident. According to US outlet WGBH, he was detained at an airport in Boston before being transferred to a detention facility in Rhode Island.
Schmidt's mother, Astrid Senior, claimed in an interview that her son was "violently interrogated" at the airport before being stripped naked and forced into a cold shower by two officials.
The two additional individuals involved were Jessica Brösche, a 29-year-old tattoo artist hailing from Berlin, and Lucas Sielaff, aged 25, from Saxony-Anhalt. They have both since returned to Germany.
Broesche had tried to enter the United States from Tijuana in Mexico during a trip with her companion, who was a U.S. citizen.
As stated in the online fundraising page established to support her return, officials initially informed her that she would be held for just a few days. However, this turned into an “unsettling series of occurrences,” during which Brösche was moved and remained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center for over six weeks.
Brodschi's friends claimed she was kept in isolation for nine days during her harrowing experience.
As reported by ABC 10News, San Diego CoreCivic, the firm owning the detention center where Brösche was detained, refuted these allegations.
After spending two weeks in custody, Sielaff returned to Germany at the beginning of March. His girlfriend, Lennon Tyler, informed the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger about this. Sielaff had initially traveled to the United States with a tourist visa and then went on a brief visit to Mexico.
According to the US embassy website in Germany, Germans with a valid tourist visa for the United States can typically travel without a visa for up to 90 days.
Permanent residents typically have permission to leave the country for trips of fewer than six consecutive months and return to the United States, as stated by the U.S. government.
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