DESPITE what Donald Trump may think, America is not always an easy place for a foreigner to breeze into. Anyone who has braved the immigration queue at JFK will testify to that. But entering the country might be about to become tougher. In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks by IS, America is looking to tighten its visa-waiver programme. The programme currently allows visitors from 38 approved countries—including much of Europe and trusted Asian allies such as Japan, Singapore and South Korea—to enter the country without a full visa, meaning that they don’t, for example, have to apply to an embassy. Around 20m people a year take advantage of the scheme. Under the new plan, to be debated in Congress, such visitors would need to have an e-passport, which contains biometric data. It would also put more onus on airlines to verify the passport data of its passengers, with bigger fines for those that fall short.
America has already been tweaking its entry rules, including by adding questions on whether applicants have travelled to any country it views as a “terrorist safe haven”. Shoring up the programme seems sensible in wake of the Paris...Continue reading
Source:Gulliver http://ift.tt/1LOt41G
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire