WP - U.S. Embassy stops issuing nonimmigrant visas to Russians as diplomatic standoff deepens

Andrew Roth at the Washington Post ("Democracy Dies in Darkness") offered a well-written article.

Money quote(s):

"The decision comes after Russia demanded that the U.S. mission in the country reduce its staff from more than 1,200 employees to 455, the same size as the Russian diplomatic mission in the United States. The American Embassy’s announcement will likely mean delays for the hundreds of thousands of Russians who apply for nonimmigrant visas to the United States each year."

Wait times will go up, and keep going up, and applicants will have to travel much farther for their interviews.

"Senior Russian lawmakers in the Duma and the Federation Council on Monday suggested a “mirror” response that could affect Americans seeking Russian visas. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he believed that by slowing the visa process the United States may be trying to “provoke discontent of Russian citizens against the actions of the Russian government,” but Lavrov also appeared to rule out a similar response by the Russian government."

In a functioning representative democracy, like the U.S. por ejemplo, that sort of "discontent" means writing your congressional representative or even the White House, and telling them to do something about it.

What that means in Russia, CAA can't predict.

"With a Sept. 1 deadline to cut more than 750 staff positions looming, the embassy announced on Monday that it would suspend all nonimmigrant visa applications and interviews until then, and that afterward it would suspend U.S. visa interviews at the American consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok — effectively forcing Russians across the vast country to travel to Moscow for a U.S. visa."

A staff cut of this magnitude (roughly 60 percent) and including U.S. staff who have to be packed-up and relocated back to (usually) Washington means a huge (if temporary) ramp-up in administrative and logistical tasks, which is why non-essential services get dropped even before the September deadline.

Read the whole thing here.

Reuters - U.S. scales back Russian visa operations after Putin cuts embassy staff

Andrew Osborn and Polina Devitt at Reuters ("the world’s largest international multimedia news provider") report something-wholly-to-be-expected.

Money quote(s):

"The U.S. Embassy said it was suspending all non-immigrant visa operations across Russia on Wednesday and that when they resumed on Sept. 1, they would be offered "on a greatly reduced scale"."

This is what happens when you (Russia) force an embassy staff cut of 60 percent (755 positions) spread out over four posts, all of which have provided consular, including visa, services.  While visa operations are not horribly manpower intensive, taken in aggregate the represent something of an easy target if you don't mind making reducing or eliminating the ease of obtaining a U.S. visa.

""Capacity for interviews in the future will be greatly reduced because we have had to greatly reduce our staffing levels to comply with the Russian government’s requirement," it said in a statement."

Sixty percent is huge staffing cut and the U.S. is all about reciprocity in this sort of situation.  

In a working democracy, local citizens who suddenly can't visit relatives, go on business trips, vacation at Disney (either of them), or have to travel multiple time-zones just to go for their interview (and months later than they'd planned) would scream to their elected representatives to do something.  

In less representative countries, the bigshots (who have no trouble getting visas themselves, even if they have to tag-along as members of an official delegation) are untroubled by this.

"Russian citizens wanting to visit the United States for business, tourism or educational reasons will no longer be able to apply via U.S. consulates outside Moscow and will have to travel to the Russian capital instead.

That will pose a logistical challenge for many Russians, whose country is the world's largest by territory. The United States has consulates in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg."

That's gotta suck.  The flipside is there's just not a similar American demand for Russian visas at their U.S. offices in Washington, New York, and San Francisco, so whatever the retaliation reciprocity will be, it's likely to appear in something not directly linked to visas.  CAA is not a Kremlinologist, but he's been reading the papers long enough to recognized this M.O.

"The U.S. Embassy signaled its new scaled-back visa regime could be in place for some time.

"We will operate at reduced capacity for as long as our staffing levels are reduced," it said."

Can't put it much more clearly than that.

re: "Supreme Court Denies Stay for Mexican Convict In Texas"

TSB at The Skeptical Bureaucrat ("Giving my fellow Americans the view from my cubicle") covered some consular notification news.

Money quote(s):

"The U.S. Supreme Court tonight denied a stay of execution for that Mexican citizen who had been sitting on death row in Texas for 16 years. The court's vote was 5-4 (the usual suspects) and the majority opinion is full of strong statements"

SCOTUS, like consular officers, deals with the laws as they're written, not as they'd like them to be written. Except, of course, when they don't. But consular officers have considerably less, er, interpretive discretion.

"Nothing in the record shows that Leal ever asked for consular access, or even told the police that he was a Mexican citizen (he had lived in the U.S. - illegally - since he was two years old and represented himself as a U.S. citizen). And in any case, he made his incriminating admissions to the police before they arrested him, and therefore before they had any obligation to inform him of his right to consular assistance.

Even if Leal had had the benefit of Mexican consular access before his trial, that would not have changed the fact that he had incriminated himself, nor change any of the other evidence against him. The lack of consular access, then, was not relevant to his conviction and death sentence." (Emphasis in original text. - CAA.)

The facts as cited above make me wonder how/why this case ever made it to the SCOTUS. Who/what was pushing it upwards through the court system and to what end?

"The matter of reciprocity or Mexican retaliation against U.S. citizens is a real concern, but it is much less important than the interest Texas has in carrying out its state laws and punishing murder. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled two years ago that when adherence to a treaty such as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations is contrary to a state statute, the President cannot override the statute unilaterally, but legislation is required. And as the Supreme Court noted tonight, Congress has not provided that legislation. The Vienna Convention, therefore, has no bearing on the case of Humberto Leal, and Texas was completely free to execute him."

Federalism rears its ugly head. Again. Federal laws don't trump state laws unless Congress specifically authorizes them to do so. So Congress has such power, but must definitely and discretely exercise it in each instance of legislation.

Good to know.

As for reciprocity, the suggestion of official Mexican retaliation against U.S. citizens is a real concern, but pre-supposes that the Mexican government actually does, or will continue to in the future, have some control over events and activities within its borders.

AO - Bus "agitation at the Western Border"

From my archive of press clippings:

Amandala Online

Bus "agitation at the Western Border"


Posted: 27/03/2009 - 09:48 AM

Author: Adele Ramos

For several years it has been common practice for Central American tourist buses to traverse the roads between Guatemala, Belize and Mexico, with buses making stops in Belize, picking up tourists and taking them to other stops on their route.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"(T)he Department of Transport implemented a sudden blockade, barring the buses from crossing both northern and western borders to pick up tourists here in Belize.

Chief Transport Officer, Candelaria Saldivar, told Amandala today that Linea Dorado (which operates in Guatemala and Mexico), San Juan Express (a Guatemalan line) and ADO bus services (originating out of Mexico) had been picking up passengers in Belize at San Ignacio, Belize City (at the Belize Water Taxi Terminal), Orange Walk and Corozal, when only operators with permits issued by the department can legally do so."

&

"The issue that the DOT is taking with the buses is that they have been picking up passengers in Belize even though they don’t have valid road service permits, and they have been doing so for several years, claiming that they don’t need a permit to come because of a Mundo Maya agreement, which Saldivar says the Belize Government does not have a copy of.

However, there are concerns that even if there were such an agreement, it is not reciprocal, because Belize does not get the same privileges in Guatemala and Mexico as buses from those countries have in Belize. "