Zeroing the shipin New York?

[ballroom-cruisers]

Some time ago there were some posts saying that policy on zeroing the ship in New York was being changed so that if you were continuing on beyond New York, then you did not need to go through US immigration off the ship.  I have not seen any more about that change of policy. Does anybody know if this did actually happen, or what the policy on that in the future is in terms of official immigration policy for transit passengers on the ship in New York?

Edited March 16, 2023 by ballroom-cruisers
typo

[frankp01]

I'm not sure that policy changed. In San Francisco this past February everyone had to disembark, even those not planning to go ashore.

[ballroom-cruisers]

23 hours ago, frankp01 said:

I'm not sure that policy changed. In San Francisco this past February everyone had to disembark, even those not planning to go ashore.

 

Thanks for adding some input - I did wonder why the original posts led to no more information.

[lissie]

I can't imagine it will change. USA has never had transit facilities at airports - you always have to pass immigration even if  all you are doing is getting on another flight to another country. The zeroing thing on arrival at the first USA port is the the cruise version of that . 

[TheOldBear]

Back when ocean liners had steam engines, immigration / passport formalities were performed on board by US Customs officials, similar to the way UK Border officials work on eastbound crossings today.

[exlondoner]

5 hours ago, TheOldBear said:

Back when ocean liners had steam engines, immigration / passport formalities were performed on board by US Customs officials, similar to the way UK Border officials work on eastbound crossings today.

And more recently. For instance on our first crossing in 1997, and a Canada/New England trip in 2001. I think it is something to do with database access after 9/11.

[ace2542]

8 hours ago, lissie said:

I can't imagine it will change. USA has never had transit facilities at airports - you always have to pass immigration even if  all you are doing is getting on another flight to another country. The zeroing thing on arrival at the first USA port is the the cruise version of that . 

I have heard that back in the day in the 90s before 9/11 on a cruise ship they did the immigration at sea and if you didn't attend they didn't chase you and you just got off the ship in Miami if you went for that sort of thing

[exlondoner]

34 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

I have heard that back in the day in the 90s before 9/11 on a cruise ship they did the immigration at sea and if you didn't attend they didn't chase you and you just got off the ship in Miami if you went for that sort of thing

I don’t know about Miami or cruise ships, but certainly on QE2, I seem to remember announcements reminding people to go.

[ace2542]

10 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I don’t know about Miami or cruise ships, but certainly on QE2, I seem to remember announcements reminding people to go.

They never chased you though did they? They will never allow people to remain on the ship even if departing without doing immigration I don't think. What if you are banned from the USA for some reason. I don't think they will let you sit on the ship if shouldn't be in the country.

[exlondoner]

22 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

They never chased you though did they? They will never allow people to remain on the ship even if departing without doing immigration I don't think. What if you are banned from the USA for some reason. I don't think they will let you sit on the ship if shouldn't be in the country.

They didn’t chase me because they didn’t have to, as I attended when asked. I should imagine they had plenty of time, even on a five day crossing, to chase up non-attenders, as I imagine border force staff still do when going the other way.

 

And logically, if you shouldn’t be in the country, wouldn’t it be better if you stayed on the ship?

Edited March 20, 2023 by exlondoner

[ace2542]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

And logically, if you shouldn’t be in the country, wouldn’t it be better if you stayed on the ship?

You can do so far as I am aware fly over America to Cuba or Mexico without an esta and presumably if you are banned from the country. Though I have no idea what would have happen if that plane had to land for some reason. I assume you might be in a lot of trouble. That having been said I don't think you could cruise without visa or esta though.

 

Back in the 90s they never chased up apparently. You could walk off in Miami without ever having done immigration and walk into the country illegally without inspection.

[lissie]

13 hours ago, ace2542 said:

I have heard that back in the day in the 90s before 9/11 on a cruise ship they did the immigration at sea and if you didn't attend they didn't chase you and you just got off the ship in Miami if you went for that sort of thing

That's different - plenty/most countries get their immigration to board prior to arrival and do the paperwork prior to arrival . I suppose the problem with trans-Atlantics is that its 7 days.  Australia fly officers to join in PNG or Indonesia to do clearance before arrival. 

 

My first "visit" to the USA was in the middle of the 80s when I flew Continental from Australia to Vancouver with a change of plane in Honolulu - had to do the whole thing how long are you staying in USA interview -  to which the answer was - about 3 hours. So they've never had air-side tranist unlike every other country I've been to .