Your travel plans are confirmed – but you won’t be going anywhere unless you have the right visa.
Obtaining visas is a fact of life for business travelers. Whether we go abroad for a simple one-day meeting or more prolonged periods,the need for both business and work visas seems to be increasing – and, with them, the uncertainty over the requirements necessary for getting them.
While a passport is proof of identity, a visa has a different purpose.
“A visa is needed to learn more about a person,” says Andrew Wrensch, head of marketing for Visa Swift, a London-based passport and visa procurement service. “Whether they have enough funds to support themselves while in the country, for instance, and to make sure they leave. That’s why many business visas around the world require a certification of employment, or a letter from an employer saying why you are required to visit, or from the company you are visiting to state the reason for your visit.”
Thus the reason many governments cite for requiring visas is security. It was little surprise then, that after the terror attacks last fall in Paris and San Bernardino, Congress passed significant changes to the United States’ popular visa waiver program.
Visa waiver allows citizens of 38 mostly European and Asian nations to enter the US without a visa for stays of up to 90 days. Among the countries that are eligible to participate in the program are France, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
Under the new law, visa waiver status would be denied to citizens of partner countries if they have traveled to places like Iraq and Syria in the last five years, without first obtaining a visa. Travelers would also have to have e-passports with fingerprints and other biometric data which makes them less susceptible to fraud, similar to passports carried by US citizens.
Denne historien er fra March 2016-utgaven av Business Traveler.
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Denne historien er fra March 2016-utgaven av Business Traveler.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Around the World in 80 Ways - Oneworld releases an Al-powered travel service for extended international voyages
A new generative artificial intelligence (AI) travel agent will leverage Google Cloud to help ambitious travelers easily book international trips with Oneworld member airlines. The alliance’s Round the World fares allow passengers to book up to 16 flights between at least three continents on a globe-spanning trip that lands back home up to a year later.
Fast Company - In a partnership with SpaceX, United is rolling out revolutionary high-speed Wi-Fi on all its flights
United has become the first major U.S. airline to announce a groundbreaking partnership with SpaceX to equip more than 1,000 aircraft with Starlink WiFi. Passengers will soon enjoy high-speed, lowlatency Internet service, enabling seamless gate-to-gate connectivity across domestic and international flights.
Special Sauce - Celebrated chef and entrepreneur Giada De Laurentiis shares her Italian heritage through her television shows, restaurants, cruise partnerships and an exclusive line of curated products
Celebrated chef and entrepreneur Giada De Laurentiis shares her Italian heritage through her television shows, restaurants, cruise partnerships and an exclusive line of curated products
The Censoring of Social Media? - Why legislatures continually try to regulate freedom of expression, and what the courts are doing about it
There seems to be bipartisan agreement that everything from teen suicide rates to poor mental health and more is due to social media. The obvious solution, they believe, is to impose government oversight on how such services can be provided. Congress is considering sweeping social media legislation and a number of states have already enacted such laws.
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East Meets West
Chef Cyril Lignac fuses French and Japanese cuisine in the heart of London
Bigger.Better.
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High Style
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