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nekooni wrote:
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.

A reasonable theory, but it does not match the conversation that Natfka’s inside sources at the US immigration booth overheard.

Thing is, they don't need Visas, assuming they came from the UK they are covered by the VWP, Visa Waiver Program.

Maybe some official got the wrong end of the stick is all.

Well the requirement information is on the website, and some of us have travelled for conferences before.

I forgot there was a charge, as it was something trivial, certainly not worth cheaping out on.

I suspect no-one told them they needed to do it, or the left it too late, filled out the form on the plane saying it was a holiday and then when the immigration officer asked them the purpose of the visit they said they were working at a convention. On a tourist visa waiver that an automatic deport.

Worse is they will not be eligible for the waiver for a while either, if they aren't banned outright.

I also heard about this from another source before it went up on Faeit, so I reckon it probably is true, or at least in part.

I was told the GW guys at customs just said all the wrong things so I suspect it was either a miscommunication or they knew their paperwork was not correct and had been coached what to say but didn't.

I wasn't aware they had been deported, I was told they were held up for so long that 3 guys had to set up a massive display on their own at the last minute which was a bit of a nightmare.

I am very surprised by this though, this is not the sort of mistake GW would normally make so I do think this was an unusual incident but it is really embarrassing and GW have banging on about heavily pushing AoS at major conventions all over the world.

To miss Gencon is a big deal.

I cannot understand however why they would be sending staff from the UK when they have more than enough staff in the US unless these were studio staff or UK head office staff. If that's the case it really is a balls up.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Pacific wrote:
As someone who has had close friends who have fallen victim to some of the mini- 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?

i wish this were true...
i am American, and every time i come back to my own country it is a massive hassle...
immigration does everything they can to try and turn me away, and have done for the last 20 years...
i don't know if it simply the way i look, or if they suspect i am always up to no good, but they sure don't let me straight back in, and i'm a citizen with an American passport...
things usually end up getting pretty heated at customs...
those guys can be real jerks...

as someone who has been deported from a couple of countries, i can tell you that there is no talking your way out of any small mistake...
once the officials have anything to go on, they love doing their job...
saying the wrong thing, having the wrong papers, or even having stayed one day over a visa on a previous visit gets jumped on real quick...

at least these guys will have a good story, if this is true...
i know i have gotten a lot of milage out of my deportation stories...

cheers
jah

I travel from the UK to the US a lot for scientific conferences, and getting an ESTA is very very easy - it takes a few minutes, can be done almost up to the point that you leave for the airport, and costs very little. This is really quite a silly mistake to make.

In order of likelyhood:

1) Natkfa pulling stuff out of his rear for his tabloid

2) Border guy power-tripping

3) GW paperwor screwup

It seems the oft touted GW maxim of "We hire for attitude and not skill" seems to apply to both parties here.

Looking at the status of their dirty ugly booth compared with their competitors...they had a lot of problems

any pictures of the GW stand from Gen Con going about? Unusual that so many are sitting on their hands with such a chance to show up GW.

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

And don't forget - the same GW whose Head of IP doesn't actually know what copyright is.

 Rick_1138 wrote:
any pictures of the GW stand from Gen Con going about? Unusual that so many are sitting on their hands with such a chance to show up GW.

Torn between sympathy for the poor mugs who flew across the atlantic only to be sent back in such a humiliating and probably stressful way, and amusement at the discomfiture of the GW high management, who I dislike.

That dude on the right. The 70s metal band you stole your mutton chops is calling and wants them back.

I had to write a letter of apology when I entered Japan to work years ago because someone in the Japanese embassy in Korea spilled something on one corner of the document. Immigration in Tokyo finally let me through after sitting in a holding area for several hours and two meetings about it. So yes, immigration in any country can be tedious, even when you have proper paperwork.

Not to worry. GW can always pull all the extra staff from local stores within 100miles and cover the CON

But I could see them trying to exain exactly what they were coming to the U.S. for and say something along the lines of "teaching war tactics" and the border guard thinking "terrorist"

Sounds to me like GW was finally treated the same way they treat their customer base. No sympathy for them.
@reds8nt. In that picture it looks like the GW backdrop display is falling down. Is it designed that way or falling apart?

I wonder if they offered to just d6 it with the immigration official when they couldn't come to an agreement...

