US Complicates Visa Procedure
The US State Department has drawn up after the September 11 events a new application form to obtain an American nonimmigrant visa. To receive a visa, Ukrainian citizens must fill out the DS-157 application questionnaire in the immediate future. Although US authorities have so far made no official statement on this matter, it seems to be a question of days. The US Embassy in Russia already introduced this visa application form on January 17. The new form containing a number of entirely new questions has been introduced, as the US side claims, to obtain additional information and to prevent potential terrorists from getting US nonimmigrant entry visas. Yet, the updated application form is not going to change the very procedure of getting US entry visas. It is not ruled out that, as the number of questions in the new form is being increased, it will take more time than before for US consulates to process the application documents.
The DS-157 application form is to be filled out by all males aged 16 to 45 who apply for a United States nonimmigrant visa. This requirement is in force for all applicants in any country irrespective of the place of application. Visa application documents will be accepted without this questionnaire only in exceptional diplomatic and official cases. Exempt from filling the DS-157 form are diplomats, public officials on official trips, and representatives of international organizations, for example, the UN or the World bank.
A visa applicant must answer 18 questions about whether he has certain special skills, been trained or has experience in handling firearms, explosives, nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, as well as give the full name of his spouse and parents. Moreover, he must say whether he was involved in military conflicts (as a serviceman or victim), name all the countries he has visited in the past ten years and the countries that have ever issued him a foreign-travel passport. The applicant will also have to name the tribe or clan (if he knows) and say if he is a member of any professional, non-governmental, or religious organizations.
