GW Team Arrives in USA for GenCon - Immediately Gets Deported

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**Nodri**

This is just too funny not to share:

From Natfka at Faeit 212:

"US Customs turned back all of the Games Workshop folks. Someone mentioned 'working a convention' and they didn't have work visas"

While the source is solid, I have no additional information or confirmations. I would imagine it was figured out, and the GW guys got there.

Things like this happen, its called.... life.

Updates: Also I cannot verify the info here in this update. I know that these kinds of things happen though. Travel can be difficult and tedious at times. I know it stresses my family out when we travel to Edmonton every year, but it's the trip back that to the US, not into Canada that causes stress.

The worst is when they pulled my then 2 1/2 year old over and checked him for bomb residue. (pockets, hands, etc). While that is bad in itself, since he refused as only a toddler can, and caused a huge scene, the biggest problem is that the scanners they were using to swab his hands and clothing were apparently new and no one knew how to use them. We had to wait for a manager to come over, and eventually just pass us through.

I also recall that while following the instructions of the agent telling me to put it through the scanner, my wallet got ahead of me, and separated from me. Took us almost 3 hours to get through security.

Here is the Update
via another source today
Someone at head office messed up the visa application, rather than travelling on a Business Visitor Visa they travelled to the US on a Holiday Visa. Not only were they denied entry, they were immediately deported back to the the UK and will not be able to travel to the US for a while. If they can get a team together in time there will be US staff at Gencon drafted in as emergency cover instead of the dedicated team that are meant to be touring the conventions.

**Necro**

Guess they follow the rules the same as they write them

**The Division Of Joy**

There is a huge AoS display there, who set that up then?

**Ferrum_Sanguinis**

So wait, is GW so cheap that they didn't want to pony up for a work visa?

**Mymearan**

Ferrum_Sanguinis wrote:
So wait, is GW so cheap that they didn't want to pony up for a work visa?

Do you actually think they're that stupid? Someone fethed up.

**Ferrum_Sanguinis**

Mymearan wrote:

Do you actually think they're that stupid?

This is the same company that is PROUD of the fact that they do no market research and have no idea what its customers want.

So yes, I do believe they are that cheap and stupid.

**Charax**

It absolutely wouldn't surprise me if someone at HO went "Well it's only a convention, it shouldn't need a *work* visa"

Remember that this is the same GW that does almost no advertising outside its own stores, doesn't do market research, forgets to actually make sure it has the rights to artwork it claims copyright on and up until relatively recently had no presence at all in conventions outside Games Day, it is completely believable that they cheapskated on the visas

**Silent Puffin?**

Maybe the real reason that GW have frozen salaries is things like this

**kodos**

It's their first time, so a little bit more sympathy would be nice......

But you know, AoS is not about playing games but telling stories. So they have the best story at the Con now.

**Silent Puffin?**

kodos wrote:
It's their first time, so a little bit more sympathy would be nice......

They are a multi million £ international company and a self proclaimed industry leader; professionalism is expected. Its not as if they don't already have a US branch.......

**Baragash**

It's not like they don't have another sales division that seems capable of handling international visas on a yearly basis.....Forge World are at GenCon, did they get through all right?

**Pacific**

As someone who has had close friends who have fallen victim to some of the mini-hitlers you seem to get working in border control, I have a lot of sympathy for the people this happened to.

Interesting if they now have a dedicated team for touring conventions, that was absolutely nonsensical that they weren't doing that kind of thing. Wonder if they are planning on doing some of the bigger EU shows, or if it's just for the AoS launch period?

**Sigvatr**

It's absolutely amazing how GW repeatedly keeps failing as a business.

**Mutter**

kodos wrote:

But you know, AoS is not about playing games but telling stories. So they have the best story at the Con now.

Yeah, they're forging a narrative here, hard ...

**Sigvatr**

Pacific wrote:
As someone who has had close friends who have fallen victim to some of the mini-hitlers you seem to get working in border control, I have a lot of sympathy for the people this happened to.

Surprisingly, if you inform yourself beforehand and bring everything you are supposed to bring, you run into little to no problems. Weird, huh?

**Joyboozer**

Ferrum_Sanguinis wrote:
Mymearan wrote:

Do you actually think they're that stupid?

This is the same company that is PROUD of the fact that they do no market research and have no idea what its customers want.

So yes, I do believe they are that cheap and stupid.

GW do a tonne of market research, the kind the makes people feel like they've been taken advantage of when they find out about it, so publicly, they say we don't do market research. But they do.

**Theophony**

Well at least we know that their lawyer team that protected their IP still works in some capacity at hq, I just didn't know they had a travel coordinator

**Hivefleet Oblivion**

I am pretty certain that if they arrived for a conference, they didn't need a visa, under the Visa Waiver program.

You need Visas for some work, including mine, which I have. It's a ludicrous process. But a quick look at their site indicates Business Conferences are covered by the Visa Waiver. And yes, I've had friends thrown out for no real reason by some Immigration Hitlers.

In some locations in the US, it's like traveling into some bizarre African or Kafka-esque regime, dealing with uniformed officials who've never left their home state in their life.

