US Visa violation by New Zealander
 

A naturalized New Zealand citizen is accused of entering the US for flight training without the appropriate visa. He was evasive and untruthful in his entry interview by immigration officials, then flew to Miami for training. This guy is purported to be the son of one of Sadam Hussein's mistresses. Also it was reported that the guy worked for Air New Zealand. With him was another mid-eastern extraction New Zealander.

Maybe some of our Kiwi's out there can confirm or deny. I didn't know that Air New Zealand uses Miami training companies. Something really fishy here. We'll see how it develops. One thing that is really disappointing is that the US government may deport him without criminal charges being filed.

Heard on NZ radio this morning fellow kiwi Air NZ employee who saisthis guy was legit, and was doung flight engineer currency training on "an older aircraft which wasn't available in NZ"???

Sounds like they are getting very strict on these visas or do they know something we don't? Thousands of us have done flight training whilst on tourist visa waivers.

I had 30 mins of flight training during my last (private) stay in the US, to get checked out in a C172... I guess now I'm a criminal :D

P77

I also like to "hire n fly" when I'm in the US. Does this mean I need a "student visa" when I'm in the US on an operating flight?

Aside, do you think the gent in question was arrested because of an immigration violation or because he's Saddam ("Death to the Great Satan") Hussein's stepson?

Folks - Since Sept-11 of 2001 occurred, AND the recent fact that our INS sent out visas to two of the hijackers six (6) months AFTER the event/their death!!, AND since our President has said he is going to re-organize the INS "out of existance" over the visa thing - the INS folks have gotten "on the ball" recently in a big way.

If a "Sept-11" happens in your hometown, and a Hussain relative comes to visit, you too might be a little bit "edgy".

Otherwise, this is still a great country and y'all are MORE THAN WELCOME to visit, etc.

Er - what's your last name please?? Do you spell that ALI or ALLY or is it BIN?? :)

Baronvonmildred

Yup, they are getting very strict on visa violations in the US.

This is good and this is bad. Good for us who follow the rules, bad for the guy who gets arrested on an immigration charge.

Apparently, for legal reasons I don't fully understand, immigration violations are not subject to the same civil rights as our criminal system. There are people who have been locked up for two years without a lawyer while the goverment tries to find out what they were really up to.

It used to be that schools didn't tell Immigration when a student dropped out/left/graduated from school. Now the School computers are being crosslinked to the I.N.S. computers.
Didn't help at all when Mohammed Atta got his visa six months after 911.

A tourist visa is to tour; it is not a visa to go to flight school. Renting an airplane for a spin around the patch while on a toursist visa not the same as enrolling in an FAA approved course leading to certifications.

I would maintain that anyone on a tourist visa who enrolled in a course of instruction leading to a certification as a US FAA Airman be stripped of their license. Fruits of the Forbidden Tree; you were here on a tourist visa, not a student visa.

I'm a US citizen married to an Asian woman who jumped thru the hoops; got a Green Card, and became a naturalized citizen as soon as she could.

But she seems to be in the minority as far as I can see.

My soloution to the immigration problem here in the US is a $200 reward for every illegal immigrant you turn in, and a $400 fine for every one you turn in who is not an illegal.

Flushing New York, central Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles would become ghost towns overnight.

A-V-8R

I would maintain that anyone on a tourist visa who enrolled in a course of instruction leading to a certification as a US FAA Airman be stripped of their license. Fruits of the Forbidden Tree; you were here on a tourist visa, not a student visa.

Guess that I'm busted, what address would you like me to send the certificates back to?????

Mutt.

send him and the certs back to baghdad:mad:

One must be very prudent when choosing ones parents. Perhaps this gentleman chose unwisely, and demonstrating such a disregard for such an important matter, should have his FE certificate revoked. On the other hand, he does choose to live in New Zealand, which represents a quality decision on his part. Do tenuous strings bind him to his father? Certainly, Air New Zealand would have looked into this matter with great alacrity. How quick we are to condemn, and not for ideology, for we know not his, but based on biology.

For what its worth.....I havnt met him in person, but I understand he is a fairly nice guy. Just unlucky with his choice of paternal father and destination. He moved here many years ago for a quite life with his family. Just another reason why I and a growing number of others avoid the U.S. whenever possible. Just not worth the trouble. Via asia to europe these days.

C 1300: I wish we had fresh Guinness west of the Atlantic, without the bitter aftertaste.

