Some people believe that lies to immigration officials are acceptable, others feel that one should answer honestly or not at all. To the extent that "naive stupid" means the same thing as "honest and principled", you are correct. Perhaps he should have sought legal advice before entering, but I would presume that the author made this choice consciously based on his personal values. I wouldn't insult him by calling him naive and stupid unless you are certain your personal values are better than his.
Re:Screw it – Travelling and not arriving
by fdiotalevi on Friday November 26, 2010 @05:53PM
(#1943584)
Hi, I'm the OP of the blog post.
Just to clarify (as I did in the comments section of my blog). You can say whatever you want when you go through customs: that's just a summary screening.
But when you go to the secondary check, you have to give a sworn statement; and they do some clever tricks to "warn" you and suggest you to tell the truth.
Re:Screw it – Travelling and not arriving
by rbarooah on Friday November 26, 2010 @02:01PM
(#1943001)
Indeed - what you say is very important. You can legally enter on the visa waiver in order to attend business meetings. If you do this for extended periods you will probably be required too prove that you aren't being paid, have your residence overseas, etc. (IANAL)
In my experience a good immigration attorney is requirement for doing any of thus kind of thing otherwise you're taking an uninformed risk.
I can't think of any way that the customs officials could have known that he was going to do work unless he told them. It seems to me then that the naive stupid thing was not trying to enter on a tourist visa, but telling the officials that he wasn't really a tourist. When dealing with government officials, a little discretion can go a long way.