Posted on 05/04/2006 5:44:11 AM PDT by areafiftyone
South Koreans who want to visit the U.S. without having to obtain a visa found themselves with a new ally Wednesday.
U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Virginia) said he would give ``100 percent support'' in urging President Bush to give visa-waiver status to South Korea, during a meeting with South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Lee Tai-sik..
``For me, requiring these visas is an impediment for business, students, tourism, and for the millions of people of Korean ancestry in our country, who want their families to be able to visit without the long waiting lines to process an application,'' Allen said.
Seoul hopes to join the program that would allow South Koreans to visit and stay in the U.S. without visas for up to 90 days. Twenty-seven nations currently have this status, mostly European countries and Japan, Brunei and Singapore from Asia.
Eligible nations must have and maintain less than a 3 percent visa refusal rate, use computer chip passports that contain the holder's DNA information, and have established a cooperative law enforcement system with the United States.
Hey George, how about the same to Nigeria - they have millions of dollars to give us. I have the emails and faxes if you need proof.
LOL - I still get those e-mails. I even got them in my Freepmail! LOL
Why is it so freakin hard to find a Republican with GUTS?!???
Of course, the few that might qualify for that statement would be fighting up hill against the media.
But I am getting sick of all the Rinos and Lefties in the Republican party.
Don't know what's up with Allen lately - last week he wanted a resolution in Congress to apologize for slavery and now this. Verrrry strange!
I have no problem if the criteria are met, particularly the visa refusal rate. The ROK is currently ineligible for the VWP because the refusal rate for nonimmigrant visas for its citizens exceeds the 3 percent maximum allowed under the VWP. The ROK’s refusal rate currently hovers just below 4 percent.
I first recognized a problem when he wanted to meet with Cindy Sheehan. He's the worst kind of kiss-up.
Just a guess, but maybe because he's up for re-election he's trying to get the moderate vote. That could be it.
Given economics, Koreans are very likely to overstay. This is why Hungarians require a visa even though they are EU members.
It all has to do with the visa refusal rate and not whether you are a member of the EU. The Poles also require visas.
Agreed. I just wanted to also note that the EU wasn't taken as a whole. I think there might be something that can be done for countries like South Korea, Poland, Hungary, etc. But the economic disparity is just too much to permit unfettered travel from those countries.
I believe its called "Bowing down to the liberal media".
He has seen what happens to conservatives in the media and figures that if they think he is "progressive" enough, they will say good things about him for the next year or two. He will probably sway right before the primaries, but not enough to piss them off, then swerve hard left for the general election if he makes it there.
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