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US Tourist Visa
Many of us know that after 9/11, the US State department raised Visa
processing fees for citizens of those countries that need a Visa to enter the US across the board to $100, citing additional costs due to security and background checks. Naturally many of those countries reciprocated the favor by charging the same amount to US citizens applying Visas to visit them. Recently over a casual conversation with a friend from China, I was outraged by the action of the Visa section of US Consulate in Beijing. The parents of this young man, who live in Shang-Dong, probably a few hundred miles from Beijing, wanted to come see him. So they travel by train to Beijing to apply for Visa. AFAIK, there are only 5 or 6 US Consulate offices across all of China. Shang-Dong is under the Beijing Consulate Office jurisdiction. His parents paid $100 each to get Visa and was denied. The reason was they were suspect of immigration incliniation. Naturally the $200 was pocketed by the US Consulate. If they want to apply again, they risk another $200 loss not knowing if the Visas will be granted. Is the State Department in the business of making money? When we paid $100 to get Visa to go to any God forsaken country, we don't like it but one thing we know is we will get the Visa. Plus $100 is just a nuisance, not a big deal. But $100 to folks in many other countries is a big deal. It may be several months salary. And to get their money then deny entry. That's robbery. How much we have changed from "give me you tired, your poor..." to "give me you affluent, your brightest.." |
#2
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US Tourist Visa
"Yaofeng" wrote in message om... Many of us know that after 9/11, the US State department raised Visa processing fees for citizens of those countries that need a Visa to enter the US across the board to $100, citing additional costs due to security and background checks. Naturally many of those countries reciprocated the favor by charging the same amount to US citizens applying Visas to visit them. Recently over a casual conversation with a friend from China, I was outraged by the action of the Visa section of US Consulate in Beijing. The parents of this young man, who live in Shang-Dong, probably a few hundred miles from Beijing, wanted to come see him. So they travel by train to Beijing to apply for Visa. AFAIK, there are only 5 or 6 US Consulate offices across all of China. Shang-Dong is under the Beijing Consulate Office jurisdiction. His parents paid $100 each to get Visa and was denied. The reason was they were suspect of immigration incliniation. Naturally the $200 was pocketed by the US Consulate. If they want to apply again, they risk another $200 loss not knowing if the Visas will be granted. Is the State Department in the business of making money? When we paid $100 to get Visa to go to any God forsaken country, we don't like it but one thing we know is we will get the Visa. Plus $100 is just a nuisance, not a big deal. But $100 to folks in many other countries is a big deal. It may be several months salary. And to get their money then deny entry. That's robbery. How much we have changed from "give me you tired, your poor..." to "give me you affluent, your brightest.." They lost the $100 per visa and were denied issuance based on "immigration inclination". That basis would not exist if the problem of illegal immigration by chinese nationals wasn't a problem with the US, or many other countries for that matter. Chinese emigration itself would not be a problem if China were a country that provided a sound economy, population planning and a democratic lifestyle so that so many people living in China would not want to emmigrate. So who do you blame? |
#3
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US Tourist Visa
USA wrote:
Beijing Consulate Office jurisdiction. His parents paid $100 each to get Visa and was denied. The reason was they were suspect of immigration incliniation. That basis would not exist if the problem of illegal immigration by chinese nationals wasn't a problem with the US, The issue isn't the decision to refuse the visa, it is the bloody USD $100 that the consulates charge for the privilege of asking permission to visit the USA to spend money in the USA. If they refuse a visa, they should give back the money, or at least part of the money. Do american consulates realise that this will kill the USA tourist industry ? Or are they convinced that the USA tourism industry lives off solely of domestic tourism ? Perhaps they think they are doing foreigners a favour by allowing them to enter the USA, instead of realising that it is the foreign tourists that do the USA a favour by spending foreign money inside the USA. Does the USA now have foreign trade surpluses ? Had friends go through the same process (but they got their visa). What ticked them wasn't so much the $100 but rather the bloody charges for making the telephone call to make appointment. If you want to go beyond a certain point in their telephone system, you need to provide credit card so they can then bill you by the minute (including holding time). (not all countries have the equivalent of the USA 900 telephone numbers where the telco bills you). Another frustration is that the USA doesn't consider Canada as a foreign land as far as VISAs are concerned. So if you are granted a 30 day entry in the USA, you are not allowed to cross to Canada after 30 days in USA and spend another 30 days in Canada. You must fly out of north american within 30 days of arriving in the USA. (solution is to visit Canada first when possible). In the end: if the USA doesn't want tourists, then tourists should simply avoid the USA. In the days of the soviet union, only the truly adventurous would manage to have a visit into the soviet union and jump through all the red tape to get their visas and travel documents. Perhaps the current USA administration finds that such a totalitarian state is the only way to control terrorists. If the parents really want to see their son, then perhaps they should meet in Canada or Mexico. |
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US Tourist Visa
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US Tourist Visa
Limp Tomato wrote:
USA wrote: Beijing Consulate Office jurisdiction. His parents paid $100 each to get Visa and was denied. The reason was they were suspect of immigration incliniation. That basis would not exist if the problem of illegal immigration by chinese nationals wasn't a problem with the US, The issue isn't the decision to refuse the visa, it is the bloody USD $100 that the consulates charge for the privilege of asking permission to visit the USA to spend money in the USA. If they refuse a visa, they should give back the money, or at least part of the money. The goal is for US Taxpayers not to bear the cost of administration for the Visa program. The State Department doesn't give passports away, does it? The US also has higher standards for entry than most countries. As someone else posted. If you are from a poor country, it is more difficult to prove that you are going to return to that country. If people from these countries didn't abuse the system, then there would be no need to make it more difficult for people from these countries to visit. |
