WikiEmbassy

Posts Tagged ‘visa regime’

Sri Lanka had withdrawn the on-arrival visa facility for 84 countries. So tourists from those countries will need a visa prior to arriving in Sri Lanka. The new system will be implemented from 30th September.

Foreigners visiting and traveling via Sri Lanka will be able to obtain visas through the website of the Department of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka by personally applying for them. This system will be made compulsory for the tourists from those 84 countries from 2012 onward.

Sri Lanka has granted foreign tourists a 30-day visa on arrival since the 1970s as part of a move to promote tourism, but it was badly affected thereafter with the issues occurred in the country with the civil war. Last May, Sri Lanka scrapped the on-arrival visa facility given form Indian tourists. However, only tourists from Singapore and Maldives, countries which gives on-arrival visas to Lankans, will continue to get the reciprocal facility.

Source: Sinhalaya News

Tip: Vietnam visa on arrival is available for most country. Visit the link http://www.vietnam-visa.com for further information.

Brazil, long known for manufacturing airplanes, ethanol and a variety of other exportable products, has become a major player in the world economy, and its growth assures even greater importance in the future. Today, it’s officially the fifth largest economy in the world – surpassing France and Great Britain.

For South Florida, the consequences are significant. Some 550,000 Brazilians visited last year and spent an about $1 billion, a figure that will surely grow.

Why then did more than half a million people from one of the world’s soaring economies have to wait weeks to request travel visas to visit the United States? Because of an outdated policy that needs to be revisited.

Brazilians have proven that they should join the other 36 nations in the world that enjoy visa-waiver privileges. For one thing, fewer than 3 percent who come to the United States on tourist visas overstay. And with government figures that show that some 31 million people there joined the middle class in the past decade, that’s not likely to change. If anything, some Brazilians legally in the United States have been going back home to live.

They come here to shop and invest. We need to make it easier for that to happen, not harder.

Annual trade between South Florida and Brazil tops $13 billion. Brazilians are a big, positive influence on our tourism figures and our sagging luxury-condo market.

The U.S. travel industry, particularly in South Florida, is pushing hard to advocate the change. Experts estimate that if the visa requirement were waived, the number of Brazilians visiting here could double in a short time.

More visitors mean more jobs, particularly in South Florida, which would be the major regional beneficiary of any change that makes it easier for Brazilians to visit the United States.

With the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics fast approaching, allowing Brazil a visa waiver would likely benefit Americans who want to visit that country. It would encourage Brazil to lift the cumbersome burden that requires U.S. citizens to obtain a Brazilian visa before they go, a process that can entail hours of waiting – just as some Brazilians coming here have to undergo long waits.

In the fall, Congress will debate a new law that changes the rules on how to qualify for the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Key points about passport security and counterterrorism cooperation will remain, and they should.

To qualify for a waiver, the law would have the Department of Homeland Security consider how many people from a country overstayed their visas. Any country with more than a 3 percent overstay rate wouldn’t meet the criteria. That makes more sense than the current policy of weighing how many people’s visa applications were denied.

The rule change wouldn’t just benefit Brazil. Poland, Romania, Chile, Panama and about five other nations would also enjoy visa-free travel under the proposed changes. As long as they meet Washington’s tough anti-terrorism security standards, they should.

The U.S. State Department is taking steps to address the deluge in Brazil: 20 consular positions were added, and about 8,000 people showed up on “Super Saturdays” to get visas. The number of tourist visas issued to Brazilians has more than doubled.

Those numbers prove the State Department measures aren’t enough. It’s time to recognize Brazil’s global prominence and make sure the South American powerhouse qualifies for visa waivers.

Source: Kansascity

Tip: Full instruction to get Vietnam visa http://www.vietnam-visa.com/application-process.html

When it comes to relations between Ukraine and the European Union, one big issue in Kiev is the on-going controversy over EU travel visas.

Everyday Ukrainians line up outside the likes of the Polish and Czech embassies, hoping to get their hands on a bit of paper that gives them free movement in the Schengen zone. But many are hoping that one day all of that will change.

As part of an action plan with the European Union, Kiev is attempting to meet strict conditions for the lifting of EU visa requirements.

Outside the Czech embassy a man planning a third trip to Prague to visit family explained how proving the purpose of his visit was difficult the last time he applied.

“It is as if they thought I was going to stay there and work illegally,” he said.

