VENZwife
07-30-2007, 04:34 PM
German researcher denied access to U.S., Black Hat
Posted by Robert Vamosi July 29, 2007 10:29 PM PDT
German researcher Thomas Dullien (better known as "Halvar Flake") says he was denied entry to the United States on Sunday because he was planning to attend the Black Hat security conference as a private citizen, and thus subject to H-1B visa regulations.
As Halvar Flake, Dullien previously attended or presented at the Black Hat USA conference over the last seven years and never had a problem, he wrote in a personal blog about Sunday's incident.
Dullien was scheduled to teach a training course called "Analyzing Software for Security Vulnerabilities" on Monday and Tuesday. Billed as an "intense course encompassing binary analysis, reverse engineering and bug finding," the training materials in Dullien's luggage prompted U.S. Customs officials to detain him for four-and-a-half hours. No word yet on who will teach the two-day training session, which costs $2,400 to attend.
Dullien, who is also CEO of the German company Sabre Security, was told that since he was basically an employee of Black Hat, under contract to teach a training session, he would need a H-1B visa. He offered to change his application to show that instead he was representing a security company at the Black Hat conference. Unfortunately, since Dullien applied for and was turned down under the visa waiver program, he said in his blog, he would now have to apply for a business visa, a process which could take several days or weeks. It's ironic since he's previously given trainings and lectures in the U.S. to various branches of the U.S. government.
Dullien concludes his blog stating: "All this seems pretty crazy to me. From the point that 2 days of trainings constitute work that requires an H-1B visa, via the issue that everything could've been avoided if I had been allowed to set up the agreement with Black Hat immediately, to the fact that setting up the agreement once I am back in Germany and flying in again is not sufficient, all reeks of a bureaucracy creating work for itself, at the expense of (U.S.-)taxpayer money."
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It kills me how many people I talk to (especially my family and friends) don't realize just how complicated and ridiculously bureaucratic it is to come to the US legally. They wonder why there are so many illegals in the country, and why they don't just do it the legal way! This is an exact quote that my mother made a couple of months ago, when she and I were watching a news story about illegal immigration. "I don't see why they just don't go get a passport, I just went to the post office and got mine. Is it that they can't afford it, or do they just don't want to? There is no excuse for not having your documents. I always carry mine when I go out of the country." She doesn't realize that its not like it is here, where you can go to pretty much visit any country with just a passport. I tried to tell her about visas, and how US citizens would need one too, if they wanted to do anything other than just visit for a few days/weeks. After a little bit of explanation, she seemed to understand that, but she still didn't believe me when I told her that you just can't go apply for any type of visa and get one, even a visitor's visa. She is convinced that anyone without a criminal record would be able to get one, and that if they applied for one, the only reason they wouldn't get one is if they had done something wrong.
I think the problem with our immigration system is mostly a product of misinformation and lack of knowledge on the part of US citizens. If more people were informed (especially more politicians) of how it actually works, there would be more done to fix it!
Posted by Robert Vamosi July 29, 2007 10:29 PM PDT
German researcher Thomas Dullien (better known as "Halvar Flake") says he was denied entry to the United States on Sunday because he was planning to attend the Black Hat security conference as a private citizen, and thus subject to H-1B visa regulations.
As Halvar Flake, Dullien previously attended or presented at the Black Hat USA conference over the last seven years and never had a problem, he wrote in a personal blog about Sunday's incident.
Dullien was scheduled to teach a training course called "Analyzing Software for Security Vulnerabilities" on Monday and Tuesday. Billed as an "intense course encompassing binary analysis, reverse engineering and bug finding," the training materials in Dullien's luggage prompted U.S. Customs officials to detain him for four-and-a-half hours. No word yet on who will teach the two-day training session, which costs $2,400 to attend.
Dullien, who is also CEO of the German company Sabre Security, was told that since he was basically an employee of Black Hat, under contract to teach a training session, he would need a H-1B visa. He offered to change his application to show that instead he was representing a security company at the Black Hat conference. Unfortunately, since Dullien applied for and was turned down under the visa waiver program, he said in his blog, he would now have to apply for a business visa, a process which could take several days or weeks. It's ironic since he's previously given trainings and lectures in the U.S. to various branches of the U.S. government.
Dullien concludes his blog stating: "All this seems pretty crazy to me. From the point that 2 days of trainings constitute work that requires an H-1B visa, via the issue that everything could've been avoided if I had been allowed to set up the agreement with Black Hat immediately, to the fact that setting up the agreement once I am back in Germany and flying in again is not sufficient, all reeks of a bureaucracy creating work for itself, at the expense of (U.S.-)taxpayer money."
_____
It kills me how many people I talk to (especially my family and friends) don't realize just how complicated and ridiculously bureaucratic it is to come to the US legally. They wonder why there are so many illegals in the country, and why they don't just do it the legal way! This is an exact quote that my mother made a couple of months ago, when she and I were watching a news story about illegal immigration. "I don't see why they just don't go get a passport, I just went to the post office and got mine. Is it that they can't afford it, or do they just don't want to? There is no excuse for not having your documents. I always carry mine when I go out of the country." She doesn't realize that its not like it is here, where you can go to pretty much visit any country with just a passport. I tried to tell her about visas, and how US citizens would need one too, if they wanted to do anything other than just visit for a few days/weeks. After a little bit of explanation, she seemed to understand that, but she still didn't believe me when I told her that you just can't go apply for any type of visa and get one, even a visitor's visa. She is convinced that anyone without a criminal record would be able to get one, and that if they applied for one, the only reason they wouldn't get one is if they had done something wrong.
I think the problem with our immigration system is mostly a product of misinformation and lack of knowledge on the part of US citizens. If more people were informed (especially more politicians) of how it actually works, there would be more done to fix it!