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Visa Restrictions Are Often A Moving Target

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The New York Times

Published: March 8, 2009

Late last month, the United Arab Emirates denied a visa to the Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer to play in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. Then, just days later and after harsh criticism by the tennis world, the Emirates turned around and issued a visa for another Israeli tennis player, Andy Ram, to play the next week.

The incident calls attention to just how complex and confusing obtaining entry to foreign countries can be for many travelers. Depending on the country, travelers may be turned away based on nationality, profession or the stamps in their passports from countries they visited in the past. And policies can and often do shift based on diplomatic relations, making who is or is not let in seem somewhat random to those applying for entry.

"All of this stuff kind of comes and goes," said Christopher Davis, chief executive of G3 Visas & Passports, a company based in Arlington, Va., that assists in expediting travel documents. "It's a fluid situation based on diplomatic relations."

Anyone with a criminal record, including a drunken-driving conviction, may be turned away at the Canadian border. Several countries ban HIV-positive visitors, including Brunei, China and the United States, though exceptions may be granted in certain circumstances for visitors to the United States. And some places in the Middle East, including Syria, Lebanon and Libya, rigidly enforce restrictions on prior travel to Israel and do not allow people with passports bearing Israeli visa or entry and exit stamps to enter.

Come On In, If You're Invited

Sometimes, what countries say on the books regarding their entry and exit policies is different from what is enforced. U.S. tour operators, including Mountain Travel Sobek and Travcoa, dropped their trips to Libya after it stopped issuing visas to American tourists, even though the country has no official policy banning Americans. According to the Libyan People's Bureau in Ottawa (www.libya-canada .org), foreign travelers must have an Arabic translation of their passport and a letter of invitation from an accredited Libyan travel agency or host in Libya to apply for a visa. "What ended up happening is though the Libyan government said, 'Oh yes, we're offering visas to tourists,' they really weren't," said Kimberly A. Beck, marketing director at Mountain Travel Sobek in Emeryville, Calif.

The Emirates, including Dubai, has no official policy banning visitors who have also visited Israel, though some travelers with Israeli stamps on their passport have reported problems at the border.

After the decision to deny a visa to Peer, one New York-based tour operator, Isramworld, canceled its programs to Dubai. "We were very surprised because in the past, any travelers that had Israeli stamps in their passports were allowed to enter," said Ilana Apelboim, chief worldwide operations officer at Isramworld.

Religion and sexual orientation, as well, are sometimes cited as reasons for tourists to be denied entry to one country or another.

According to the State Department, U.S. citizens whose stated purpose of travel was tourism but who engaged in religious proselytizing have been expelled from Vietnam, which requires foreigners to undertake only the activity for which their visas were issued. And gay and lesbian tour groups have encountered issues visiting certain destinations.

Long-Haired Need Not Apply

Atlantis, a gay cruise operator, had a charter cruise that was scheduled to make a stop in the Cayman Islands during its sailing in January 1998. In late 1997, the tourism minister at the time made a unilateral decision to bar the cruise from calling on the Caymans. Subsequently, the Cayman Islands government established an official policy of nondiscrimination, and Atlantis returned to the islands in 2006, with what was then the world's largest gay cruise (3,200 passengers).

Stephan A. Roth, a spokesman for Atlantis, wrote in an e-mail that the company is "careful to avoid any destinations that are openly homophobic or that see frequent occurrences of hostility towards gays and lesbians."

Davis of G3 Visas & Passports said a 50-year-old male client with long hair and two earrings was denied a visa to China in 2007. "Those desk officers look at this and say this is totally against our culture," Davis said. "American tourists believe they have this overall right to travel and do what they want to do," he added. "Not every country respects those choices we're allowed to make."

With careful planning, it's possible for many tourists to overcome some entry obstacles, even to countries with rigid restrictions.

For travelers looking for information on passport, visa and health advice, a good resource is www.iatatravel centre.com, developed by the International Air Transport Association. A traveler can use the country information tool to plug in an itinerary, passport details and countries visited in the past six months, and the site returns information on the relevant travel documents or other requirements needed for that specific trip. Perhaps even more useful, it flags any restrictions that a traveler may encounter.

The State Department's Web site also lists entry and exit requirements to foreign countries at travel.state.gov. For information on countries that ban HIV-positive visitors, go to www.hivtravel.org.

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