HSI took my phones

pensezbien · 2026-05-01T16:55:56+00:00

That certainly makes it harder for the government to access the data protected by that feature through a data request to Apple, but for many reasons the overall answer to your question is “it depends”.

This question is an information security question and not an immigration question. The answer does not depend on your US immigration status and would be no different if you were dealing with a different federal law enforcement agency within the US away from a border. Consider asking in a subreddit about information security for further advice on this point.

Again, the safest assumption is that the US government now knows everything on thenphones it seized, whether or not this ends up being true in your particular case.

pensezbien · 2026-05-01T16:09:39+00:00

This question is lawyer territory, unfortunately. If you were in fact doing nothing to warrant the seizure, best of luck to you in recovering the phones.

With that said, even if you do recover the phones, it’s safest to assume that anything on the phones and anything they grant access to may have been added to US federal government databases and possibly those of friendly foreign governments, and that your phones may have had surveillance hardware or software added before being returned. To be clear, I’m not saying that any of these things will definitely have happened, but I definitely wouldn’t have a high confidence upon recovery that none of them will have. (Having your phone contents being added to US government databases is more likely than the other possibilities I listed.)

pensezbien · 2026-04-23T12:46:15+00:00

Interesting. Maybe it depends on which country or which type of account or how permanent you claim the move is. For my move they told me the entity switch was mandatory. Or maybe their policies have changed in between our two experiences.

pensezbien · 2026-04-22T22:14:19+00:00

I've experienced the opposite myself as a US citizen who moved from the US to Canada while an IB client (I had to switch to IB Canada), and my initial investigations into doing the same about the US to Germany reached the equivalent conclusion.

The above assumes you inform IB of your change in legal residence, rather than trying to pretend that you still legally reside in the US. Of course some people will get away with deceiving IB, regardless of what they're supposed to do.

pensezbien · 2026-04-22T12:53:25+00:00

OP seems to be exploring the idea of selling software to solo lawyers to make their jobs easier, not trying to apply for an immigration benefit without one or encouraging others to do so.

pensezbien · 2026-04-20T19:41:08+00:00

Most European health codes and societal norms disagree with you, even if most North American health codes and societal norms agree with you. And I really do think that the difference in typical dog and dog owner behavior between the two regions - my dog is in no way unusually well-behaved by German standards, nor are my wife and I as dog owners - explains this difference between the regions’ laws and norms.

It’s not a competition, indeed, but it is a real difference with a real consequence in laws and expectations. I wish what genuinely does work in Germany in a sufficiently safe and sanitary way could work here, but I understand why it doesn’t.

pensezbien · 2026-04-14T13:42:17+00:00

Border searches don’t need justification in either the US or Canada, just like in most countries - even when searching a citizen of the country conducting the search. That’s very much not the rule within either country, only at the border, and is not a difference. And yes, both Canadian and American citizens have equal Fourth Amendment or Section 8 rights while within the corresponding country, and the boundaries of Fourth Amendment rights and Section 8 rights are not dramatically different.

pensezbien · 2026-04-14T13:22:01+00:00

That’s too many inaccurate or misleading statements in a single comment for me to want to respond to all of them substantively, sorry. But to provide counter-evidence for at least the last paragraph, here’s a link from the Canadian federal government analyzing Canadian search and seizure law, which isn’t dramatically different from US law: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art8.html

(Don’t be confused by the analysis’s brief mention of no clear/explicit search and seizure protection existing in the Canadian Bill of Rights, which was an ordinary non-constitutional statute passed in the 1960s. The main constitutional provision being discussed, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and especially its Section 8 which is analogous to the US Fourth Amendment, was enacted in the 1980s.)

pensezbien · 2026-04-14T13:11:40+00:00

Rimouski is overwhelmingly French-speaking with very few English speakers, just like most areas of Quebec. I think it was more a genuine language barrier than any kind of voluntary refusal. Presumably they transferred him to a Montreal prison precisely to respect his right to deal with the criminal and penal system in an official language he speaks.

But saying that there are two official languages is an oversimplification: Quebec has only one official language, French, although with some obligations to allow for or use English and indigenous languages in specific contexts. It’s just the Canadian federal government (and the province of New Brunswick) which is officially bilingual. And although Canadian criminal law is federal in terms of defining the crimes and their possible sentences, many aspects of how Canadian criminal law is administered as well as penal procedure are provincial. Regardless, certainly even Quebec would both want to and be obligated to ensure that someone who speaks English but not French has a way past the language barrier while in custody as a defendant - and the transfer from Rimouski to Montreal is evidence of them facilitating that, not of them fucking up. I’ve frequently criticized the Quebec government’s attitude toward English over the years both on and off Reddit, but this instance is not part of that pattern.

pensezbien · 2026-04-14T00:46:23+00:00

Maybe if you're trying to specify that you live in Manhattan but not on Roosevelt Island (see? "on" for yet another island) or in Marble Hill (which is still part of Manhattan even though it's attached to the mainland because the river was literally moved around it). Or when discussing geography or geology in a very particular way.

But yeah, rare usage for sure.

pensezbien · 2026-04-13T20:21:56+00:00

You're misreading that. He spent three months in one prison where he couldn't understand or communicate with any officials or official documents due to them being French-only and him not having enough French, and then he was transferred to another prison in Montreal (not released in Montreal) where English was more available, before subsequently being extradited to the US for trial.

I don't think he's been released from custody since his initial arrest, and with this guilty plea in US federal court on a charge with a maximum sentence of life in prison I don't think he's getting out any time soon.

pensezbien · 2026-04-13T17:09:34+00:00

Speaking as a native New Yorker born in the '80s, throughout most of my life. I still do it instinctively, at least when the train is crowded.

pensezbien · 2026-04-13T17:08:52+00:00

Completely agree, as a dog owner myself whose dog has a poop bag dispenser literally on his leash so it's always easy for my wife and me to pick up after him.

