[An-lang] COOL6 - potential problem

[John Lynch]

Following the announcement of the dates and venue for the 6th International
Conference on Oceanic Linguistics - Hilo, July 2004 - a possible problem has
come to my attention. Recent media reports have indicated that the US
Immigration Service is tightening up its visa processing regulations, and
requires that each applicant from certain countries - I cannot establish
which - attend a personal interview at the embassy, as well as paying a fee
of US $100.

In the case of participants who are citizens of Oceanic-speaking countries,
this will require travel outside their home country simply to have a shot at
getting a visa, with no guarantee of success. In my own case, for example,
as a citizen of Vanuatu, I would first have to travel to Papua New Guinea,
where the embassy responsible for Vanuatu is located, then return here, then
travel to Hilo via Fiji, Australia or New Zealand.

One of the intentions behind the Oceanic Conferences was to try to encourage
native-speaker linguists from Pacific countries to attend. These regulations
will make that extremely difficult, because of the additional expense
involved. I am not sure to how many other countries these regulations apply,
but perhaps someone on the list might be able to get better information. (My
email messages to the US embassy in PNG keep bouncing and those to the US
embassy in Fiji go unanswered).

John Lynch



XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

John Lynch
Pro-VC and Director Pacific Languages Unit
Emalus Campus - USP
PMB 072
Port Vila. Vanuatu.
Phone: +678 22748.  Fax:  +678 22633



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