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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

226 points proberts | 2 comments | 05 Dec 25 16:04 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

As usual, there are countless immigration topics and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with. Please remember that I can't provide legal advice on specific cases for obvious liability reasons because I won't have access to all the facts. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and comments and I'll do the same in my answers!

Previous threads we've done: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=proberts.

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miotintherain ◴[05 Dec 25 16:44 UTC] No.46163747[source]▶
Hi Peter, thanks for the AMA!

I work for an American company and I am based in Europe. I visit the US for work every now and then. I heard a lot of horror stories regarding border entries. If I am ever in a situation where the border police asks for access to my personal phone and pin code, what are my options? Can I refuse and what happens then?

replies(6): >>46164511 #>>46164632 #>>46165193 #>>46165959 #>>46168483 #>>46173015 #
ripplebob ◴[05 Dec 25 19:17 UTC] No.46165959[source]▶
Why not just carry a burner phone or buy a blank one and restore it after customs from backup?
replies(1): >>46167461 #
trollbridge ◴[05 Dec 25 21:19 UTC] No.46167461[source]▶
One of the latest tricks is that if you have social media accounts yet no social media apps or accounts are loaded on your phone, or your phone appears to be a burner phone, they'll ask you why you didn't bring your main, primary phone.

So your "burner phone" needs to be your primary phone, which is something that is hard to go back in time to fix.

replies(3): >>46167793 #>>46168063 #>>46171685 #
smcin ◴[06 Dec 25 08:38 UTC] No.46171685[source]▶
It's in general possible to only access social media via browser, not apps.
replies(1): >>46173067 #
1. trollbridge ◴[06 Dec 25 13:09 UTC] No.46173067{3}[source]▶
Which makes no difference since they’ll just ask you for your social media handles.
replies(1): >>46194909 #
2. smcin ◴[08 Dec 25 17:17 UTC] No.46194909[source]▶
It makes a difference since if you're not logged in to them in browser they are less likely to know which ones you use.