20 March 2025, 18:57
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Alamy
The UK has updated travel advice for the United States warning of tough consequences for Brits who break US immigration rules.
The updated advice warns Brits that anyone found breaking entry rules could face arrest or possible detention.
Current British travel advice for the United States published online by Britain’s foreign office stated:
“You should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry. The authorities in the U.S. set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.”
Archived versions of the same website showed that at the beginning of February, the guidance had only stated: “The authorities in the U.S. set and enforce entry rules.”
The foreign office has declined to comment on the reason for the change to the wording, or confirm when exactly it took place.
It said its travel advice was designed to help people make decisions and the advice was constantly kept under review.
It comes after a British tourist was held in a US immigration detention centre for three weeks.
Rebecca Burke was detained while on a four-month backpacking trip around North America.
The 28-year-old from Monmouthshire was trying to cross into the state of Washington when she was refused entry, after trying to enter Canada.
Burke was planning to stay with a host family – where she would carry out domestic chores in exchange for accommodation – and was told she should have applied for a working visa, instead of a tourist visa.
Canadian authorities refused her entry, instead telling her to go back to the US and fill in new paperwork before returning to cross into Canada.
When she tried to re-enter the US, she was handcuffed and put in a cell before being taken to Tacoma Northwest detention facility in Washington state.
She was eventually released.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: “We supported a British national who was detained in the USA and were in contact with the local authorities.”
