[An-lang] visa hassles

[Piet Lincoln]

COOL6 - potential problemAfter scouting around various web sites  ---,   http://travel.state.gov/getting_vistors_visa.html   one of the clearest and most informative (don't read too much into that) ---   it appears:

1. there are 27 countries which have visa waiving agreements 

      Andorra Iceland Norway 
      Australia Ireland Portugal 
      Austria Italy San Marino 
      Belgium Japan Singapore 
      Brunei Liechtenstein Slovenia 
      Denmark Luxembourg Spain 
      Finland Monaco Sweden 
      France the Netherlands Switzerland 
      Germany New Zealand United Kingdom 



2.  citizens other countries must apply for visa.    Application Fee  US $100

 3. some visas  may require an additional "issuance fee"  This varies according to visa  and country.

    as far as I could tell  simple visitor visas from likely COOL countries would require only the application fee.

4.  I found out less about interviews.  They don't seem to be required for everyone.  

5.  There seemed to be one clearly stated concern:  the visa applicant would try not leave once in the US. 
    Thus evidence of job, family, and similar motivations for round trip in home country  was desired.  

6. one of the continuations of above URL  has:
a.. If you find that you need to submit an inquiry, to serve you better, please indicate the subject of your inquiry on the subject line (e.g., student visa, visitor visa, worker visa, spouse visa, affidavit of support, etc.) General visa questions may be directed via e-mail to the State Department by clicking here. 
that "click here"  generates an e-mail   to   usvisa at state.gov <usvisa at state.gov>



I hope these notes are helpful and you all can overcome the hassles.


Piet Lincoln
Honolulu


    


----- Original Message ----- 

from John Lynch

Subject: [An-lang] COOL6 - potential problem


  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

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