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CIBT VISA and
Passport Updates
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
• India will be increasing fees for most visa types on July 01, 2008.
Six month business visas will no longer be granted to U.S. citizens. Please
contact customerservice@cibt.com
for the latest information. India will reject applications anytime the
vital information on the passport does not match the application exactly.
Please proof your application form carefully.
• Effective May 28, the Consulate General of Brazil in Chicago now
requires visa applications to be filled in online. To request visas, the
proper form must be electronically filled in at the following address: https://scedv.serpro.gov.br.
Once the application is completed, CIBT will still be able to submit the
visa request on your behalf.
• Please be advised that CIBT will now charge a $45.00 per country research
fee for any non-business or non-tourist visa request.
• China continues to tighten its visa policy in advance of the Beijing
Olympic Games. In many cases, Chinese Consulates are requiring additional
back-up documentation such as proof of hotel stay, flight itineraries,
proof of previous visa, host business or Foreign Ministry invitation
letters from China, and certificates of financial guarantee. Each province
has a government department that deals with foreign businesses doing trade
within its jurisdiction. It will likely be to this local office that any
local Chinese company who wants to invite a foreign company must go for
permission/authentication. These requirements are changing almost daily and
are not uniform from city to city. These changes are also being immediately
implemented without advance notice or grace period, so that items already
in progress may be affected. In some cases; we are seeing that China may
deny visa requests to certain foreign nationals residing in the U.S., and will
refer the individual to their home country for application. Please be
assured that CIBT is working diligently to understand and implement these
new requirements. We are updating our systems with this new information as
quickly as possible. Meanwhile, we recommend that travelers contact CIBT (www.cibt.com) for the latest information
prior to submitting documents for processing.
• The Chinese Embassy and its Consulates recently changed visa submission
requirements. As a result, an additional fee of $15 will be temporarily
assessed to cover the extra costs associated with expedited processing and
strict jurisdiction enforcement imposed by China. Please contact customerservice@cibt.com for
further information.
• U.S. cell phones do not work in Japan and Korea. Please contact Global
Phoneworks (http://www.globalphoneworks.com/)
for reduced rate mobile phone rentals. Special promotional discounts
available for groups of 20 or more traveling to China.
• Attention Companies with Aviation Departments: If your company has an
internal aviation department that coordinates flights from the United
States to destinations overseas, then CIBT can assist your crew members
with visas and passports. Requirements for crew members often differ from
those for business travelers. To learn more, please contact Steven Diehl
at: steven.diehl@cibt.com. Steve
would welcome receiving the contact information for your aviation
department so he can send them the necessary information.
• China Group Travel: CIBT anticipates that many of our clients will
be sending groups of employees to China to attend events related to the
summer Olympics. CIBT can help your organization create a program with
customized visa "kits" for groups of 20 or more employees who are
traveling to China at the same time. If you are interested in learning more
about this program, please contact Steven Diehl (CIBT Business Development)
at: steven.diehl@cibt.com
• Department of Homeland Security delays border crossing rules. Those
U.S. citizens returning to the U.S. by land and sea will not have to
present a passport until June 1, 2009, according to the U.S. DHS and the
State Department. The WHTI land and sea final rule and specific information
on documentation requirements may be obtained at www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/ready_set_go/.
For general information on the WHTI or other travel-related programs,
visit www.dhs.gov or www.travel.state.gov or www.cibt.com.
• CIBT offices are not open on weekends and cannot accept weekend
deliveries.
• The CIBT National Customer Service Center will close at 5 PM (central
time) on July 3rd.
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
• Can you guarantee that the consulate I have sent documentation to will
grant my visa? No, CIBT cannot guarantee this. For a variety of reasons,
any consulate can reject your application request at any time. The most
common reasons that a visa would be rejected are: using pencil or red or
green ink, incomplete forms, business cover letters that do not contain all
of the required information, non-passport quality photos, passport not
signed, passport with less than 6 months validity, using white out, using
copied or traced signatures, invitation not properly filled out, U.S. visa
and I-94 card (foreign passports) not included, and attaching copies when
originals are required, among others.
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TIP OF THE WEEK:
• Remember to send passport quality photos, frontal view, taken within the
last 6 months, 2X2 in size and with a white background. All other types of photos
(i.e. Polaroid's, glamour shots, vacation photos, digital paper photos,
profile photos and disproportionate photos) will not be accepted by the
consulates and US Passport Agency.
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CONSULATE AND EMBASSY CHANGES:
CITY ITEMS &
ISSUES
Chicago- Brazil: now requires
two blank visa pages, side by side. All visa applications must be filled in
online.
Houston- Thailand: will be closed June 26.
Los Angeles- Czech Republic: now requires traveler's personal
appearance.
Croatia: now requires traveler's personal appearance.
Hungary: effective July 1 will require traveler's personal appearance.
Romania: now requires traveler's personal appearance.
Miami - No issues.
New York- Brazil: will no longer issue same day visa requests.
Canada: will be closed July 01.
Nigeria: in addition to the manual form; all visa applications must be
filled in online.
Thailand: will only issue single entry visas.
Tanzania: will no longer issue 1 year visa.
Uganda: will no longer issue multiple entry visas.
San Francisco- No issues.
Washington- Azerbaijan: all visa applications must be filled in
online.
Nigeria: all visa applications must be filled in online.
This update is designed to keep our clients more informed about consulate
and embassy changes. Please circulate it among your staff. If you have any
comments or would like to add or delete a name to the distribution list,
contact us at acctmgmt@cibt.com.
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