U.S. Visa Becomes More Difficult to Obtain

From August 23, U.S. visa applicants must have their fingerprints registered on a U.S. government computer.

Applicants should have their fingerprints scanned first when applying for a visa; subsequently, the fingerprints need to be confirmed again when entering U.S. airport. It is still unknown how many fingers must be scanned.

However, people from 27 countries under a visa exemption agreement such as Japan need to perform this only once when they enter the U.S.

U.S. General consul Alter said, "The changed visa application procedure is introduced on the U.S. embassy homepage (www.usembassy.state.gov/seoul) in detail. Although the procedure has become somewhat difficult, we ask for understanding, given the fact that the U.S. government policy has changed since 9/11."

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com