JG - Travellers to United States concerned, not worried

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Travellers to United States concerned, not worried

Published: Sunday April 11, 2010

United States visa applicants gather in front of the embassy in Liguanea, St Andrew, in this Gleaner file photo. -Norman Grindley / Deputy Chief Photographer

Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

JAMAICANS TRAVELLING to the United States of America (US) are concerned about the recent non-immigrant visa revocations of at least one prominent businessman and five entertainers, but are scared to comment openly about it.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Although the response was unsolicited, at least one Jamaican with a stern face made it known that she would not touch the issue with a 10-foot pole. Others, fearing possible repercussions, were not willing to speak on record.

Visa holders, it is reported, are not aware that their visa has been cancelled until they arrive at the airline check-in desk at the airport. Our news team captured the mood of travellers to the US at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston on Thursday."

"The baptised New Yorker is among a number of Jamaicans who think the revocations are linked to the extradition tussle between the US and Jamaica involving alleged drug kingpin, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. She is of the view that if the visa revocations are part of a broader punishment package crafted by the US to get Jamaica to extradite the man known in the streets as the 'president', then they are excessive."

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"She opined that the government of her adopted homeland was being unfair because it is said that the 'president' has never travelled to America. However, under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty that deals with extradition, travelling to the requesting state is not a prerequisite for a prima facie case to be made out against an individual and a subsequent extradition request sent."