"FORTRESS America", long the dream of conservative politicians, has partly come about, thanks to a budget crisis in Washington which has effectively imprisoned many citizens in the US and kept thousands of legitimate travellers
US embassies have stopped issuing visas and renewing passports because funding has dried up. They have also been forced to lay off staff and cancel receptions and dinner parties.
At home, 200,000 Americans cannot get passports to travel abroad to visit sick relatives, clinch important business deals or take long planned holidays, since the government's partial shutdown in mid December.
Typical of US citizens hit by the crisis caused by an impasse between Congress and the White House over ideological conditions attached to spending bills, is Chicago businessman Mr Fred Etter. He needs to go to London to clinch a contract for his software company. "It's a big deal for me," Mr Etter told the Washington Post "I may lose it."
Stories of personal hardship common. Emergency passports are being provided to visit dying relatives, but only on production of a fax from a doctor.
"A fax?" said Ms Chermaine Greer, a New Yorker who needs to travel to Haiti. "My grandfather doesn't have a fax. He is poor. He is dying in his bed and he cannot even afford a doctor."
Embassy staff have been sent on unpaid leave in many European - capitals, including Dublin, Brussels, Bonn, Helsinki and Rome. Some US employees at the embassy in Dublin have been laid off, but under Irish employment legislation, local staff must be kept on. In Brussels, too, local staff have been kept on because of Belgium law.
A spokesman at the US embassy in London said pay cheques would be halved this week for its 700 staff and Ambassador William Crowe no longer has funds for official entertaining. "Our economic and political reporting functions have been limited, as shave our programmes to assist American businesses," a spokesman said.
In Moscow, where long queues for US visas are common, a spokesman warned visas would be granted only in life or death cases, for urgent diplomatic visas or for Russian orphans being adopted by US citizens.
Officials at the Paris embassy are concerned it cannot pay guards protecting the building who are on short term contracts. "They've agreed to stay on for the time being," a spokesman said.
The US embassy in Copenhagen said travel to the Baltic states, where it co ordinates diplomatic activities, had been cancelled. In Budapest, a visit to the US by Hungarian Trade Minister, Mrs Imre Dunai, will receive no coverage as visas could not be issued to Hungarian journalists.
In Vietnam, US diplomats denied reports in the US press that the Hanoi embassy would be left without power because it cannot pay its electricity bill.
In South Korea, the (Kyonghyang Sinmun newspaper accused the US embassy of "haughtiness" by "taking foreigners hostage".
Throughout Asia, thousands of students cannot return to American colleges, and travel to and from the US for the Chinese new year holiday on February 19th and 20th has been hit.
In the US, the tourism industry has been badly affected. Many hotels in popular destinations have laid off staff. National and international tour operators are avoiding Washington, where museums and art galleries are closed, costing the capital an estimated $19 million in lost revenue.