JO - Flying first-class into the storm

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Flying first-class into the storm


BARBARA GLOUDON


Friday, April 09, 2010


BUJU...BOUNTY...BEENIE...Iconic figures in our contemporary music kingdom... and they all have their problems. Buju, starving in a Florida jail...Bounty and Beenie, stripped of the privilege to travel to their richest market, for reasons not revealed to their fans. Is this a new turning point in the Jamaican music industry?
Beenie has hit back with a new single declaring that he might not have visa but he has life - an admirable philosophy but not one which is going to pay the bills to support himself, his tailor, his support crew and all the members of the entourage. The same goes for fellow travellers on the visa road.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Our people revere their entertainers. They've made them stars. If things were to start changing and not for the better, what will these stars do? They have created a special niche for themselves as representatives of JA, regarded as ambassadors of an art form uniquely ours, which has revolutionised the world. When the fans don't come running anymore, what do you do?

THE ECONOMIC FACTOR is major. Whole communities can prosper or taste defeat according to the presence of a star in their community. If Mega Star could no longer travel, what would that mean to those who depend on his presence? The removal of visa privileges will affect that individual, but he is not alone. The earnings of his entourage pay for food at shop, books for school, rent to landlord. We know by now that the Embassy does not, is not obliged to make public its reasons for whatever action it takes. It is left for individuals and community to speculate on what has brought on the disfavour... and there's a lot of speculation at the moment as stars fly first-class into the storm."

WT - LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Don't issue visas to terror-group supporters

From my archive of press clippings:

Washington Times

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Don't issue visas to terror-group supporters

Friday, February 26, 2010

All of the Sept. 11 terrorists and the Christmas Day bombing suspect were issued visas by U.S. consular officers in the Middle East or Europe.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Before the Immigration Act of 1996, foreigners who were a security risk were denied tourist, student and business visas to the United States. This 1996 legislation was enacted into law by members of both major political parties and signed by the president.

Sponsored by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who wrote immigration legislation for 40 years, the Immigration Act stated that "mere membership" in a terrorist organization was not a sufficient basis for denying an applicant a visa. On June 10, 2002, then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage wrote that believing "an applicant may pose a threat to national security ... is insufficient grounds for a consular officer to deny a visa to an applicant.""

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MARGARET NAST
Las Cruces, N.M.

GV - Snoop Dogg may finally be granted UK visa

From my archive of press clippings:

Global Visas


Snoop Dogg may finally be granted UK visa


February 24 2010 by Liam Clifford


The rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg will find out whether he is able to fulfil UK obligations.
US rapper Snoop Dogg is due to receive a decision on his UK visa application within weeks.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"After an altercation with police at Heathrow Airport four years ago, Snoop Dogg (real name Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr) was banned from the country."

"At the time of the dispute, Broadus was only in the UK to catch a flight to South Africa.

When he was due to enter the UK on a UK visa a year later to perform and to speak at an event discouraging young people from getting involved in gang violence, he was denied the UK visa because of the 2006 "fracas" and other factors."

&

"Broadus appealed the decision and in January 2008 a judge overturned the UK visa ban, saying there was no evidence Broadus had been responsible for public disorder."

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See the latest Immigration News

T&TE - Embassy official: 7 out of 10 get US visas...seeks to clear up misconceptions by Muslims

From my archive of press clippings:

Trinidad & Tobago Express

Embassy official: 7 out of 10 get US visas...seeks to clear up misconceptions by Muslims


Joel Julien jjulien@trinidadexpress.com


Thursday, June 25th 2009

new beginnings: Zakeya Hosein, president of the National Muslim Women Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago presents Len Kusnitz, Charge d'Affairs at the United States Embassy, with a copy of the Holy Quran, following a meeting at the Bamboo Mosque in Valsayn yesterday. -Photo: STEPHEN DOOBAY

OUT of ten people that go to the United States Embassy with a visa application in hand, seven of them walk out with a visa on their passport, says Len Kusnitz, the US Embassy's Charge d'Affairs.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

""There are a lot of misconceptions about the embassy; it is being reported that 65 per cent of the people are being denied visas, but that is not the case, in fact, it is the complete opposite; seven out of ten people get visas, that is 70 per cent," Kusnitz said.

However, Kusnitz's figures did little to appease several attendees who recounted personal accounts of visa denial and embarrassment while trying to enter the US."

AP - Cuba protests US visa denial

AP

Cuba protests US visa denial

By EDITH M. LEDERER (AP) – 1 day ago

UNITED NATIONS — Cuba accused the Obama administration of following in the footsteps of the Bush administration and violating U.S. law by denying a visa to the wife of a convicted intelligence agent for the communist nation.

Read the whole article here.