From: Rich Graves <llurch@networking.stanford.edu>
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 20:29:48 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: How to enter the US without a visa?
In-Reply-To: <199603270702.XAA03414@dns2.noc.best.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.92.960326233221.5113A-100000@elaine41.Stanford.EDU>
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On Tue, 26 Mar 1996 jamesd@echeque.com wrote:

> This is somewhat off topic for cypherpunks, but alt.forgery is dead, so
> cypherpunks is probably the nearest group.

On the contrary, I think (undermining) the idea of state-defined identity
is pretty essential.

> But the thought struck me that this might not work for some one
> who hypothetically has a foreign appearance and a truly terrible
> accent.
>
> Now a fake greencard would probably work, but greencards have
> age and sex etc encoded on them, and conceivably they check them
> against a database, in which case it would be necessary to obtain
> the greencard number of a real person of the right age and sex,
> which is not easy.

Note that the original-style green cards are all going to become invalid
any day now. Don't remember exactly when. Hurry! Still, you can get a very
good forgery of the new style in, say, New York, Los Angeles, or Redwood
City for $100. The problem is, you need to be a part of the community
already to be able to find out, in a reasonable amount of time, where to
get the good forgeries without getting arrested. If you have the right
friends, like if you're a member of certain extended families in Matamoros
or New York's ChinaTown, then you can arrange to *borrow* a *real* green
card with a similar picture.

If this friend could pass for Latin American, you have it easy -- just
have him or her fly into Mexico and walk across the border. Unless
something major has changed in the last six months, there's such high
traffic, and there's so many people with no or *terrible* forgeries, that
people with passable forgeries can walk right through without a
technological verification. Very low risk, but very high potential cost.

Another option, much less commonly forged and somewhat less suspicious
than green cards, is a "stateless person travel document." These were
given mostly to refugees from the Communist Bloc. They look a lot like a
US Passport, are just as easy to forge, do not require a current picture
(in fact, they're probably more credible with a 4-year-old picture), and
in theory are accepted as equivalent to a US passport. An ex-girlfriend
from Czechoslovakia had one. The problem is, most line immigration
officials have never seen one, so you're likely to get bumped to a
supervisor; but if you have an acceptable ethnic background and decent
bullshitting skills in any language, you're in.

My ex never had any trouble getting into or out of Mexico, but she finally
got fed up with the incompetence of the line officers and became a
citizen, which despite her thirteen years in the US, perfect English, a
degree in political science from an Ivy-League school, and an internship
with the foreign service in DC one summer, was a two-year comedy of
incredible errors and incompetence at the INS. Example: once she sent them
some forms filled out in duplicate. The INS sent them back two months
later, requesting that she resubmit just one copy. They were later proven
wrong -- they did need two copies.

Understand that these are the people you're dealing with.

Finally, I assume your friend can swim. I would recommend avoiding Pacific
locales where chumming is commonly practiced.

-rich