Europe Without Barriers, an umbrella group of numerous NGOs, is helping to fight for an EU no-visa regime. It admits the government has work to do to improve border security and migration controls. However, it says theNGOs are also having to help tackle what it describes as stereotypical attitudes among some EU members.

“It is known that Ukraine has its supporters of visa liberalisation, but at the same time there are those who are afraid of it and those who are critical of it,” explained Iryna Sushko from Europe Without Barriers.

But before visas can be lifted the EU says real concerns about illegal migration, trafficking and false documents must be addressed.

It says Ukraine’s vast borders, especially to the east, are permeable, and trafficking and illegal migration from other countries pass through.

But is Brussels optimistic its conditions can be met?

“This is quite a comprehensive and complex situation. Ukraine has a lot to do in terms of implementing these requirements of the action plan. And therefore I think we should have this in mind. There have been some positive steps already taken,” said José Manuel Pinto Teixeira, EU Ambassador to Ukraine.

Whether those steps are enough remains to be seen though; a progress report from Brussels is due in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, local NGOs say they are monitoring attitudes and practices at EU embassies, saying the number of long-term and multi-entry visas are too low.

Seamus Kearney, reporting from Kiev for euronews says: “Many travellers also complain that success in obtaining an EU visa largely depends on each individual embassy – and they say the approach is far from uniform.”

However, the European Union says it has attempted to make the whole process more transparent, simpler and cheaper for Ukrainians. It also says the rate of visa refusals at EU embassies is now down to about four percent.

Among those dreaming of an end to the long wait for visas are foreign companies operating in Ukraine. Two employees from the logistics company GEFCO outlined the difficulties.

“Very often a truck that carries goods can remain idle for up to three weeks while the transport company waits to get a visa for its driver,” explained Igor Loskutov, the company’s Road Transport Coordinator.

Aleksandr Levchenko, Purchase and Quality Manager at GEFCO said: “Business is very dynamic and it rapidly changes, and the need to travel sometimes happens at the last minute.”

It is a message Ukrainian politicians are only too aware of, as they continue to try to boost border security with practical and financial help from Brussels.

Source: Euronews

The 10 ASEAN members will lodge a bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2030, with the governments set to join forces with the soccer associations within the grouping to prepare.

In a related development, the grouping has also discussed ways to implement a unified ASEAN travel visa to ease travel within the region for citizens of non-ASEAN member states, a prerequisite for jointly hosting a World Cup.

“We are serious with our plan to bid for hosting the 2030 World Cup. We will take the necessary steps, including pooling our resources and engaging the football association as a respective member for that goal,” Indonesian Foreign Ministry director general for ASEAN cooperation Djauhari Oratmangun said.

He said ASEAN foreign ministers, who will meet here on Tuesday, will discuss the issue so that members could take concerted efforts to quickly prepare for the bid.

The World Cup is the world’s most widely viewed sporting event. For instance, an estimated 715.1 million people worldwide watched the final match of the 2006 World Cup Germany. The 2010 championship was held in South Africa, the first in the continent, while the next three events will be in
Brazil in 2014, Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

The 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, was the first held in Asia and the only tournament with multiple hosts.

Djauhari said Indonesia’s proposal to enable ASEAN to have a single visa has been well received by other members. “The single visa for non-ASEAN members will boost visitors and the tourism industry. How can we jointly host a World Cup without having a single visa?”

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa earlier said there were some challenges to the idea.

“We want countries outside ASEAN to see this organization as a single place to visit. We have to consider the laws and rules of each country. Besides, we are still learning what effects may come from the ASEAN visa, as far as safety and politics,” he said, adding that the concept of a joint visa system will resemble the Schengen visa system used by some European countries.

Most ASEAN countries have been issuing free visas for visitors from other member countries since 2005. Of the 10 members — Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia — only the last three have yet to implement the visa-free policy.

Some media outlets have reported that the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA), consisting of ASEAN member tourism bodies, has said they have been busy lobbying their respective governments to adopt a single visa policy valid as a critical step in developing ASEAN into a single tourism destination.

ASEANTA vice-president Elly Hutabarat said the idea of a single ASEAN visa has received widespread support from the governments of the association, but has encountered problems in moves toward implementation due to varying immigration and visa policies among the 10 countries.

Source: The Jakarta Post

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries vowed to introduce one visa regime for citizens from countries outside ASEAN by 2015.

