I hadn't heard of Clare Melford before, but she's in Wikipedia, and alive and kicking. She tackles disinformation and untruthful practices in commercial marketing - the tricks, for instance, used by leading US tech companies to create demand for their products. Her words and speeches on these subjects have earned her the disapproval of the US government, who are now looking at what influential people like her have said on social media when considering visa applications. Basically, she has asserted that free and truthful speech is dying in the USA. Her reward for pointing this out: no visa.
Ha.
This could matter to everyone else whose surname is Melford. Such as myself. Such as my namesake (a Google search on 'Lucy Melford' gets us both: try not to confuse us!) And when I last looked, there were some two hundred other people in this country with the surname Melford and known to the Internet. A small enough number for those in charge of US border security to assume that we might all be related, or at least connected by marriage, and may all share the same risky opinions. It would be crass if they did; but anecdotal evidence (and personal observation) suggests that officialdom is generally unsubtle and broad-brush in its treatment of foreigners.
So if I (and possibly anyone else by the name of Melford) were to apply for a US visa, I think there is a real likelihood that it would be turned down, on the same ground as Clare Melford's application has been.
I am not annoyed with her. She is absolutely right to uphold good principles that should be important to everyone. The US authorities are the ones who are wrong. But it's unfortunate and awkward for all Melfords.
I don't have to visit the USA; I may never need to, or even want to; but many other Melfords will have reason to go there, and they could all now be barred, regardless of whether they have actually said anything critical of the US government on social media or anywhere else.
But even if Clare Melford had got her visa, I am not sure I'd be able to get one for myself. There was a bit of a problem at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) when I passed through in 2007 on a one-night stopover, en route to New Zealand. The short and belligerent Hispanic person who queried my green form, and glared at me, did not believe that I was an ordinary traveller. He stamped the form to let me in with great reluctance. I feel that form may have been scanned into a 'Person of Doubtful Identity' folder, forever on record, and instantly available onscreen if I ever try to enter the USA again. Do I want to test that?
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