Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Visa regulations

Sir, — The clarifications given by Robert D. Blackwill on the new U. S. visa regulations (May 3) are greatly heartening. Yet they are inadequate. The Ambassador assures the non-immigrant visitors that at the port of entry they will normally be granted admission for a stay of more than 30 days for the mere asking. The new regulations do not read that simple. They place the burden on the entrants to prove the necessity for a longer period. If convinced, the INS inspector at the port of entry may possibly approve a longer stay. The inspectors at most airports can hardly spend more than a minute per entrant in view of the influx of incessant flights. They do not have enough time to deliberate and determine what is a fair and reasonable period of stay. Case-by-case adjudication is impossible. The consequence will be that the entrants will receive a routine approval of only a month's stay. This logistic difficulty is not easy to get over. The misgivings at the start, the ordeal at the port of entry and the anxieties of an ill-planned tour will make the visitor's plight miserable.

L. Rajaraman,
Thanjavur, TN

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