Shah Rukh Khan in US visa row

“No big deal” was the reaction of Shah Rukh Khan, the actor at the centre of a recent US immigration row. But the Bollywood icon has received a great deal of attention after his spat with immigration officials on Saturday.

Khan was pulled over by US officials at Newark Liberty airport, New Jersey and had to waste a few minutes of his precious time in a room being interrogated rather than schmoozing among his adoring fans or promoting his new film, “My Name is Khan”.

The fact Khan wants no apology from US immigration is another ‘no big deal’. No matter who he is, US immigration authorities have a legal right to deal with visitors as they see fit as long as it is in the name of national security. Why should Shah Rukh Khan be treated any different?

Was the incident really such an inconvenience for Khan? US immigration denies the actor was detained or held for two hours as Khan’s PR team claims.

What is true is that Khan did receive considerable global exposure for the story. For any celebrity wanting to break America or gain some extra column inches, surely a visa spat at an airport can only be regarded as good news?

The old immigration ‘scandal has been a popular technique used by entertainers to gain media attention for a number of years. PR guru and sultan of spin Max Clifford orchestrated a number of UK immigration airport ‘rows’ for stars a few years back.

Rumored to be drunk and disorderly on long haul flights or victims of draconian immigration jobsworths, stars got an instant “rebel enters UK” angle courtesy of UK immigration officials and the press got their story.

It all worked a treat until the immigration chiefs threatened to really arrest the over-acting actors and actresses for causing dirsuption and having invalid visas.

Let’s face it. With many of our stars having entourages and PR companies in their midst surely the simple of task of making sure you have a valid visa application would be a formality taken care of by a reputable visa company such as Global Visas.

So next time you hear a celebrity has been detained for a visa problem, remember: it may not be quite as it seems.