New US visa rules not expected to affect most Jamaicans
JAMAICANS are expected to suffer minimum or no inconvenience as a result of the United States’ new rules for in-transit visas.
Under the changes, which took effect last Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security and US State Department suspended, for 60 days, two visa exemption programmes — Transit Without Visa and the International-to-Intenational transit programme. Before the change, certain international airline passengers were allowed to forgo visas when transiting US airports.
“I don’t think this is going to have a big effect on Jamaica,” said US Embassy spokesperson, Orna Blum, yesterday. “Many Jamaicans who are travelling to the US don’t tend to travel in-transit. They tend to travel directly.”
Blum, however, urged Jamaicans planning international trips, but who lack required US visas, to check their itineraries to make sure their flight won’t take them through a US airport.
The suspension of the visa exemption programmes comes days after the Department of Homeland Security warned airlines that Al-Qaeda might be planning to hijack or bomb passenger planes. At the same time, it had urged airlines to scrutinise passengers transiting US airports without visas.
“The steps announced today, while aggressive, are an appropriate response,” said Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, referring to the terror threat.
“We know they will have an impact on international air travellers, but we believe they are necessary in order to protect lives and property,” he added.
The top airports through which passengers had passed under the visa exemption programme were Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Dallas, and Houston.
Hundreds of thousands of air passengers per year utilised the programmes. The Transit Without Visa Program dated back to 1952.
Last year, the top five countries from which passengers arrived under the programme were Brazil, Mexico, Korea, The Philippines, and Peru.
Because of the programme’s sudden suspension, persons whose trips were affected were allowed to continue their travel uninterrupted under certain circumstances.
US officials said they would consider re-instating the visa exemption programmes after 60 days, once new security measures are in place. In addition, “current intelligence will also be a factor considered when deciding to re-implement the programme”, said a US Embassy statement.
Citizens of foreign countries not required to have a visa to enter the United States are not affected by the current anti-terror measures.