0566 Houston, Anacortes, and out of here......

 21^st July – 11^th Aug 2016

But not before yet another Twist in the Tale !

So having had to settle for the more expensive option of shipping the car out of Seattle due to the unwillingness of the Los Angeles CBP to check for the correct shipping requirements for a tourist vehicle, I set off to Houston Texas to spend 10 days with my daughter Sarah, her husband Benn, and their daughter Olivia who was celebrating her second birthday on the 22^nd July.  Janet had also flown over from Australia to join in the celebration, and I was looking forward to a breather now that all this drama with the shipping was sorted out.  But now I had another issue to deal with – My 90 day ESTA visa waiver allowance for the USA was running out !!!

The weather in Houston in the summer time is horrible (IMHO) – Very hot, humid, and just generally not good.  But the airconditioning is good !  It was wonderful to have the opportunity to get to know grand daughter Olivia a little since the last time I had seen her was in Perth at Christmas 2014 when she was just 4 months old.  She accepted me as soon as I walked in the door, and basically I spent the next 10 days reading stories, watching videos, feeding ducks, sharing breakfast at her little table, and generally enjoying getting to know her.  And she had a wonderful birthday party (with the emphasis on dinosaurs !), and we were able to meet some of Benn and Sarah’s friends, and sample some of Benn’s excellent home brew beer which is available on tap in the kitchen !

In addition, we had some fun outings, and Benn was able to juggle his work commitments to even take a day off when we all drove down to Galveston for an explore, and had a great seafood lunch overlooking the (rather flat and muddy) Gulf of Mexico.  Galveston has a spotted history of floods, hurricanes, and trade, and in the 1920’s its business centred on casinos and other vice businesses, and it became known as Sin City nationally !  When these were all closed down in the 1960’s, it went into a period of stagnation, and today it is a bit bleak and sad, and strung out down the coast, and I am not sure it would be my primary vacation destination. Nevertheless we had a great day exploring down there, had our lunch, before driving home via Kemah which is more interesting, and we spent a while at the Amusement Centre there. While Janet took Olivia on a couple of little people rides, Benn and I tried in vain to win a big teddy bear by throwing hoops onto bottles, and then we went to go on our one ride on a wonderful old wooden framed roller coaster – Only to be told it was closed due to an impending thunder storm !  Everything round here closes if there is any threat of lightening, so we sat for a while and had a drink, before realizing this might take forever.  Unfortunately they do not give ticket refunds for any reason, so we gave our tickets to another family who were prepared to wait longer, and headed home. It had taken me a while to pluck up the courage to do the roller coaster, so I was a bit flat when we left !!

Meanwhile, I was trying to deal with my expiring ESTA permit.  The issue here is probably more stupid than the car export deal I have had to face, so I will try to explain.

Instead of getting a visa for the USA now, people from certain countries can apply for a Visa Waiver, called an ESTA, and this allows you to stay in the US for up to 90 days.  The ESTA is valid for 2 years, but you can only stay in the country for 90 days at a time, and they don’t like to extend it without a valid reason. Stupidly, because the US has a Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico, any time spent in Canada or Mexico counts against your USA 90 day total.  I say stupidly because now Canada has just introduced its own Visa Waiver system called an ETA with a validity of 180 days, so how can time spent in a country with its own Visa Waiver system count against that from another country ????

At the start of this trip I had shipped the car into Canada, but my flight to Halifax from Europe and Iceland actually came through New York where I was in transit for a few hours – Never left the airport.  But US regulations say you must have an ESTA even if you are in transit, so my US ESTA 90 day clock started ticking on the 29^th April.  I then spent the next 42 days in Canada with my 180 day Canadian visa waiver period starting on 1^st May.  As you know, I then crisscrossed the US / Canadian border several times as I made my way westward across the country, finally entering the US on the 13^th July, by which time I had spent a total of 54 days in Canada and only 20 days in the USA.

But according to the rules, my US ESTA 90 period would run out on the 29^th July.  So to try to do the right thing, I contacted the USCIS (Customs and Immigration) and explained that I wanted to extend my 90 day period just until my car was exported and I flew out on the 11^th August – An extension of 13 days.  When I explained about my delays due to mechanical issues, and also the problems in shipping my car out due to the recalcitrant CBP office in Los Angeles, they agreed I had a valid reason for an extension, and told me to apply for an interview online – the only way it can be arranged.

Unfortunately the system is way over loaded, and although I tried continuously for some 3 days, there were apparently no interview slots available, and all I ever got was a message saying “Currently, there are no available appointments. Please check again tomorrow.”  3 days later I even called the USCIS back and told them I couldn’t get an interview booking and my visa waiver period was about to expire, and was told to “keep trying” as there was no other way to do it.

On the 29^th July, when my waiver period expired, I gave up, and was now in the country illegally !!!   And if I was to fly out of the USA, on inspecting my passport as I left the country they would realise I had overstayed my visa period.  I needed to find a way around this problem for myself, because it was very clear that the US Government was not going to provide me with any assistance, neither with exporting my car nor with exporting myself !

