jens Anso didn't make it to blade...

B

bilestoad

Joined
Jan 28, 2002
Messages
285
I don't know if this has been posted here already. If it has I apologise.

Jens was coming to the USA for his very first show as an exhibitor. He got as far as the airport in Atlanta and was refused entry because he had the wrong visa.

Folks, you MUST make sure all your documentation is in order before you travel. In Jens's case he properly applied for a visa and got one, but didn't get issued the correct one.

The result was spending 7 hours in the airport and then being escorted back to a plane for the ride home.

He does however have alot of knives to sell. :D
 
I heard that. I was very upset by it.

The problem was simply that he was to honest and the officials were to pedantic. He does not need a work visa to attend a three-day trade show. When asked the purpose of his visit, he should have said, "To attend an industry trade show." They would have stamped him right on in. But once you utter the W word (work), you have to have a work visa. Darn it.

:mad: (and that my be my first use of that emoticon on this forum)

I certainly hope that this won't discourage him from coming next year, this time with the proper paperwork.
 
Just a quick update. I've been told that Blade is going to refund the money Jens paid for his table. Pretty nice of them I thought.
 
That is a nice gesture on Blade's part. We have friends going to Europe for 3 weeks next week. Someone told the wife that she could use her passport with her maiden name on it, although plane tickets will have married name, etc. Turned out not to be true, so she had to call in "sick" to work, drive a few hours to Chicago, etc etc to get the new passport with matching names, etc. The husband doesn't have international travel experience and was furious. All I could say was "better to find out now than at the airport, buddy!" I don't think he understood. Anyway, too bad Jens couldn't get in.
 
It seems Jens wasn't the only knifemaker to be given a hard time.

A couple of the South African knifemakers encountered customs troubles, and some even had knives confiscated. They had done their "paperwork homework" very carefully prior to going, seems like that wasn't good enough.
 
HiltonP said:
It seems Jens wasn't the only knifemaker to be given a hard time.

A couple of the South African knifemakers encountered customs troubles, and some even had knives confiscated. They had done their "paperwork homework" very carefully prior to going, seems like that wasn't good enough.
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As I understood it, those were issues with Customs, not Passport Control, and were issues with Ivory. US Customs is extremely sensitive about Ivory and other endangered species stuff. Keep in mind that US law is not harmonized with the international treaties on the subject and is actually more restrictive.
 
Gollnick said:
But once you utter the W word (work), you have to have a work visa. Darn it.
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Sorry Chuck, Jens didn't say "work". He said "sell". And that would require the proper paperwork for Tax/income purposes. Jens is well supported by his friends and customers. As a matter of fact, I was able to score a Fixed Chinese from him.
 
Gollnick said:
As I understood it, those were issues with Customs, not Passport Control, and were issues with Ivory. US Customs is extremely sensitive about Ivory and other endangered species stuff. Keep in mind that US law is not harmonized with the international treaties on the subject and is actually more restrictive.
Click to expand...

I just got a catalog from a company in MD that takes production knives and customizes them with ivory, damascus bolsters etc, and for every piece of ivory they sell on a knife, it has both an international and an American numeric registry code. That sucks that some knives were confiscated, but I'm glad to hear that Anso is getting a refund. I hope the in flight movies were at least tolerable.
 
Gollnick said:
As I understood it, those were issues with Customs, not Passport Control, and were issues with Ivory. US Customs is extremely sensitive about Ivory and other endangered species stuff. Keep in mind that US law is not harmonized with the international treaties on the subject and is actually more restrictive.
Click to expand...

I would be surprised to find it involved ivory. The SA guys wouldn't have risked such a long and expensive journey on such an item. My understanding is that there was a lot of red tape required for natural materials, this was all duly completed, to the Nth degree, but this does not appear to have been sufficient.
 
HiltonP said:
I would be surprised to find it involved ivory. The SA guys wouldn't have risked such a long and expensive journey on such an item. My understanding is that there was a lot of red tape required for natural materials, this was all duly completed, to the Nth degree, but this does not appear to have been sufficient.
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Having talked to one of the companions of one of those involved, I know it involved ivory.

And, the accounts I heard from knowledgable people at Bladeshow was that Mr. Anso's problem was a visa problem, not just a tax issue.

But, I don't care to debate about other people's misfortunes and problems.
 
Gollnick said:
And, the accounts I heard from knowledgable people at Bladeshow was that Mr. Anso's problem was a visa problem, not just a tax issue.
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OK Chuck. Let me repeat myself solwly this time. Jens himself (as in first hand information, not third hand) said it had to do with a Visa. The circumstances was because he admitted the knives were for sale. It was explained to him that his Visitor Visa does not give him permission to sell anything during his visit. If he wants to attend Blade next year, he would have to get a Worker's Visa, not because he wants to work in the US, but because selling his knives will generate said income.

Let me know if I need to make it simpler.
 
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