On the very day that European interior ministers met to discuss a growing trans-Atlantic row over the refusal by the United States to waive visa requirements for Maltese and citizens of eight other new EU member States and Greeks, the US embassy in Malta introduced new requirements for the filing of visa applications, requirements that have rendered the process more difficult than it had previously been.
In the latest shot, in what has become known as the “visa wars”, European ministers convened in Luxemburg on Thursday to discuss the handling of the international bone of contention. The US has steadfastly refused to waive the obligation for citizens of Greece and the new EU10, with the exception of Slovenia, to apply for visas to visit the US. The rest of the EU15 have no such obligation when visiting the US.
Describing the US refusal to accede to repeated requests by the EU to do away with what is being considered as a discriminatory regime, the European Commission on Thursday retaliated by proposing that all member States force US diplomats to apply for visas before visiting their countries.
On the same day, however, the US embassy in Malta announced a new procedure for visa applicants, which has been seen as complicating the process for most and rendering it extremely difficult for those on the wrong side of the digital divide.
The new procedure, which is to begin on 1 November, will require US visa applicants in Malta to first access an electronic visa application form on the embassy’s website, fill in the form on-line, and print it out once completed. This already spells difficulties for any potential visa applicant who does not have both Internet access and a printer.
Once done, applicants are to go to a Bank of Valletta branch, pay the visa application fee and collect a receipt of payment. The applicant can then proceed to the embassy with the printed electronic form, the required photograph and the receipt of payment.
Starting in November, the embassy will only accept the electronic visa application form, while regular paper applications, as has been the status quo in the past, will no longer be accepted.
The new measures are undoubtedly aimed at reducing the long queues for visas, a common sight in the mornings outside the US embassy in Floriana. But the timing of the measure’s announcement has been perhaps somewhat misguided, given the mounting row over Maltese and other EU citizens still being required to apply for visas in the first place.
As the US and the EU remain at loggerheads over the issue, EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini has written to the US Homeland Security secretary describing the US’ unrelenting stance despite continued appeals from the EU as “no longer understandable and acceptable”.
The US has repeatedly said that visa requirements would be waived in the case of the EU10 only when the country in question meets requirements such as a visa refusal rate of less than three per cent and when the US has registered a low rate of visa overstayers.