Jim Eagles: Consult the consulate first

It is becoming trickier for some people to get into the United States these days.

That is partly due to new requirements that can lengthen the time it takes for a visa to be issued.

But it also appears to be a result of nervous officers on the frontline at US airports and ports interpreting the rules more strictly than expected and sending folk home in handcuffs on a technicality.

Of course the vast majority of New Zealanders wishing to visit the US have not been affected at all. They continue to be eligible for the visa-waiver programme, under which people from 27 countries can visit the US for up to 90 days without a visa.

But there are exceptions. The US Embassy in Wellington estimates that of the 68,000 Kiwis who visit the US each year 10,000 to 15,000 will need visas.

So who needs a visa?

* If you are, as the information form rather dryly puts it, "a drug addict, drug trafficker, or were involved in Nazi persecution, and if you were or are still a member of a subversive or terrorist organisation" you will definitely not get in on the visa-waiver programme.

* If you have ever been arrested and fingerprinted in the US you run the risk of being turned back at the border if you arrive without a waiver.

* If you are going over for anything even vaguely to do with paid or unpaid work - especially journalism - then it's a good idea to check if you need a visa.

* If you are going there to study you will need a visa.

* If you have a criminal record in New Zealand, maybe for smoking a joint while at university, you will also need a waiver.

* If you are recorded as having overstayed on a previous visit to the US you may be refused admission.

The key point, says Richard H. Adams, chief of the consular section in Auckland, is that clarifying any of those issues can take time, sometimes up to three months, so don't leave it to the last minute.

Intending travellers also need to be aware that since the end of February getting a visa means making an appointment to visit the Auckland Consulate, in the Citibank building at the corner of Customs and Commerce Sts, for a face-to-face interview. All those aged between 14 and 79 also have to have an index finger scan.

You can no longer get a visa by mail and you can no longer just turn up at the consulate and hope to be seen.

Adams accepts that this is inconvenient for people living outside Auckland, but says the index finger scan means anyone needing a visa must now make a personal appearance, "and luckily most Kiwis don't need a visa".

Anyone planning to visit the US should, he advises, check out the rules early on, either on usembassy.org.nz - the best site, because it has information specific to New Zealand - www.unitedstatesvisas.gov or www.travel.state.gov/vwp.

Alternatively ring 0900 US VISA (0900.87.8472) from 7.30am to 5.30pm on weekdays. The first minute of the call will be free but after that you'll face a charge of $3.45 a minute to a maximum of $25 (including GST).

If you think you may need to make an appointment, have your passport handy because you'll need the number to book a time.

The application forms, which vary according to individual circumstances, can be downloaded from the website or posted out from the call centre.

Anyone going for an interview needs to take a fee of US$100 ($175 at current exchange rates), passport and photographs for a visa.

It is also advisable to take documentation such as birth certificate, marriage certificate, documentation relating to housing/mortgage/rent and documentation relating to employment such as a letter from your employer.

Those documents may not be needed but, in the words of Adams, "It is better to err on the side of caution because it may be a little difficult to go back to Dunedin to get some document that turns out to be required."

Some who have gone through the new visa processing system feel the consular officials can be a little, shall we say, overly bureaucratic.

But Adams, who is effusive about New Zealand, hopes that isn't true. "I like to think we're as flexible as we possibly can be and stay within the law."

For instance, he says, sometimes people who have forgotten a necessary piece of documentation are allowed to mail it in later to avoid the need for another visit.

The office prides itself on providing 98 or 99 per cent of approved visas within the same day.

And if you take in a self-addressed courier envelope it will even send your passport and visa out so you don't have to go back to pick it up.

But some problem areas are basically out of its control.

For instance, he warns, all fingerprint records in the US are now in a unified computer system so anyone who has ever been fingerprinted there - "and in the case of Kiwis it typically involves a drinking bout at a ski resort or somewhere" - even if it was 20 years ago, no charges were laid and they have travelled to the US over the years without any problems, could run into trouble at the border.

Such problems can usually be resolved, but it may take months, so Adams suggests anyone who has ever been fingerprinted in the US should sort things out in advance. "It doesn't apply to a lot of people but it has come up a couple of times and it can be very inconvenient to the person concerned."

Then there is the question of whether someone with a minor conviction can enter the US.

"You'd be surprised," says Adams, "how many people come in here acting sheepish because they got caught smoking a joint 25 years ago."

Such people need a waiver from the Department of Homeland Security, which can take three or four weeks, to get entry to the US.

Because that is a different agency the consulate does not know the precise criteria for getting a waiver but Adams says encouragingly, "I do know that they're not particularly worried about something minor".

Another tricky area is the definition of what is work which, he acknowledges, "is a complicated area".

"One example that we sometimes give is that a tailor can travel to America and measure up someone for a suit, and go back to his country and make it and send it to America. That's permitted. What he cannot do is go to America and measure people and make the suits there."

How, then, does he explain cases of journalists going to the US intending to gather information, take it home and write an article - which sounds pretty much like the tailor example - who have been put in handcuffs and deported?

This appears to embarrass Adams a little. "That has happened and I admit it took me a bit by surprise that they were so very strict about this point."

But, he adds, that rather endorses the basic message that, "if you have any doubts call the call centre or look on the website so we can sort it out".

And, one final point, it would be wrong to put too much emphasis on the problems "Only a very small number of applicants are affected by ineligibilities that take time to clear up."