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US Tourist Visa
mrtravel wrote:
The goal is for US Taxpayers not to bear the cost of administration for the Visa program. The State Department doesn't give passports away, does it? When you leave your country, it doesn't do your country any economic good because you will be spending your money abroad. When a foreigner comes to the USA, it generates lots of economic activity in the USA. Giving the visas should be seen as a wise investment. Some countries spend a lot of money to attract tourists. The USA is spending lots to repell tourists. Should they charge $100 to all those mexicans illegally crossing the borders into the USA ? Are mexicans allowed to visit the USA ? Or are they such a high risk of wanting to stay in USA that the USA refuses all but a few requests to enter the USA ? The US also has higher standards for entry than most countries. You can have whatever standards you want for immigration. But for tourists you are stupid to block so many simple tourists. How can you claim to have "higher standards" when your country doesn't even control its exit points to be able to know who is in or out ? If you want to know which tourist has overstayed their visit, you should have official exit control points at airports and land border crossings. Many countries do this. The current system is so flawed that you have, since 9-11 illegally arrested and detained a great number of legitimate visitors simply because some piece of paper had not been processed years ago leading officials to conclude the tourist had stayed in the USA all this time). If people from these countries didn't abuse the system, then there would be no need to make it more difficult for people from these countries to visit. Perhaps the USA should start checking ships before blocking legitimate visitors who seek an official visa. The illegal immigrants from china tend to enter through illegal means (containers, boats, forged papers etc). If the person has a legitimate visa, passport and airline ticket, then they are not very likely to drop all their papers in the toilet on the plane and then claim political asylum when they reach the USA. If you checked in with all the right papers, and then you claim asylum and have no papers on you, then the immigration forlks will get the passenger manifest and know what your real identity is. Ironic that you would be blocking legitimate requests at the consolate, but the illegal immigrants bypass the consulate and simply get forged papers that allow them to board aircraft and then claim asylum when they reach the USA. |
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US Tourist Visa
Not the Karl Orff wrote in message ...
That's why Chile, Brasil and Turkey charge U.S. citizens USD 100 to enter/get a visa. I do hope more follow their example. They should if they havn't already. I wonder if anyone calculated the economic impact on affected countries because of declining tourism due to this added bureaucracy. It will not be easy. This tends to to be obscured by the lingering effect of 9/11. |
#8
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US Tourist Visa
mrtravel wrote:
Limp Tomato wrote: The issue isn't the decision to refuse the visa, it is the bloody USD $100 that the consulates charge for the privilege of asking permission to visit the USA to spend money in the USA. If they refuse a visa, they should give back the money, or at least part of the money. The goal is for US Taxpayers not to bear the cost of administration for the Visa program. But the problem here is that there's no incentive for the State Dept to be efficient about it. They can let costs grow and grow, and they'll just get passed on to applicants. There is no competition and really no significant force exerting downward pressure on these rates except for diplomatic protests. It may be that they could be adjudicating these for $20 apiece if they were more organized, but since nobody who has fiscal oversight authority over the State Dept has reason to care, we'll never know. miguel -- Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu Site remodeled 10-Sept-2003: Hundreds of new photos, easier navigation. |
#9
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US Tourist Visa
Yaofeng wrote:
Not the Karl Orff wrote: That's why Chile, Brasil and Turkey charge U.S. citizens USD 100 to enter/get a visa. I do hope more follow their example. They should if they havn't already. I wonder if anyone calculated the economic impact on affected countries because of declining tourism due to this added bureaucracy. You're contradicting yourself. And spite is not a valid basis for policymaking. If raising visa fees costs the US, or anyone else, net money because of lost tourism dollars, then it's a dumb and shortsighted thing to do. It's dumb for the US and it's dumber still for countries that do it as a retaliatory measure. miguel -- Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu Site remodeled 10-Sept-2003: Hundreds of new photos, easier navigation. |
#10
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US Tourist Visa
I'm not sure that the US charging $100 for visas is going to hurt tourism that much as most of the big money comes from citizens of states on the Visa Waiver Program. However what will damage tourism is the US's insistence on biometric passports from next year. (No biometric passport = have to apply for a visa = pay $100). This will apply to all countries, and of course nowhere in the world has biometric passports yet. The EU are about to start issuing them, but as people's passports only expire once every 10 years there will be a lot of people who put off their visits to the US... phil In article , Miguel Cruz wrote: Yaofeng wrote: Not the Karl Orff wrote: That's why Chile, Brasil and Turkey charge U.S. citizens USD 100 to enter/get a visa. I do hope more follow their example. They should if they havn't already. I wonder if anyone calculated the economic impact on affected countries because of declining tourism due to this added bureaucracy. You're contradicting yourself. And spite is not a valid basis for policymaking. If raising visa fees costs the US, or anyone else, net money because of lost tourism dollars, then it's a dumb and shortsighted thing to do. It's dumb for the US and it's dumber still for countries that do it as a retaliatory measure. miguel -- Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu Site remodeled 10-Sept-2003: Hundreds of new photos, easier navigation. |
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