**nagash42**

The guy who deported them probably ended up being the guy who burned all his war hammer stuff :p

**redben**

The Division Of Joy wrote:
There is a huge AoS display there, who set that up then?

The US GW team had a stall at GenCon last year and presumably are running it again this year.

Pacific wrote:
As someone who has had close friends who have fallen victim to some of the mini-hitlers you seem to get working in border control, I have a lot of sympathy for the people this happened to.

According to the US government website, if you're attending a US convention/trade show in which you are involved with an exhibit and are being paid a salary by a non-US company then you need a B-1 visa.

**Kosake**

kodos wrote:
It's their first time, so a little bit more sympathy would be nice......

But you know, AoS is not about playing games but telling stories. So they have the best story at the Con now.

Exalted for distilled win.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

nagash42 wrote:
The guy who deported them probably ended up being the guy who burned all his war hammer stuff :p

That would be some poetical justice right there...

**Barzam**

Charax wrote:
It absolutely wouldn't surprise me if someone at HO went "Well it's only a convention, it shouldn't need a *work* visa"

Remember that this is the same GW that does almost no advertising outside its own stores, doesn't do market research, forgets to actually make sure it has the rights to artwork it claims copyright on and up until relatively recently had no presence at all in conventions outside Games Day, it is completely believable that they cheapskated on the visas

Actually, this isn't quite true. GW DOES attend conventions. They've been attending the NY International Toy Fair for the past several years. So, they should've already known that they needed those work visas.

**Mymearan**

I don't think there's any reason to mock these guys, they're probably already embarrassed enough... these are just some regular dudes who got thrown out of the country and probably a secretary who made a mistake when planning the trip. Try to stay classy guys.

**Wonderwolf**

So.. wait?

Two different sources.

One at a US airport listening in on the conversation between GW staff arriving and the US border guys?

Another source in Nottingham HQ, hearing a confession from a travel person in the company?

Those are some serious inside connections right there.

Unfortunately, the “leak”, if it exists, should be pinned down ridiculously easy with this. How could more than .. uh .. 5 people in the world know the conversation going on between a GW guy and US security guy at the immigration booth and have a chat with the GW office assistant doing travel for these guys?

**MongooseMatt**

Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
I am pretty certain that if they arrived for a conference, they didn't need a visa, under the Visa Waiver program.

That was what I was thinking.

I have done this exact same trip (Heathrow to Gen Con) for Mongoose many times, have been very open to the border guard why I was there, and never had an issue going into the US as a tourist. True, you get treated like a criminal when you go to the US as a non-citizen these days, but aside from that, no issues.

Maybe someone tried to be smart with the border guard?

On the other hand, I presume all/most of the GW staff got shipped over there in cattle class, so I have a lot of sympathy for them. Not a nice trip.

**Hivefleet Oblivion**

The US government site, under the B-1 visa definition, states that if a country participates in the Visa Waiver program, a visa is not required:

http://london.usembassy.gov/niv/b1apply.html

Look at the bottom para. I've done this, and not needed a Visa, altho I have an i-Visa now for media work, which is slightly different.

I love seeing the display of ignorance here, combined with superiority re GW, it's always entertaining

But go on, side with the little Hitlers if it makes you happy!

**Herzlos**

Ferrum_Sanguinis wrote:
So wait, is GW so cheap that they didn't want to pony up for a work visa?

Work visas like this don't cost anything, and take all of 30 seconds to apply for via the ETSA (ESTA?) program.

Worse is that the FW guys managed it fine, and GW has been sending people over to the US to work for decades. I really don't understand how a company this big can feth it up so spectacularly.

**nekooni**

From what I can tell you don't need a visa but you must register your trip with ESTA ( http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/esta_info.html ). And that was probably what was missing and the reason they were denied entry to the US. Some people still call the ESTA registration "visa", even though it isn't actually one - it's just what replaces the visa.

*edit* Another possibility is that the ESTA registration wasn't filled out correctly (e.g. called the trip a holiday in ESTA but then talking about working during the quick interview)

Herzlos wrote:
Ferrum_Sanguinis wrote:
So wait, is GW so cheap that they didn't want to pony up for a work visa?

Work visas like this don't cost anything, and take all of 30 seconds to apply for via the ETSA (ESTA?) program.

Worse is that the FW guys managed it fine, and GW has been sending people over to the US to work for decades. I really don't understand how a company this big can feth it up so spectacularly.

It's not free, but the fee is VERY low, less than $50 IIRC. Considering how much flights from Europe to America cost, the fee is clearly not an issue - if it was, you wouldn't travel anyway. Must'Ve been someone new who messed it up.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

I would not be surprised if this is a made up rumour

I would not be surprised if it's real but the border guard involved was just having a bad day and decided to be a git without any real legal justification

I would not be surprised if somebody in GW admin messed up and told the team they needed paper work X instead of Y

**insaniak**

Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
) But go on, side with the little Hitlers if it makes you happy!

Stopping with the whole equating a genocidal maniac with some guy whose job involves processing people through border security is what would make me happy.. ..