Travel Restrictions After Being Sectioned
 

Just wondering if anyone has any information about which countries have restrictions about letting in people who have been on a Section 2 and 3 within the past year?
My friend and I are hoping to go on holiday together next summer but she has been on a section 3 for a few months as well as a couple of section 2's. Just wondering which countries have any kind of laws on this? I know of the USA and Australia (I think) but are there any others?
Thanks for your help, it would be much appreciated!

I only know of the USA!

Oh god! are you's serious? You cant go to america if you've been sectioned? It's my dream to get to america and I've been detained on section 2's and 3's on numberous occasions!
:(

sorry I have no advice really
xo

You can, but they ask for a certain amount of time to have passed after coming off of a section before they will let you into the country. I think it's either 18 months or 2 years but I can't remember for certain. So don't worry! I guess it's to save them money, should you need to be detained while you're there, so they try to minimise the risk of that happening by not letting you go there for a while! Lovely!

I am from the U.S. and I never knew this!!! I agree that it is absolute bs. Don't they know the people who live here are just as troubled as the rest of the world. I am shocked.

Gargoylemaiden, I think it's because they don't want to run the risk of tourists getting unwell and taking up bed space in their psychiatric hospitals.

I went to America 1 month after coming off a section 3, so it shouldn't be a problem. My mum phoned up their visa waiver office to make sure and technically you're meant to have a letter from your psych saying you're ok, which i had, but they didn't even ask for it, they had no record of my section 3 at all. Good luck for your trip.

Yeah, I don't think they have records as such, the only thing is when you're about to land you get given a form to fill in and one of the options to tick is something like do you have a mental health condition/have you been sectioned under the mental health act. And when you go through customs they look at the form as they take your fingerprints. I don't know if/how they know if you're lying or not, but I wouldn't want to chance it and have the FBI running after you lol.

My dad said China wouldn't let you get a visa with any recorded mental health problems.

it often worth trying for a visa and see what they say because sometimes you can have interviews and such.

I just remembered something. My sister came off a section like 15 months before she went to the US and she was working there as a student doctor. So there must be some leniancy with these things.

Thank you to everyone about this :) I will check with the Foreign office and the countries' embassies etc.
Thanks again!

i'm from the u.s. that's messed up... the thing is if something happened our health system is so cheap they'd get you back home asap anyway! they really wouldn't be paying much. as long as you are not currently sectioned, (i don't know how that all works) it shouldn't matter... funny thing is that if almost anyone tries to discriminate against anyone in any way on the basis of mental illness, they get sued so easily... yet no one here knows about policies regarding foreigners, so no one fights it.

There is a lot of campaigning to get right of the restrictions, but mostly because of HIV/AIDS, and stuff. I don't know, I kind of understand it. What if someone who was just released from a hospital got "sick" during the flight? The person could be potentially dangerous. I'd assume it's for the safety of the passengers, more than not wanting to deal with treatment if something happens after landing.


I tried to make this sound as least offensive as possible, I'm sorry if it was still offensive.