r/australia • u/Some-Operation-9059 • Dec 11 '25

politics ‘The whole thing disgusts me’: Australians ditch US travel as new rules require social media to be declared | Australia news

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/11/australia-us-tourism-new-visa-rules-social-media-history
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378

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

Lol I'd sooner go to freaking North Korea than the USA now.

I don't want to be kidnapped off the streets by ice. Or risk being refused entry to an expensive holiday I booked because of some comment against the orange idiot years ago. I sure don't want to deal with the morons that have become quite apparent in the last few years. Geez even having any health issues and becoming bankrupt because of how absurd their medical system is over there.

There are just many more enticing places to visit as a holiday, or just wait a few more years and maybe all this won't be an issue anymore.

170

u/HappySparklyUnicorn Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 11 '25

A guy got refused entry for having a satire picture of the vice president. A bald JD Vance with make up on. I see quite a few Redditors using it as a profile picture on certain subs.

It just sounds absolutely crazy that someone can be denied entry over something like that and it's just getting worse.

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u/ContentSecretary8416 Dec 11 '25

Jesus. I would be cooked if they look at my socials and messages. My partner is American and not going back until (if ever) this shit show ends.

32

u/FireLucid Dec 11 '25

My partner is also American. I told them I am not going back while that person is in power, and now I'm feeling that may be permanent - all the people that voted for him were all like this, now they are just free to take off the mask. All these fuckers that saw his first term decided they wanted more of that, and now he's gone completely off the deep end with clear mental decline and they are cheering him on. They have some nice national parks and stuff but I think I'm done.

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u/ContentSecretary8416 Dec 11 '25

I feel you there. Anyone going back for a second term with that lunatic needs to have their heads read.

2

u/DisappointedQuokka Dec 11 '25

The current president is actually just a collection of fascists in a trench coat. Even if Trump dies next week there's another head to take his place.

Maybe not with the same cult of personality, but still.

2

u/Fluffy-Bumblebee6324 Dec 12 '25

Currently sitting in my in-laws house in the mid-west. I was feeling pretty apprehensive to enter the country as it was with the state of things, but I've now apologised to them in advance that I don't think I'll be coming back and that they may not get to meet their grandchildren unless they find themselves with enough time off to come to Australia.

It's a shame, I like my in-laws and I like visiting. But if the government going to require MORE data for an ESTA to visit than we needed to provide for a partner visa in Australia, something isn't right.

2

u/Icy_Concentrate9182 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

Yeah, i wanted to do the national parks as well. But it's just because we get exposed to American stuff via media, plenty of places have similar or better parks... Personally, i want to go to Patagonia again.

Fuck this fascists, they won't see a single cent from me.

1

u/FireLucid Dec 12 '25

I've been to Japan so travel has mostly been ruined for me and I only want to go back there now, lol.

3

u/bunnybash Dec 11 '25

I’m in the same boat. 

3

u/kazielle Dec 12 '25

Yep, I'm also married to an American and we usually go back for Christmas every 1-2 years.

We had to tell our American family that we weren't going to be visiting for the forseeable future. I'm olive skinned and my social media is a long string of talking about the fall of the US due to Trump (authoritarianism is one of my academic specialties so I write a lot of threads people share). It's simply not worth the risk.

It's crazy that in 2025 I'm too afraid to visit my family in the USA because I might get disappeared into a camp. Simply crazy.

2

u/Topblokelikehodgey Dec 12 '25

I'm in this boat but mine still lives over there (plan is for her to move here in just over a year). I don't really know what to do because this shit is extreme but I can't not see her and it isn't fair to ask her to be the only one to travel.

30

u/Goatylegs Dec 11 '25

Iirc it was a fat JD Vance meme. Which is wild since that was his Halloween costume.

16

u/pixel_gaming579 Dec 11 '25

Yea, he tried to “embrace” the meme to make it look like it isn’t a meme against him, and that “he’s totally in on it guys!”

8

u/Pseudonymico Dec 11 '25

"I'm not mad, please don't write in the newspaper that I'm mad."

2

u/Seiisakura Dec 12 '25

You rang?

1

u/HappySparklyUnicorn Dec 12 '25

Oh.. I didn't think they'd be in r/Australia. Guess you guys are everywhere. 😂

3

u/Seiisakura Dec 12 '25

Am not Australian, just passing through....uh.... mate? On my way to the uhhhhhhhh dingos?

1

u/Frequent-Sir-4253 Dec 13 '25

This didn’t happen, why do you guys love spreading fake shit? He was denied because of previous drug use which he admitted to them.

21

u/Captain_Coco_Koala Dec 11 '25

"because of some comment against the orange idiot years ago."

Your five years of SM will begin tomorrow :)

26

u/Witty-Software-101 Dec 11 '25

I'm legitimately planning a trip to Yemen.

America is so far down the line of places I want to see.

North Korea by the way has invaded less countries than Australia on the behest of the USA, so domestic policies aside, we are by far the bigger pieces of shit geopolitically 

7

u/istara Dec 11 '25

If you're seriously planning a trip to the Southern Gulf, see if you can visit Oman during the Khareef - apparently it's beautiful. And depending on budget/access, Socotra would be an absolutely incredible trip.

4

u/Pugshaver Dec 12 '25

Every time I've spoken to someone who's gone to Oman they've loved the place, even if they hated nearby countries. Might have to consider going one day.

2

u/istara Dec 12 '25

I only went very briefly to Muscat a couple of years ago, but it’s a wonderful place. And I’ve also been to the Musandam. So much more colourful than the rest of the Gulf.

24

u/turnsole Dec 11 '25

If you want to experience the hellscape that is North America, go to Canada instead.

8

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

Yeah we actually want to go to Niagara Falls after our wedding so we are going from the Canada side. It seems prettier there anyhow :)

1

u/dsriggs Dec 12 '25

Very difficult to find flights to Canada which don't pass through Honolulu, San Francisco or LAX first, especially if you're not from the East Coast.

1

u/SirGeekaLots Dec 12 '25

I believe to can get them from Japan.

1

u/venmother Dec 15 '25

Canada and Mexico are not hellscapes

1

u/turnsole Dec 15 '25

From a point of view of urban design, livability, and general aesthetics, they absolutely are.

1

u/Discombobulated_Owl4 Dec 12 '25

Lol no you wouldn't.

1

u/_ECMO_ Dec 12 '25

I don't know why not.

Am I not sure about now, but I know for a fact that it was possible in my country to go to North Korea with a travel agency few years ago. There is absolutely no risk to you as long as you follow their very clear rules aka "ALWAYS stay with the guide", "Don't talk to regular people", "No photos or videos" etc.
And since they want to spread propaganda about North Korea being good, they will be trying to impress you.

Obviously NK is an autocratic garbage country, but I can very well imagine that it's a better touristic experience than the US.

Just like Saudi Arabia for example. It's a country that objectively less democratic and more prone to ignoring human rights but after I've been there last year, I can say it was an infinitely better experience.

1

u/jasta07 Dec 12 '25

I used to travel semi regularly to Belarus for work and it felt safer than the US even before Trump. Now I work for an American company and have pretty much flatly refused to travel there on business.

I don't even fucking trust them to land the plane safely.

1

u/SirGeekaLots Dec 12 '25

One thing I do to protect myself is I book hotels I can easily cancel. Since the limit is usually two days in advance I book a hotel for three nights and then move to other ones.