On thinking about it, the solution was simple.  I realised when crossing the US / Canadian borders by road that when you leave one country, you do not pass through any exit office or procedures so they do not check your passport.  Only the country you are entering checks your passport.  So if I drove out of the USA no one would see I was over the US time limit, and since Canada give you 180 days per visit, I could quite legally enter Canada !  So I booked a flight back to Australia out of Vancouver  !  Trouble is that most flights go via Los Angeles, and if I did that route I would be unable to get back into the USA even in transit !  Eventually I found a direct flight from Vancouver to Brisbane, and booked that. 

I then spent some time trying to work out exactly how the Canadian ETA visa waiver system worked to make sure I wasn't missing some important detail.  I couldn’t believe or understand how Canada could give you 180 days, and the USA only 90 days, and yet both keep ticking down even if you are in the other country. Then in an obscure Help section on the Canadian Government website I found a section that said “A border services officer at the port of entry in Canada will determine how long you can stay in Canada. Most visitors are allowed a six-month stay from the day they entered Canada. If the officer authorizes a stay of less than six months, they will indicate in your passport the date by which you must leave Canada.”  So I then quickly checked my passport, and was relieved to find that my Canadian stamps are not dated, and therefore (presumably) I am allowed the full 180 days. 

Armed with this information, I am now confidant that I will be able to escape from the USA, and also be able to enter Canada legally in order to catch my flight on the 11^th.  If you are reading this, then that is what has happened !  I have decided NOT to post the details of these recent occurrences in my blog until AFTER I have escaped because I am making it quite clear what I think of the ridiculous Customs and Border Protection and Visa Waiver procedures that are just SO inconsistent, and with electronic scanning of documents so common, I do not want there to be any possible repercussions while I am still here !!

The final Twist came a couple of days ago.  The shipping company advised me that despite my delivery of the car to the port on the 2^nd August as required, the yard was so busy they were unable to get my car loaded out on the vessel on the 9^th August, and it has now been rebooked on another vessel which now leaves Seattle on the 26^th August !!  So not only am I no longer going to be here until I know the car has safely sailed, but additionally my clean car will have sat for over 3 weeks in some filthy warehouse collecting dust and grime and American spider webs which are going to cause me problems with Australian Quarantine when the car finally arrives there. Plus I presume that by the time she arrives in Brisbane she will have a totally flat battery because while I know she can last 4 weeks, 8 weeks is stretching it a little in terms of battery life !

Long and short of it is that this has all really been quite an upsetting experience to finish off my wonderful (and relatively hassle free !!) 2 ½ year adventure.  I just cannot believe the issues with the CBP office in Los Angeles – The fact that they can demand different (and incorrect) documentation than any other port in the US stuns me, and makes some of the requirements of supposedly troublesome border crossings in Central and South America look logical and reasonable in comparison.  And the fact that you cannot discuss the situation with them makes it even more frustrating – If Officer Eugene says “NO”, that’s it, no discussion allowed.

And then to throw this confusing ESTA / ETA issue in as well, just adds to the stupidity of the whole system.  How can two neighbouring countries have different visa validity periods, and yet stipulate that time spent in another country counts against their own visa period ?  I mean, either you have the same procedure in both countries and you work together on it, or you have separate ones.  But you can’t have a bit of each !!  Well, maybe you can, but then the system won’t work.

Totally ridiculous.  And I leave the USA with a very sour taste in my mouth at how inefficient and inflexible and unworkable some of their systems are once you really explore them.

STOP PRESS :-  I am at Vancouver airport, and out of here !!!  When leaving Anacortes were were overtaken by a Border Security vehicle and I thought they had caught me !  But they turned off, and after an hour or so we crossed the border without a problem - The Canadian Immigration guy even wished me a pleasant flight !  Now I just have a 15 hour flight non stop to Brisbane - Lets hope we don't have to make an unscheduled detour and land anywhere in the USA for any reason !!

Just as a footnote, the issue of paperwork for a vehicle really is crazy here.  If you ship a car into the USA by sea, then you have to get EPA clearance before shipping, as well as import permission, and then you can only have the car in the USA / Canada / Mexico (NAFTA again) for a maximum of one year.  And if you do not advise the EPA when you leave, with copies of the documentation, then you are up for a $25,000 fine.  But if you drive into the USA from Mexico or Canada, you need absolutely no paperwork for your car except a valid registration document, and can keep it in the country for as long as you like.   Go figure !!!

So by shipping my car into Canada I did away with all that EPA rubbish as well as the time restriction - But then I ran into the CBP officer from Hell in Los Angeles !   Just my luck !  Maybe if I had been in Los Angeles and been able to meet the Officer-with-a-problem face to face, it maybe might have got resolved.  But circumstances meant I couldn't drive on down to LA, so that was that. But if I do it all again, I will certainly ship it into Canada again, but I will write to the CBP in advance and get a clarification of the rules up front !!

Ref photos, I will have to try to work out how to work with Google instead of Picasa, so give me a few days to work on this !! 
OK, think this should work - Took me a while !!   https://goo.gl/photos/2pbmGL7wybmPwQEJ8