Georgetown: Approximately 35,000 U.S. visa applications have been processed in the past year, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana D Brent Hardt disclosed. He said Guyanese interest in acquiring visas has increased radically over the years.
“There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Guyanese interested in travelling to the United States, we think that is a good thing, and we welcome tourism,” he posited during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times.
According to the U.S. ambassador, approximately 21,000 of the 35,000 applications were approved. In wake of the recent visa fraud, Ambassador Hardt said applying to the U.S. embassy should be the only way of acquiring a visa, noting that the online application has made the process less tedious. He said the embassy has increased staffing to meet the demand of Guyanese.
He briefly disclosed that the U.S. embassy is investigating the recent incident of visa fraud. On September 30, approximately four immigration officers stationed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) were taken into custody after being accused of collecting monies to allow three persons to pass through immigration with forged U.S. visas.
It was reported that the four female immigration officers requested $60,000 from the three people in exchange for not reporting the matter to authorities. The money was reportedly paid and the three persons were allowed to pass.
Meanwhile, on October 17, two Colombian nationals appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts after being charged with forgery. Twenty-seven-year-old Samir Edwardo Garcia Salazar of 1414019 Bogotá, Colombia and Jamie Enrique Mereses, 52, of 18 Fifteen Street, Bogotá, appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman. Salazar and Mereses, with the help of a translator, pleaded not guilty to the charges which stated that between February 17 and March 21, 2012 at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, they conspired with person(s) unknown and forged two Republic of Guyana business visas, numbers 270 and 272 dated February 17, 2012 purporting to show that the same was issued by the Central Immigration and Passport Office knowing it to be false. They were granted bail in the sum of $100,000 each.
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