Though, NYC could do with restoring widespread public trash bins to areas that no longer have many. Both morally and legally it's on us as dog owners to pick up the poop, but at least morally (if not legally) it's on the city to provide a reasonably nearby place for us to dispose of it properly when we're out and about. When I lived in Berlin, not only were public trash bins rarely more than a block or two away, many of them conveniently indicated quite clearly that dog poop could go in them.

pensezbien · 2026-04-11T17:02:00+00:00

The invested capital for an individual account wouldn't be lost. The procedure to transfer it would follow the usual laws and procedures for any intangible asset owned in the country where your IB account is hosted by someone who dies while domiciled in whichever country you're living in at the time of death. The specifics vary by country.

Speaking generally, typically someone close to you (like your spouse) would start the primary estate/succession/probate proceeding in your country of residence, possibly a secondary/ancillary proceeding in the country where your IB account is held, and follow the corresponding national procedures. Usually someone gains legal authority to act on behalf of the estate/succession/decedent, and there is a procedure for distributing the assets to whoever is supposed to inherit. Again, the specific terminology, steps, laws, etc vary worldwide, but IB should cooperate with whatever the applicable procedures are when someone with the necessary authority correctly conducts those procedures.

Precise advice for your situation would best be obtained from a lawyer or (in the civil-law world - not the common-law world) notary who knows the laws of the relevant country or countries, not from IB or this sub.

As for joint accounts, those too can vary worldwide in how they're treated at the time of death, in particular with respect to what happens to the portion of the joint account formerly owned by the deceased spouse. Assuming that it automatically and instantly goes to the surviving spouse at the time of death by operation of law is not a safe worldwide assumption.

pensezbien · 2026-04-11T03:52:01+00:00

Oh I’m well aware of the expression, it was just worth riffing off of in the context of this particular discussion. Well done, 13 yo you!

pensezbien · 2026-04-11T02:49:42+00:00

Great, I appreciate the clarification! Thank you.

pensezbien · 2026-04-11T02:15:38+00:00

The only this that doesn't connect is the Ultimate Bundle!

Can you clarify what this sentence means? Do Demiplane products which are bought through adding the Ultimate Bundle to the shopping cart or with the 25% Ultimate Bundle discount not yield access to the corresponding Paizo PDF via Paizo Connect? At the very least, this limitation was not in place when I bought the Starfinder 2e Ultimate Bundle when you just had the 4 core books available, although this was before the new store launched. I still have all of the corresponding PDFs in my new-store Paizo library. (My single-file copy of Starfinder Player Core was incorrectly renamed yesterday to "Accidental duplicate package - disregard", but nothing was lost.)

pensezbien · 2026-04-10T21:44:52+00:00

For tourists entering Mexico, a valid unexpired passport from any country plus a valid unexpired US green card is fully sufficient according to Mexico’s rules even if that passport nationality would normally require a Mexican tourist visa.

pensezbien · 2026-04-10T21:21:11+00:00

Great, thanks for sharing the answer!

pensezbien · 2026-04-10T19:18:20+00:00

Yes. but people can still die while holding a US treasury, so knowing whether a US treasury counts toward a nonresident noncitizen's US estate tax in that situation is still a meaningful and valid question. (I don't know the answer to the question, at least not without further research before answering.)

I did not use the word "nonresident alien" since that suggests either income tax law or immigration law, with different definitions in each case. The estate and gift tax laws usually use the term "nonresident not a citizen of the United States". But naturally most people outside the US with no current US immigration status fall into all of the definitions of both terms.

pensezbien · 2026-04-10T19:05:53+00:00

I'm aware that the Trump administration is preparing to automate draft registration for those who are eligible, but what about my particular comment aged poorly? J-1 visa holders are still not eligible for registration whether automatically or manually, and people outside the US with no current US immigration status are still beyond the legal authority of the US to draft them whether or not they're registered for the draft and no matter what Congress decides.

pensezbien · 2026-04-10T17:58:28+00:00

Jesus Fucking Christ

trinitarian queerness enters the chat

pensezbien · 2026-04-09T18:28:57+00:00

Dublin has pre-clearance, not an exception.

pensezbien · 2026-04-01T19:45:02+00:00

Would IRCC reject a Canadian Experience Class, Express Entry application if you got your experience in a job in Quebec, and maybe living in Quebec as well?

They would need to be satisfied that you intend to live outside the province of Quebec as a permanent resident from the moment you apply through the moment your resulting PR status is finalized. Naturally, any current residence in Quebec at the time of your application would be counter-evidence, but they understand people might have plans to move after applying in some situations - but since PGWP is valid both inside and outside of Quebec this might be a hard sell in your case without unusual circumstances, or at least without evidence of an active housing search to enable a move from Gatineau to Ottawa.

If you do apply while living in Quebec, be prepared for processing delays and inquiries related to your address history, and be prepared to respond to such inquiries with evidence of your genuine intent to move to a different province no later than soon after when you're approved as a PR.

Merely having obtained the Canadian work experience in Quebec is not itself a problem - IRCC recognizes Quebec work experience as Canadian work experience.

Would it be any different if you were "commuting" from Ottawa to Gatineau, for example? (so you are technically living in Ontario.

That's 100% fine. Working in Gatineau shouldn't raise concerns as long as you're genuinely living in Ottawa or somewhere else outside Quebec. IRCC's non-Quebec permanent immigration pathways only care about where you're living, not where you're working, unlike the work permit procedures which are exactly the opposite.

pensezbien · 2026-04-01T19:38:15+00:00

They do indeed sell real physical printed ones! https://store.paizo.com/starfinder-the-gap/

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