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A special envoy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has arrived in Seoul to discuss Korea¡¯s entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the visit follows a statement by U.S. President George W. Bush late last month that Washington would strongly consider a visa waiver for Koreans.
To visit the U.S., Koreans must prepare their documents several months in advance, pay a US$100 fee and wait in line in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. It is a cumbersome process that has given rise to a saying among Koreans that applying for a U.S. visa triggers anti-American sentiments. Last year alone, around 400,000 Koreans got their U.S. visas this way.
If Korea is included in the waiver program, visitors staying less than 90 days will be allowed to visit the U.S. without tourist or commercial visas. At present, 27 countries are part of the program. In order to get a visa waiver, a country must have less than a 3 percent visa refusal rate. But Korea¡¯s visa refusal rate is 3.5 percent.
Right now in the U.S., lawmakers are deliberating the passage of a law that would give visa-waiver benefits to citizens of countries that are allies in America¡¯s war on terror. U.S. lawmakers including Senator Joseph Biden have even sent letters to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice supporting the waiving of visas for Koreans. Their reasoning is that Korea is a stable country that ranks among the world¡¯s top 10 largest economies, is America¡¯s seventh-largest trading partner and Korean tourists rank among the top 10 spenders in the U.S.
Korea and the United States are not only allies, but have concluded a free trade agreement. There are 93,000 Koreans studying in the U.S., the largest group of foreign students in the country. Also, Koreans are the fifth-largest group of visitors to the U.S. in the world. It is time to get rid of the long visa lines that form around the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
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