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

226 points proberts | 1 comments | 05 Dec 25 16:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | 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?

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proberts ◴[05 Dec 25 18:26 UTC] No.46165193[source]▶
You are within your rights to say no but if you say no, almost certainly CBP will assume that you are hiding something and deny you admission.
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ToucanLoucan[dead post] ◴[05 Dec 25 18:29 UTC] No.46165239[source]▶
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flanked-evergl[dead post] ◴[05 Dec 25 19:15 UTC] No.46165940[source]▶
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wrs ◴[05 Dec 25 20:01 UTC] No.46166512[source]▶
Who said anything about a “right to enter”? This is just about not massively invading visitors’ privacy for no good reason.

Of course, if you just don’t want anyone with intelligence or dignity to visit the country, this is great policy.

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rdtsc ◴[05 Dec 25 20:33 UTC] No.46166871{4}[source]▶
Not op and may not agree with them but the original comment was how I read it "...we ostensibly have rights but the exercising of rights is ...".

We're talking about a non-citizen on a visitor visa and there is just simply no legal right to enter if the port of entry official don't like their answers or behavior. They can't say "you have to let me in, it's my right".

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1. wrs ◴[06 Dec 25 19:19 UTC] No.46175868{5}[source]▶
My concern here is the behavior of the official and their bosses, not the visitor. No one has a right to politeness or professionalism from the official either, but as a citizen paying their salary, and a citizen with pride in my country, I expect it from them.

“Rights” aren’t the point. I have a right to refuse entry to a police officer without a warrant, but if an officer puts me in the position of having to explicitly exercise that right, we should be disappointed in them and their chief, not me.