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Fees fall for travel visas to States

Officials hope visa requirement will be waived by year's end

By Curtis M. Wong
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 30th, 2008 issue

Travel visas to the United States have just gotten cheaper for Czechs. Formerly 2,096 Kč, visas cost 1,965 Kč as of Aug. 1, thanks to the strengthening local currency, U.S. Embassy officials said.
The fee for issuance of U.S. travel visas is fixed globally at $131 by the U.S. State Department. However, this decrease marks the third time the U.S. Embassy has lowered the fee for Czech travelers in 2008, in reaction to the strengthening crown.
“The visa processing fee is lowered every time there are significant changes to the exchange rate,” said U.S. General Consul Stuart Hatcher. “It will benefit Czech travelers in the sense that they have to pay less for the processing of their visas, but it’s still a significant amount of money to pay.”
Authorities said they hope that this decrease is one of the final steps before waiving the visa requirement for Czechs traveling to the United States entirely. In February, the Czech Republic was the first European Union country to sign a memorandum toward the cancellation of overseas travel visas for its citizens.
At present, travel visas are not necessary for the 15 older E.U. countries, with the exception of Greece. Of the eight 2004 EU newcomers, only Slovenians do not need them, although Czech and Slovak citizens do.
“There are a few ongoing border security negotiations between the Czech Republic and the U.S. at present,” Hatcher said. “There are too many uncertainties at the moment to give a specific date, but everything is on track so that we fully expect that Czechs will be able to travel visa-free by the end of the year.”
Currently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is also preparing to introduce the Electronic Travel Authorization, or ETA, which will digitally scan passports and identify airline passengers. Once this procedure is finalized, Hatcher says he expects the visa-waiver discussions between the United States and Czech Republic to intensify.
“There are certain things that have to happen in order for a country to join [the list of visa-waiver nations],” Hatcher said. “We really hope that those actions will take place here so that the Czech Republic will soon be able to do that.”

Curtis M. Wong can be reached at cwong@praguepost.com


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