[stablemap]

I appreciate that the proposal [1] was put out for comments half a year before its implementation last month, although I wonder what comments it would have taken to get this thing reversed. "Optional" is a menacing word here—has anyone followed up on this?

[1] https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2016-14848

[dogma1138]

Optional doesn't mean what you think it means. Don't want to fill it out? entry denied: failure to cooperate with CBP personnel. "I Don't have facebook" as a way out - google your name, busted: entry denied, lied to a CBP agent. The US is a may permit entry country, even with a Visa your entry is still under the discretion of the CBP agent, they don't like you that's it they don't need a reason to deny entry.

No buts, ifs and whys, you can have all the right paperwork and if you misbehave, don't follow orders, or do anything that the CBP agent might not like you'll be spending 8 hours in a room waiting for an embassy official to come to scold you and give you a ticket for your flight home.