Re: What next for the Kremlin?


Eugene Holman wrote:
> In article <1132109196.583531.305130@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> "martin" <martintg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Peteris Cedrin=9A (Peteris Cedrins) wrote:
> > > Um, Hui, you don't understand them because you do not travel. You do
> > > not need them for most places, and we do not need them for many places.
> > > It is not a "national requirement" -- very few civilized countries
> > > require them for people from other civilized countries. Martin equates
> > > them with passport stamps. Eugene is right -- they can be humiliating.
> >
> > I don't find it humiliating. Afterall, it is the sovereign right of a
> > nation to know who is entering their territory and why.
>
> That's why passports and border guards with access to databases exist.

So it is perferrable that a border guard blocks entry after a long
flight and sends them back on the next available return flight? A bit
more expensive than a $100 visa application fee.

>
> > The price of a
> > visa application is reasonable and represents the cost of processing
> > the application. So what if it is non-refundable, if you cannot afford
> > the cost of a visa application, then how can you afford the cost of a
> > flight and accommodation?
>
> $100 is not a small amount of money. And for people from countries like
> Latvia, especially elderly ones, their trips are often paid for, at least
> in part, by their relatives in richer countries. The amount of effort that
> it takes to access a database about a prospective Latvian tourist to the
> United States, interview the person (asking "Are you sure that you have
> never been a communist?" umpteen times),

Is this really true?

> and print the visa in the
> passport is hardly worth $100. The fee is an arbitrary tax on access to

No doubt the application is assessed and actioned by several people,
salaries (highest in the world) have to be covered.

> the US that Latvians do not have to pay for access to the UK, Germany, or
> France, for example.

Latvia is a part of the EU and therefore enjoys certain privileges,
such as access to the UK, Germany and France.

Regards,
Martin

.

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