<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by asnovici:
And if your "statistics" is correct, and "at least 1/2" of all the visitor to the US stay beyond the dates stated in their visas, then why are these checks even being conducted? Are they useful? I think they would be useful if, according to "statistics", much fewer than 50% of the vistors would overstay their visas... something is of misconnect here, dont you think?
The original question was why is it so hard to get a Russian visa. The answers varied from "not that hard" to "complicated". I think the issue of "overstaying" on visa dates have little to do with procedures. The procedures are there to PREVENT these "overstays", afterall.
And yes, THEY ARE doing what US is doing, this is what countries do to protect their interests, even though sometimes it seems silly to some.
[This message has been edited by asnovici (edited 05-02-2003).]
[This message has been edited by asnovici (edited 05-02-2003).]</font>
If you read my post, you would have noticed I said in the past, and that's why US Immigration service requires any national outside of the so called "westernized" countries to prove their real intentions when visiting here. I did not bring up the comparison, it was B747, and I just wanted to make sure that whoever reads this thread understands the real reasons why US has such requirenments, but I still don't understand why Russia and or China needs this as I'm willing to bet that most if not all Americans will leave these countries as soon as their tour/vacation is done. In Russia's case it is a left-over from the "good old days" of socialist paradise. For the sake of improving their tourism, I hope they drop this stupidity very soon. If they want to make money of the tourists, that's fine, do what some African, Carribean nations do, just charge $50-100 per visa, and stamp the passport at the point of entry.