NBC Evening News stated tonight that he is Saddam Hussein's nephew or stepson and was/is in Miami for Flt. Engineer training.

With all the attention focused on him and maybe several others who apparently don't have the correct visa, let's hope that a proportionate number of analysts and investigators keep track of others who might be much more likely to have possible links to Al Qaida or similar groups.

Do the CIA, FBI, NSA and others now have a much larger group of fully-qualified analysts than was the case last September?

Of course it is possible that the guy and his mother moved to NZ a very long time ago (when he was 2 years old), and that the first thing that he knew about Sadam being his father was when the US INS told him about it...

Have to agree with CI300. Travelling to the US right now is just too much hassle.

For the record, I am US educated, my sister lives there (naturalised US citizen) I have many close friends in that great country and even drive an American car. I am not anti-American.

I am brown-skinned and a pilot for a Middle Eastern airline. Can just see those patriotic security people "profiling" me. Don't need it thanks. Will spend my hard-earned dosh alsewhere this summer.

Sounds like the system kicking in. The gentleman concerned being unfortunate in his stepfather (pretty obviously no choice of his). Since his real father was concerned with aviation he seems to have followed the paternal path and it appears was probably just legitimately persuing his annual recurrent training.

It is a high interest news item appearing at a time when the press is hungry for column inches and the TV news channels looking for juicy air time. The chap is of Arabic origin and worse for him that was Iraqi, not flavor much in favor in the US right now. He unfortunately also is in a profession where that is not a good combination/ asset right now particularly n the US.

The visa violation could be debatable, it appears that he complied with the requirement to fill out the new release statement before going to Aero****ices for his training. He probably felt that he did not need atudent visa as it was not an initial training. This may have been a mistake, but we have just had two instances where foreign nationals have gone to the US. One for his ATP and one for recurrent. Both complied with the requirement to inform the INS. Both were on normal visas. One was held for three hours while his details were checked then released, he was European and obviously Caucasian the other was OK. The US is on high alert and with good reason.

This man, sadly for him, may just be another victim of the fall-out of 9-11, a day that really did change the world. And some of those A**holes are still out there!

Allthough AIR NZ is his current employer, he had just got a new job with a freight company here in NZ (on the B727). Just watched his new boss on the evening news. His new boss confirms he was in the U.S. getting training on the B727 because a) its heaps cheaper and b) nobody around here supports 727 training anymore.

Because of BIK_116.80 post, I have to revise my earlier assesment that he was being not tracked because of his heritage.

As I ususally travel on a shore pass or the nations good will to enter (Except for France and PRC) I'd completely forgot that some countries don't require Visa's of any kind; while I haven't researched it I'll take BIK_116.80 post as gospel.

However, the rest of the my post about cross linking Schools computers to the INS computers is true.

I also have to say that if your nationality does not require a visa for business or personal reasons for a stay of XXX days, and you're here and do get your Airmen certificates within said XXX days, there is nothing wrong with that.

I love the taste of shoe leather. As I get older and longer in tooth, I'll be able to floss my teeth with the shoelaces......

Sometimes I wonder why I post. The end result is like cleaning your guns when you're drunk; you shoot yourself in the foot!

To me sounds like a case of a bona fide flight engineer, with bona fide credentials attempting to attend a bona fide training establishments bona fide four-day refresher course (check their website for details) for bona fide reasons (b727 F/E job prospect in New Zealand) coming against a system not accepting the above for various reasons some of which are legitamate but most of which are speculative against their own philosophy.

I'm certain a tourist visa is all that he required - I remain to be corrected

rgds mcdude

At American Airlines by unfunded government mandate we have to prove our citizenship before we can attend recurrent training.

And the methods with which we must prove our citizenship are hysterical at best. A military ID is not considered sufficient (even if it is accompanied by a "Top Secret" clearence) A CURRENT passport is required, not an expired one. or an original birth certificate with a raised seal. You may be flying a nuclear armed B-1 in the guard but that aint good enough to go training on the MD-80!

If you are not a US citizen (and we have many) that person must apply for a waiver from the department of justice. And my understanding is they must before EVERY training event.

So its okay for these people to FLY the aircraft. They just can't be trained to fly the aircraft.

Many of our pilots do not have a current passport either (The people that abhor international and just want to go back and forth from Dallas to Ohio in the their super 80) and who has their original birth certificate?... UNBELIEVABLE....

Cheers
Wino