Embassy officials said the change hange was made in an effort to create a more efficient visa application system.
The new rules will become mandatory as of November 1, 2006 and are expected to speed up the process and alleviate the long lines and week-long wait that are common with the visa application process.
“This is apart of a world initiative designed to increase efficiency of our non-immigrant visa process and also to improve the accuracy,” said US Ambassador John Rood yesterday.
He said one of the reasons increased efficiency is so important is that the embassy is working towards making visas available the same day persons come in for interviews.
Even though the online application is not mandatory as yet, more than 50 per cent of the individuals applying for non-immigrant visas in the Bahamas actually use the online services already.
This process, Mr Rood explained, does not require persons to be computer literate, because online applications will be identical to the paper version that is presently in use.
Another concern raised with this incoming system is the lack of Internet access on some of the smaller islands.
However Mr Rood does not think that will be an obstacle. “In the Bahamas, you have a great system here with Internet access – quite a bit better than a lot of other areas in the world.
“The very small communities that might be on an island, I know some people who live on Abaco, they’re going to have to get into Marsh Harbour and get into a terminal and sit down and fill out the application.”
Mr Rood also explained that the new process would be much more user-friendly than the one in place now. “You won’t have people standing out in the sun or the rain waiting on long lines,” he said.
Source: The Tribune
