Headlines:
| Embassy to change visa application system |
|
|
| Friday, 18 July 2008 | |
|
Changes are coming to the visa application system at the
United States Embassy in Kingston. The Embassy has been complaining that the system is frequently clogged by persons who have been making multiple appointments. Consular officials told RJR News that the problem has increased since the introduction of on-line appointments. They told journalists at a briefing Thursday with the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the State Department Janice Jacobs that some travel agents are also securing blocks of appointments. Miss Jacobs said in another year a new mechanism will be put in place to alleviate the problem. "In the future, we're going to allow people when they make their appointment to also pay on line for the visa processing fee that we charge. We think this will lead to a decrease and we've already started to pilot that in other countries," she said. In the last American fiscal year October 2006 to September 2007, 104,000 persons applied for and were interviewed for a visa. That was 13,000 more than the previous year. Approximately 66% of the applicants were granted a visa. |