“It will however take special effort to be able to issue an ASEAN visa because visa regime in each country is different,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa was quoted by the ANTARA Indonesian news agency.

The announcement was made during the ongoing 18th ASEAN summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The new visa system will allow a citizen from a country outside ASEAN come to all ASEAN member countries with one visa, the same way it works with a Schengen visa in the European Union.

Source: Rian

When waiting for the ASEAN regime takes effect, citizens of other countries in ASEAN can apply for Vietnam visa on arrival at http://www.vietnam-visa.com. Check out the Vietnam visa cost for ASEAN citizens here http://www.vietnam-visa.com/pricing.html.

The European Union starts talks on visa facilitation and readmission for citizens of Belarus. The European Commission is mandated to negotiate with the official Minsk. A simplified visa regime is planned not to affect the holders of diplomatic and service passports as well as nationals, in respect of which the EU imposed sanctions in January 2011.

The EU’s initiative aims to facilitate visiting EU countries to the representatives of the Belarusian civil society, one of the Polish diplomats said under anonymity. “Meanwhile, no one in the Union wants to make gifts for him (the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko – Telegraf) to later boast to society,” said the diplomat, according to IAR.
Polish diplomat has explained that the talks are technical in nature, and therefore do not require work at the ministerial level. Meanwhile, according to the diplomat, the initiative may well remain just the EU political proposal to the Belarusian authorities unless the situation in Belarus changes.

Source: Telegraf

If you want to get visa for Vietnam, visa for Viet nam or visa Vietnam at lowest visa cost Vietnam, please visit our website at http://www.vietnam-visa.com/

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that visa procedures would be lifted with Malaysia.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (L) and his Turkish counterpart Erdogan pose after addressing the media in Ankara (Reuters)

Prime Minister Erdogan appeared at a joint news conference after meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamed Najib bin Abdul Razak and said that they agreed to lift visa procedures between the two countries.

“We are also planning to launch direct flights between Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport and Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Erdogan said that Abdul Razak was the first Malaysian prime minister paying a state visit to Turkey in 28 years.

“We will sign a free trade agreement between Turkey and Malaysia this year. Such an agreement will add momentum to our economic and commercial relations. Currently, our trade volume is about 1.2 billion USD. We can increase it up to 5 billion USD. We are going to attend Turkey-Malaysia Business Forum in Istanbul tomorrow. We will tell our businessmen that we are ready to extend full support to mutual investments. Our businessmen can also work together in the third countries,” he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak, on his part, said that he invited Prime Minister Erdogan to Malaysia by the end of 2011 to sign strategic cooperation agreement and free trade agreement.

“These two agreements will mark beginning of a new era in Turkey-Malaysia relations. There will be no more visa procedures between our countries,” he said.

He added that Turkey and Malaysia could develop an exciting cooperation in oil and natural gas.

Following the press conference, Prime Minister Erdogan hosted a banquet in honor of his Malaysian counterpart.

Source: World Bulletin

Tip: Check out our website at http://www.vietnam-visa.com to see Vietnam visa requirement for your citizenship. you can also apply for tourist or business Visum Vietnam at lowest Vietnamese visa cost!

A Russian diplomat in Canada has voiced his concerns about Canada’s strict visa regime for Russian citizens.

“We believe that it should be the procedure of all countries to make the movement of people easier but to our surprise, Canada has made it tougher,” said Andrey Varlamov, consul for the Russian Embassy in Ottawa.
He gave as an example Canada’s visit visa application form which asks for information on an applicant’s children, brothers and sisters, and present addresses and occupations, dates of employment, employers name, telephone and address, and the applicant’s monthly salary.
“It seems like a form you’d use if you’d want to emigrate, but instead, it’s the form you fill out to come to Canada for a few days, on business, or for a vacation,” Varlamov said.
“Not all people who would like to visit Canada are illegal immigrants,” he added.
Canada requires nationals of many Countries around the World to apply for a visit visa. Canada recently removed the visit visa requirements for citizens of some Eastern European states that joined the EU in 2004, but continues to require visas from citizens of other former Communist Countries and for nationals of a number of developing Countries around the World.
Canada’s strict visa regime is similar to the United States and a number of other Countries, and requires applicants for business or pleasure visas to prove that they will leave within the validity of their visa by showing that they have a reason to return, such as a job to go back to, a property in their home Country, or investments in their home Country.

Collected by Vietnam visa