It seems that they should have hired for skill not attitude in the corporate travel department amongst others.

 reds8n wrote:

 Rick_1138 wrote:
any pictures of the GW stand from Gen Con going about? Unusual that so many are sitting on their hands with such a chance to show up GW.

Thats actually quite sad, falling down rack, a tiny booth, AoS to the exclusion of all else, game encased in perspex case and a rather unprofessional looking rep.

All in all, probably not what GW wanted to do after fanfare of bigger attendance.

Shows you how serious US immigration takes stuff, and are well within their rights to go 'tough titty' and send thm back on the plane they came on.

Bet thats going to be a fun debrief.


EDIT: Looking at this more, why are folk saying that GW weren't alllowed to get into US, as that appears to be a lot of stuff already there and a GW staff member.

Is it just a few key staff guys got stopped or is this a rumour thats growing arms and legs and is in fact not true??

 warboss wrote:
I wonder if they offered to just d6 it with the immigration official when they couldn't come to an agreement...

It seems that they should have hired for skill not attitude in the corporate travel department amongst others.

You don't actually need to know the immigration laws when travelling to the US, right? I mean, they were probably just written to prevent people stealing hogs from one another (and fleeing with them to another country).

PhantomViper wrote:

 warboss wrote:
I wonder if they offered to just d6 it with the immigration official when they couldn't come to an agreement...

It seems that they should have hired for skill not attitude in the corporate travel department amongst others.

You don't actually need to know the immigration laws when travelling to the US, right? I mean, they were probably just written to prevent people stealing hogs from one another (and fleeing with them to another country).

Have an exalt for the Kirby dig.

Its true but you didn't have to join just to point that out. There's loads of other things to post about too. Welcome!

wow, he was deleted before I had finished typing! :-S


It's seems GW isn't the only people to get rough treatment by US customs today;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33731489

Perhaps they also got felt up by an over zealous officer and turned back voluntarily?

 Rick_1138 wrote:

 reds8n wrote:

 Rick_1138 wrote:
any pictures of the GW stand from Gen Con going about? Unusual that so many are sitting on their hands with such a chance to show up GW.

Thats actually quite sad, falling down rack, a tiny booth, AoS to the exclusion of all else, game encased in perspex case and a rather unprofessional looking rep.

All in all, probably not what GW wanted to do after fanfare of bigger attendance.

Shows you how serious US immigration takes stuff, and are well within their rights to go 'tough titty' and send thm back on the plane they came on.

Bet thats going to be a fun debrief.


EDIT: Looking at this more, why are folk saying that GW weren't alllowed to get into US, as that appears to be a lot of stuff already there and a GW staff member.

Is it just a few key staff guys got stopped or is this a rumour thats growing arms and legs and is in fact not true??

GW has staff in the US. They also had AoS stuff for the launch.

 Rick_1138 wrote:


EDIT: Looking at this more, why are folk saying that GW weren't alllowed to get into US, as that appears to be a lot of stuff already there and a GW staff member.

The staff there are apparently American, and the staff yesterday were from FW.

So it sounds as if the UK staff failed to turn up, FW covered for them whilst they brought in some US staff to cover properly.

Hopefully they had some briefing beforehand, and at least the stuff was already in the US.

Maybe reading actual rules would help them write better ones?

That makes more sense. So the stand we see in pics IS the stand that GW are taking to Gen Con, does seem a tad small, and tbh, VERY AoS centric.

But its their rodeo

MongooseMatt wrote:

 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.

Gen-Con isn't a business conference. It's a trade show, at best.

Business conferences are not things that sell tickets to the general public, and where you're trying to sell or advertise stuff.

Though, that's immaterial. The travel people at GW probably just didn't have all their ducks in a row.

 MWHistorian wrote:
Maybe reading actual rules would help them write better ones?

narrative forged

 Rick_1138 wrote:
That makes more sense. So the stand we see in pics IS the stand that GW are taking to Gen Con, does seem a tad small, and tbh, VERY AoS centric.

But its their rodeo

Well, yeah?

AoS is "the big thing" this summer. People know how to play 40k and The Hobbit, the stockists know what products they have, etc.

AoS is an unknown quantity as of right now.

God, GW is so Incompetent. Not the first time embarrassing stuff like this has happened.

Saldiven wrote:
The travel people at GW probably just didn't have all their ducks in a row.

Which is a little wild since the FW people apparently made it....