The Colombian ambassador to the United States, Luis Gilberto Murillo, proposed to the American government a series of measures, among which is the ambitious request to eliminate, for certain cases, the visa requirement to enter the United States. A benefit that very few countries enjoy.
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In conversation with EL TIEMPO, Luis Murillo explained how is progressing the application to eliminate the visa requirement for Colombian citizens.
The ambassador indicated that the first step is to create a committee in charge of monitoring and ensuring that the country meets the necessary requirements.
“With the assistance of the United States, we will carry out this process so that as we meet the requirements, progress will be registered. so that the task can be done in the shortest possible timeMurillo said.
“This takes years but it cannot be put aside. Sooner or later (it will be achieved), Colombian tourists deserve visa exemption,” he told this outlet.
In addition, he advanced two proposals that could be fulfilled in a shorter period of time than the ambitious request for visa waiver.
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The first is that those citizens who travel recurrently to the United States may be excluded from the visa requirement. “That group of people should already have an exemption because it has been shown that they have no additional intention than to come to this country and carry out their tourism and business activities,” Murillo justifies.
The second proposal, which is not yet on the dialogue table with the United States, consists of “supplying the immigration document review process, which is called the pre-entry, once in Colombia“, says Murillo.
Which countries are part of the coveted list?
For now, only 40 nations around the world have obtained the benefit of the VWP (Visa Waiver Program, in English) or Visa Waiver Program. Among these countries is Chile, the only one in Latin America that achieved this benefit in 2014.
The program allows citizens of certain member countries to enter the United States for tourism, business, and transit purposes, and stay for a maximum period of 90 days without the need for a visa.
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Despite this, it is necessary for the visitor to have a electronic travel authorization known as ETSA. This authorization lasts for 2 years.
In the list are: Andorra, Australia, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Chile, South Korea, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, San Marino, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.
What is needed for the visa to be removed?
So that Colombia can become the 41st country on the list of nations that do not require a visa to enter the United States must meet a series of complex demands that the United States askswhich could take years to achieve.
Looking at the case of Chile, the only country in Latin America to have this benefit, this had to meet important conditions in matters of national security, bilateral cooperation, migratory and criminal control, prevention and combat of drug trafficking, as well as modernizations in migratory processes.
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One of the main challenges facing Colombia It has to do with immigration control, illegal passage across borders, and better surveillance and attention to the problem of drug trafficking.
Experts suggest that Colombia should show improvement regarding these points in order to be considered as a possible beneficiary of the VWP.
One of the requirements to be included in the VWP is a visa refusal rate of less than 3%. For Colombia, in 2019 42% of visa applications to the United States were rejected, which means that there is still a long margin to cut.
The decision to allow or not Colombia to enter among the countries with exemption to the US visa rests ultimately with the president of the United States, who will be the last voice in this long process.
Despite this, there are several government authorities that will have to give the go-ahead before reaching the White House office.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
TIME
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