Visa

WHAT YOU NEED TO GET A VISA _ Passport. _ Completed application. _ Passport-size photos. _ Payment for the visa and the expediter processing fee. _ In some cases, a letter from your sponsor or trip-provider, plus a contact in-country. _ In some cases, a copy of your airline ticket, cruise ticket or itinerary. _ In some cases, a driver's license, birth certificate or bank statement. WHAT IS A VISA EXPEDITER? Many tour operators obtain visas for their clients.

Sometimes, good ideas seem so simple. Like a suggestion from hospitality-industry executive Bill Marriott Jr. that could put thousands of people to work, many in jobs that won't require a college degree. Writing in the June 13 Fortune magazine, Marriott proposes making it easier and faster to get a tourist visa to visit the United States. According to the Commerce Department, a 10 percent increase in international visits would create 100,000 jobs. New rules that came into effect after 9/11 require residents of some countries, including Brazil, Russia, India, and China, to be interviewed in person at a U.S. consulate to obtain a tourist visa.

These days you can find out what's going on in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe just by trying to get there. For some weeks now, I've been planning a trip to Moscow, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw. Getting visas for East Bloc countries has always been a drag. The Soviets are notorious for stretching out the process until the last possible minute. Last year a colleague had to bang on the door of the Soviet embassy in London on a Saturday stopover to pick up the visa that Moscow had failed to wire to Washington - even though he had applied the standard six weeks in advance.

If you're headed for the French Caribbean, you'll want to know that it's not necessary to get your visa before departure. You can get a free visa stamp upon arrival on the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy (St. Barts) and the French side of St. Martin-St. Maarten. Before the ruling went into effect Oct. 22, travelers had to get a visa before departure. The new ruling applies to U.S., Canadian and Japanese citizens. Upon arrival in the French West Indies, these citizens will be issued a control visa if they have a valid passport (or one expired within five years)

GOODBYE, VISAS. Starting on July 1, U.S. tourists will not need visas to travel in France. The nations reached agreement recently to end the mutual visa requirement for those visiting for less than three months. France was the only nation in Western Europe with such a requirement, imposed in September 1986 after a wave of terrorist bombings in Paris. THE BET'S OFF. What's the top overnight summer tourist destination down the shore? If you placed any bets, you're probably wrong.

What do Brazil, China and India have in common? All these countries, and more, require American travelers to get a visa. "A lot of people don't know visas exist, or they think U.S. citizens don't need one," said Diane Kakoz, manager of B&K Express in Southfield, Mich., a passport-visa expediting service. "A lot of people going to Brazil get to the airport there and get sent back. " A visa is a travel document that some nations require in addition to the passport. They typically cost $80 to $140, plus processing fees.

Imagine you are the head of one of the world's two superpowers and you are planning a trip to the other. Tickets? Got your own plane. Luggage? Packed and X-rayed. Room reservations? The embassy is at your disposal. Passport with American visa? No, sir. Get in line. A rather dogeared green Soviet passport was returned yesterday by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to its owner, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, after being approved for a special A-1 U.S. visa. Another passport from his wife, Raisa, was being processed by the consular department at the embassy.

A Jordanian citizen who FBI officials say lived last summer with two men who later were among the hijackers on Sept. 11 will remain in federal custody, a federal magistrate said yesterday. Rasmi Al-Shannaq, 27, shared a northern Virginia apartment with the two after entering the United States using a phony visa provided by U.S. Embassy personnel in Qatar, according to court papers presented yesterday. The possibility that embassy personnel in Qatar supplied false papers to hijackers or their allies is under investigation, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

The United States is becoming embroiled in the escalating dispute between China and Taiwan in a way that threatens to make tensions in the area even more dangerous. Rather than calming down the situation, Washington may have made it worse. And once again, the culprit is a visa. On Wednesday, the United States decided to give Taiwanese Vice President Li Yuan-zu a visa to travel through the United States on his way to and from the inauguration of the new Haitian president. Mr. Li's trip, with stopovers in San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles, is due to start today.

I know that because of the terrorist bombings in Paris, American citizens need a visa to get into France. Does the same apply to the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe? I have not been able to find out. It has been difficult to get clear-cut information because the French government, the airlines and the islands were following their own set of rules, none of which seemed to conform. However, toward the end of October, France relaxed its original position; the official word is that American citizens can enter the French West Indies without a visa.

