Yes, and it causes tremendous ill will among otherwise law-abiding and honest citizens of the rest the planet to have to put up with the indignities involved in visiting the US. This ill will then gets diffused among a sector of the population that the US can't really afford to alienate any further.

On what passport ? How come mine went from 45SD to 65USD to 100 USD ? Did I miss the 75 USD per chance ?

Actually Syrian visas are pretty easy to get by just about everyone, and I also concur that everyone I know who went there thought it was a hidden treasure or archeology, etc.

As for Libyan visas, US citizens for the last decade or so did not need visas and would in general not have their passports stamped. That being said there were very few ways of getting to Libya during that time and if the US gov found out you'd been there, you could get hit with jail time.

As for Iran, take a look at the lines outside the consulate in Istanbul, you'll witness that about a quarter of those waiting are US and Euro citizens (not Iranian origin) and they all seem to get their visas in a week or so.

As for US visas, we all know the vaguaries involved especially since 9/11. It is unfortunate, they need a better system and better trained people.

I do have a question though 747. How many Indians apply for any type of visa in a given year?? I am curious to get an idea how much revenue we're talking about and also what the numbers in the other direction are.

Approximately 178,000 Indians apply for Non-Immigrant Visas annually at the US Consulate in Mumbai alone. Of these, approximately 52% of applications are rejected. The numbers are slightly smaller for Delhi, Chennai and Kolkota but the rejection rate remains about the same.

The overall numbers for US Consulates in India are estimated at approximately 525,000 NIV applications annually and 230,000 visas issued.

This generates approximately Rs. 3.38 billion (US$69 million) annually in consular fees alone (not counting additional security charges, administrative fees, etc...) from the 4 US consular posts in India.

Note that this does not include any statistics for Immigrant visa application and processing.

Very,very well said. My opinion (and experience) exactly.

I know an American friend that has visited ALL the countries including Iraq, N Korea, Iran, etc. through:

http://www.travelerscenturyclub.org

His last tour earlier this year was to Afghanistan.

He got his visa for N Korea in China.

I met him on a my Antarctica geographic south pole (which counts as 7 countries) earlier this year:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003550.html

I met another member of this group on my geographic north pole trip:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003911.html

This group seems to be a good group to tell you exactly how to get to hard to get places.

[This message has been edited by AAaLot (edited 10-21-2003).]

Tajikistan is the hardest place I have actually managed to get into. Even with an invite from a registered company there it still took 3 months to get a letter agreeing to issue a visa on arrival.

Then upon arrival it took about two hours to get the visa issued (and I was the first in a que of about 10 people), I walked around the courner to immigration and the officer there claims that my visa is a fake but for a reasonable fee he is willing to ignore this.

Niger... anyone?

According to the backpackers on lonelyplanet.com, Chad is even harder.

Looks like Turkmenistan is also pretty high up there on the list:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/letters/cas/tur_pc.htm

And things haven't gotten any easier since Niyazov blamed last year's assassination attempt on foreigners.

Turkmenistan is one of those perversely interesting places like North Korea; I'm still tempted to (try to) visit Ashgabat just to see the golden statue of the Turkmenbashi, rotating on his pedestal so he always faces the sun...

Outide of actual warzones, there isn't really anywhere that's impossible for an EU citizen to visit. I maanged Libya by myself, Syria is a breeze, Saudi is perfectly manageable with contacts and I was approved for a North Korean tourist visa (but had to cancel the trip).

On current info, Turkmenistan is about as difficult as it gets - and I am sure that it is do-able with the requsite charm, time, contacts and cold, hard cash.

I do not know where you people get this schmucky "EU citizen stuff" from. Some EU citizens/countries have difficulties while some do not, it really depends on the condition. An example of this (which is not exactly in the spirit of the thread) is Turkey. While a slight majority of EU countries do NOT need a visa to visit, the other do. And those others have very different visa fees. Those that need visas can get them on entry EXCEPT Greeks from time to time who in times of strife (every 4 years or so) need to get them beforehand, although at times it has not been unknown for Turkey to not give them to Greek citizens.

There are many more examples like this out there, some much more extreme.

Someone asked about Moscow. I went two years ago. I paid the rush fee as my Russian friends advised me the consulate would actually process my VISA. I mailed my VISA application with my Russian invitation and only a copy of my passport to Seattle. This part I'm grey on but I really do believe it was only a copy. When I got to Moscow the Passport Control "lines" (read: Stinky Mob) were long but once through it was easy. I tried to declare my $800 and the guy got mad and told me just to go and didn't even want to check my bags.

I 50th or whatever we're up to on the US Visa. My boyfriend has been here 6 years on an F-1 (close to finishing his masters). For the last 3+ years, he has been unable to go on vacation with me outside of the US for fear of not being allowed back in to finish school. His entry visa expired.

Then, without ever being to Australia, they have granted him permenant residency. So, as a condition of that he has to go there next week for a visit. Instead of coming right back to get back to school, he will have to go through the Visa process and hope they give him one.

The website is unclear and contradictory on some points. If you call the US Consulate in Australia you get voicemail and they may call you back in a few days. Faxes and emails mostly go unanswered. The estimate is 7-12 days to process the application BEFORE they then schedule the interview approximately two weeks later. They have said they might possible expedite him but I'm pretty much saying good bye.

He said he's very glad that at least some county (Australia) wants him. He feels like dirt in the US not being allowed to do ANYTHING. Of course he can't work here but Australia will let him work all he wants. The funny thing is, when he was granted residency to Australia, he called the Australian consulate in DC and got immediate help. He then FedEx'd his app that day, they received the next morning, processed it and sent it out that afternoon. He received it back two days after he sent it for NO fee.

Just my 2, uh....102? cents.

Not that anyone would want to go there voluntarily, but ... Chechnya. Apparently one needs special permission from the Kremlin to travel there.

Akhullar posted a note earlier in this thread about visas in Turkey. I am a Canadian and had to pay $45 for a three-month visa when I went there in August. I found it very odd that the price for a US citizen to get a visa is $100! And my travelling companion from Kazakhstan - she didn't need a visa at all...

Cheers
JS

Expat_Canuck, visa prices are usually reciprocal -- $100 is almost certainly what it costs a Turk to go to the U.S.


[This message has been edited by jpatokal (edited 10-25-2003).]