<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by andrzej:
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.
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The US entry and immigration procedures (for whatever misguided or justified reason, be it a moronic belief that everybody wants to move to the US, jingoistic xenophobia, or just plain mean-spiritness) are some of the most onerous in the world. Not even North Korea is that much of a PITA (and I've been there, folks). Other countries play a game of tit-for-tat with the US, be it through painful procedures of their own, or charging the same "fees" US charges people for visas and entry documents.
I see no reason for other countries to behave any other way. Why should they allow the US to throw its tantrum, without (admittedly) petty retribution? If people in the US don't want such treatment of their citizens when traveling abroad, they should not treat their counterparties in that country the way they do.
And even then, some countries (such as Mexico, where there is no visa requirement for US citizens, but there is a visa requirement for Mexicans entering the US) just grin and bear it, for whatever monetary or diplomatic reasons.