overview
studies
passports
visas
issues
travel
profiling
watch lists
ticketing
searches
Aust travel
abduction
refugees
deportation
borders
landmarks
related
Guides:
Privacy
Secrecy
Security
& Infocrime
Identity &
Identity Crime
related
Profiles:
Surveillance
Forgery &
Forensics
Australia
Card
RFIDs
biometrics
|
visas
This page considers visas.
It covers -
introduction
As noted earlier in this profile, a visa is an official
document issued by the country to which an individual
wishes to visit. It authorises the bearer to enter that
country, generally on a short-term basis and subject to
specific conditions (eg not engaging in paid employment
during a visit).
A visa accordingly contrasts with a passport (essentially
an official travel document issued by the nation of which
the bearer is a member rather than by the nation which
the bearer wishes to visit).
As with passports, visas are issued under national law.
International law recognises the right of a nation to
restrict entry to its territory as such and more specifically
to set conditions for entry.
Some nations thus require a visa for any visit by people
who are not nationals (and who do not have a special status,
such as that of a diplomat). Other nations allow entry
without a visa on a short-term basis for non-commercial
purposes, ie the person granted the visa will visit as
a tourist rather than as
an employee.
Nations can and do deny visas to particular individuals
or categories of individuals: that denial is broadly recognised
in international law. They can require categories of individuals
to gain special visas (eg the US requires a discrete visa
for journalists who intend to engage in the profession
while visiting the country).
They can arrest, detain and deport
people who breach conditions under which a visa was issued
(for example expel visitors who engage in criticism of
the host government or who stay in the country beyond
the period specified in the visa). Those conditions are
often quite broad, with subjective determination of questions
of character and activity.
Visas are typically issued by a diplomatic representative
of the visited country prior to the bearer's visit (eg
a person intending to visit country x obtains
a visa from the x consultate or embassy in country
y before travelling to x).
Some nations use two forms of visa: a short-term visa
for visitors wishing to stay for up to 90 days and a special
long-term visa for periods longer than 90 days. A visitor
with a long-term visa is typically required to apply for
alien registration (discussed below) within the visited
country within 90 days of arrival.
visa revocation
Visas may be revoked by governments for a range of reasons,
including conduct by the bearer of the visa.
In Australia for example grounds for revocation include
-
-
drugs (dealing, selling, making etc)
- organised
criminal activity resulting in conviction in Australia
or elsewhere
- serious
crime against the Migration Act
- sexual
assaults, particularly assaults involving children (regardless
of whether violence is involved)
- armed
robbery
- murder,
manslaughter, assault or any other form of violence
against a person
- terrorism
-
kidnapping
-
blackmail and extortion
-
arson
-
serious theft (including white collar crimes)
-
crimes against children
-
other crimes involving threat or violence
-
ancillary offences in respect of any of the above.
Nations
may simply refuse to issue visas.
In 2008 high-profile UK author Sebastian Horsley, who
had gained notoriety for a lurid account of drug use and
encounters with prostitutes in Dandy in the Underworld
(New York: HarperCollins 2008) was refused entry as he
tried to enter the US for a media tour. In a publicist's
dream, he claimed that he was detained by customs personnel
for eight hours and questioned about drug addiction, use
of prostitutes and activity as a male escort. A Customs
representative commented that "travelers who have
been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude (which
includes controlled-substance violations) or admit to
previously having a drug addiction" may be excluded.
Horsley predictably said that he was "absolutely
shattered and upset and gutted".
alien registration
Nations have historically sought to register visiting
foreigners, on occasion providing those non-nationals
with an identity card tied to a national/local register.
Registration has been particularly prevalent during periods
of military or economic crisis (and anxieties about migration)
- for example the Australian Aliens Registration Act
1939 - but remains in use in some nations.
In Japan for example a foreign national intending to reside
in that country for more than 90 days must apply for alien
registration under the Alien Registration law. Registration
takes place at the municipal office in the individual's
place of residence within Japan. It results in issue of
an alien registration card, which must be carried by the
individual at all times.
studies
For antecedents see Bernard Gainer's The Alien Invasion:
The Origin of the Aliens Act of 1905 (London: Heinemann
1972) and Andreas Fahrmeir's Citizens and Aliens:
Foreigners and the Law in Britain and the German States,
1789-1870 (Oxford: Berghahn 2000).
Mark Salter's 'The Global Visa Regime and the Political
Technologies of the International Self: Borders, Bodies,
Biopolitics' in 31(2) Alternatives: Global, Local,
Political (2006) 167-189.
Leslie Moch & Gary Moch's Moving Europeans. Migration
in Western Europe since 1650 (Bloomington: Indiana
Uni Press 1992), Distant Magnets. Expectations and
Reality in the Immigrant Experience (New York: Holmes
& Meier 1993) edited by Dirk Hoerder & Horst Rössler,
Migration in European History (Cheltenham: Elgar
1996) edited by Colin Holmes, People on the Move:
Migration, Acculturation and Ethnic Interaction in Europe
and North America (Providence: Berg 1993) by Dirk
Hoerder.
next page (issues)
|
|
