BMJ  2004;328:235 (24 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7433.235-a

reviews

SOUNDINGS

Land of the free

At the age of 19, I got a job lifeguarding at a kids' summer camp in America. I let slip to a colleague that I didn't have a work permit. Next day, I got a ride in a yellow car with the siren screaming just like in Starsky and Hutch, while handcuffed to a hunky cop. I got six hours of questioning and my mugshot and fingerprints taken by the FBI. And I got deported.

Six months ago, I was invited to give the opening keynote lecture at an international conference in New York. My visa application included an Undesirable Alien Form. I ticked the boxes to indicate that I did not plan any subversive or terrorist activities, and that I had never knowingly engaged in genocide.

I was summoned to the US embassy and took along six character references from seriously important people. After a body search, I waited three hours before explaining to a charming lady what evidence based medicine was. She told me that the conference sounded wonderful, and tapped my number into a computer. An automated message flashed. Her tone became frosty and she informed me that my file would be transferred upstairs.

I was shown into a room behind an air-locked door, guarded by a man with a submachine gun. I waited four more hours without food or water. I made friends with three other Undesirables. One had had a parking ticket; one had been arrested on a peace march; and one (a fellow academic) had been caught eating grapes in a supermarket queue in the early 1970s.

I was eventually called to a desk, charged a three-figure sum, and had another mugshot and more fingerprints taken. I was told to go home while my case was considered, and not to build up my hopes.

Several weeks later they wrote asking me to send in my passport as my visa had been granted, and to expect up to three weeks' wait.

The Post Office tells me that my passport was signed for at the embassy on 21 November 2003 at 11 27 am. The embassy's call centre tells me to submit an email inquiry, and the email inquiry service does not reply to my messages. I have reported my passport stolen and applied for a new one from the British authorities.

And if any Americans want to hear me lecture, they can come to me.

---

University College London

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

What a traumatic coincidence

Dr.Ali H Rasheed
bmj.com, 23 Jan 2004 [Full text]

I feel your pain.

Paul Cook
bmj.com, 23 Jan 2004 [Full text]

How does the UK treat its previous deportees?

Kenneth S. Wilson MD(Edin)
bmj.com, 24 Jan 2004 [Full text]

No previous convictions!

Gyan C. A. Fernando
bmj.com, 25 Jan 2004 [Full text]

what if the land come to you?!

Omar Khaireddin Alayoubi
bmj.com, 25 Jan 2004 [Full text]

Serves You Right , Trisha

Joseph .C . Obi
bmj.com, 30 Jan 2004 [Full text]

Unfriendly welcome

Nicky H G Whitaker
bmj.com, 26 Jan 2004 [Full text]

Is not UK the land of the free as well?

Prabhat K Mahapatra
bmj.com, 2 Feb 2004 [Full text]