We travel lovers of a certain age and experience already know most of the rules: Pack light - you likely won't need that foofy blouse or any of the family jewels anywhere, but don't forget the sunscreen and passport. But here are our "10 Travel Commandments for Seniors Who Want a Trip to Remember (In a Good Way, of Course). " 1. Thou shalt study up before you go. For starters, read everything you can put your hands on about your destination. It will enhance the trip no end if you know something about the culture, history, and food you will encounter.

A Bucks County woman pleaded guilty Monday to visa fraud in connection with a scheme to collect tuition from foreign students who were not attending classes as required for their visas, federal prosecutors said. Irina Tkhir, 43, of Langhorne, admitted making false statements to the federal government about foreign students attending classes at the CMG Computer Center in Trevose, prosecutors said. Tkhir, who pleaded guilty to four counts of visa fraud, faces 10 to 16 months in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security is finishing its plan for a biometric data system to track when immigrants leave the United States and will present it to Congress within weeks, a top department official told a House Homeland Security subcommittee Tuesday. An exit system to track who is leaving the country and when had been sought even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. DHS officials, including Secretary Janet Napolitano, have agreed that such a program is needed but have previously said it would be too costly.

NEWARK, N.J. - Federal officials will provide a humanitarian visa so a 5-year-old New Jersey girl can get a lifesaving bone-marrow transplant from her Salvadoran sister. The decision, announced Friday night by U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), means U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will allow 7-year-old Gisselle Bonilla Ramirez to come to the United States to donate marrow to her sister, Yarelis Bonilla. The younger girl, a U.S. citizen, is undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia.

Tariq is an Iraqi interpreter whose last name is being withheld for his safety I am an Iraqi citizen who worked as an interpreter with the U.S. military for two years. It was an honor to serve, and I did it because I believed that bringing freedom to Iraq required brave people to stand up and try to make a difference. Now, as a result of my service, I find myself in a dangerous limbo. Before 2003, I thought of the United States primarily as the home of Bruce Willis, Hollywood, and Las Vegas.

The State Department clamped down further Monday on a program that enables foreign students to visit the United States for up to four months of work and travel, but that has prompted allegations of abusive practices by employers such as Hershey Co. The department imposed new rules in July aimed at strengthening oversight of the Summer Work Travel program and its special J-1 visa, which are intended to boost cross-cultural understanding but...

The State Department is capping a popular exchange program for foreign college students over persistent problems that have included low-paid participants turning to homeless shelters, a walkout over working conditions at a Hershey Co. chocolate factory and in one case a woman forced to work as a stripper. The agency published new rules Monday that limit the number of future participants to this year's level and put a moratorium on new businesses becoming sponsors for thousands of foreigners who use the program to visit the United States.

In September 2007, Barack Obama made a stump speech berating the Bush team for breaking faith with Iraqis who had helped Americans. "One tragic outcome of this war," said Obama, "is that the Iraqis who stood with America - the interpreters, embassy workers, and subcontractors - are being targeted for assassination. . . . And yet our doors are shut. "That is not how we treat our friends. That is not who we are as Americans. " If that is so, Mr. President, why are our doors still virtually closed to our Iraqi helpers, as we exit their country?

PATCO commuters will be able to use a special Visa card to pay for their train rides - as well as for their morning coffee and doughnuts - beginning Monday. The commuter line is introducing a "contactless" prepaid Visa card as part of a yearlong test of electronic fare payments. The card will work like PATCO's existing Freedom card, except that it can also be used for purchases wherever Visa cards are accepted. The Freedom card, which riders tap at an electronic reader to pass through PATCO turnstiles, will also continue to be accepted for PATCO fares and parking lots.

In July, I wrote about the plight of Iraqis who worked with U.S. soldiers and civilians but face death as "collaborators" when we leave. Their situation remains unresolved. Congress set up a special program in 2008 to grant these Iraqis 25,000 special immigrant visas (SIVs) over five years. Only 3,629 have been issued thus far; at least 1,500 are pending. Yet, some Iraqis who have virtually completed the process have been told they must wait an additional eight months while more security checks are conducted.