visa si, visa no

the current trends

I hope Mothers’ Day 2026 was superlative for everyone. I encountered surprises such as a few hours of elbow grease and various techniques to address the oatmeal pan I scorched resoundingly. More pleasant was an unexpected invitation to dine at the Eastport Yacht Club (no, Dave and Dorothy, we still do not have a yacht, but neighbors do), where we had a delightful meal. Life can be so good.

I also spent the weekend cogitating on Friday’s column because I did not adequately cover the question on visas and entering other countries. Let me try this again.

Visas are the authorization, whether in the form of a formal stamp or increasingly in a digital form, that governments provide to foreigners requesting to enter another country. Americans, for many years, did not face the requirement to ask for countries such as Britain or Europe because of negotiated agreements of mutual understanding, so we have come to this game later than many citizens. But protecting the people in any country by limiting who enters (in some cases, who exits as well, but that’s another column) has been true for decades. Americans tend to underappreciate the role diplomacy has played in easing their international travel, but those days are long gone. Visas provide a better indication of who is traveling, along with a bit of cash for the effort to process them.

The return of four women and nine children caused an uproar Down Under last week when the Australian authorities arrested three of them who had visited Syria, invoking concerns about links to the Islamic State. This was not a specific visa case, as the women and children were Australian citizens. Still, it raised questions about how Canberra and the current Anthony Albanese government should allow access to the country.

We are hardly unfamiliar with the passion that entering the country raises, are we?

The 9/11 attacks unsurprisingly led the Bush administration and its successors to impose stricter rules to prevent a repeat tragedy of the hijackers coming here. Many other countries retaliated with their own heightened measures, whether out of shared fear or retaliation. I remember being singled out for a thumbprint and photograph when I arrived in Rio in 2003 on a research trip, even though on US Government orders. Travel to Canada or Mexico now requires passports, for example, though it is visa-free for 6 months; for most of my life, one could see our friends north or south with a smile and a quick ‘eh?’ at the end of the sentence.

Let me reiterate, which I did not on Friday, that this is the prerogative of every sovereign government. Every one of them. Countries decide whether to admit someone based on the application the individual submitted, ensuring the individual’s entry aligns with the location they are trying to enter. In other words, visa rules vary just as countries do.

The questions on a visa form often cover family members, even if those individuals are not traveling. Other questions frequently note adjacent stops on the same trip. It’s not uncommon for countries to ask where you have been within the past year or two. It’s almost always the case that the application also seeks to know where you can be found once in the country, whether it’s a personal or commercial location where you will stay.

India, however, required a submission of a document more than a dozen pages long, asking whether the applicant had relatives or any ties to Pakistan when I traveled there roughly fourteen years ago; I imagine Pakistan asks the same, though I don’t recall. China mandates that applicants detail their family members and other travel. In short, countries tend to seek information on what officials have determined to be the most relevant information to store in the future. Have no doubt that information is stored on you in some system these governments host.

My husband and I, like many of you, have had to procure an ETA to visit Britain over the past year-plus. Anyone traveling to European Union countries must now also have a valid visa to savor the delights and sights of European Union member states.

I therefore have filled out seemingly countless visa applications, whether I was traveling on official business or on vacation. I wasn’t always happy to provide the names of family members, as it seemed irrelevant to my travel, or what seemed intrusive questioning about my travel agenda but I weighed the objective of travel versus privacy.

I mentioned on Friday that South Carolina friends were incredulous that the U.S. Government recently denied visas to British citizens over a tourist visit to Cuba. The island is a fixation for the current U.S. administration because the Secretary of State is of a Cuban background and the President has made clear his intention to oust the Communist government, an unfulfilled Washington aspiration since 1961. The White House aims to stop energy and financial support in any way that propped up the regime.

One can travel, though it remains discouraged, for educational, humanitarian, and other people-based reasons. Still, the rules are far tighter from our side, with tourism and business strictly prohibited by U.S. law. This hardline spans both the Trump and Biden administrations, despite President Obama’s 2015 reopening of diplomatic relations with the island’s regime.

What is different today is that the Trump administration is denying visas to foreign applications who travelled to the island as tourists. The Trump administration is enforcing policies once thought antiquated with the reestablishment of ties.

News reports indicate that social media criticizing the U.S. administration or the POTUS by name is a red flag that will preclude anyone from receiving a visa, as travel to Cuba, North Korea, or other hostile regimes indicates dangerous behaviors on the part of the applicant.

Additionally, applicants must provide access to five years of social media posts when applying for H-1B, H-4, F, J, and M visas, which are available to long-term employees and students (and their dependents) from overseas. Ignoring this requirement can be considered hiding information, thus disqualifying one for the visa. This enhanced attention to one’s online presence is definitely a new twist in the visa process.

This raises a few questions for many about the ultimate goal these actions seek to address: is it preventing a terrorist threat to the United States? Is it aimed at discouraging policy differences with the current office holders? Or is it an attempt to silence those who oppose an individual leader or his circle?

A further concern lurking on these questions is whether these steps can apply to the behavior of U.S. citizens, whether returning from abroad or in their daily lives at home?

This level of investigation is dramatically higher than in the past for two unavoidable reasons. First, making policy on visas, candy bars, or ballrooms is what any sovereign state can do if it uses its prerogatives without any enforcement mechanisms to deter it. Those opposing these actions within our country may challenge them in court, but litigation tends to be a lengthy process.

The second point is that the technology to conduct this information-gathering is now available to the government. Without transparent statements on the purposes for which the information is used, one must wonder how much we, as citizens, know about its accumulation or specific uses.

None of that is to say that someone visiting Cuba for a holiday under the individual’s home country laws is not trustworthy enough to garner a U.S. tourist visa, but the current U.S. administration seeks to remove the government in Havana by whatever means it can; this is the world we live in under an elected, if controversial to some, administration. It’s also true that, in the eyes of many, the United States, with this new level of disapproval of individual choices, is becoming far more akin to much of the world we used to criticize for being intolerant under invasive government.

This will likely draw far fewer visitors but that may be the goal for some while others in some industries such as hospitality will see it as a high cost. Our public policy is always one of trade offs, though we forget that often.

Some of you will be angry as you read this, while others will find it a relief. My bottom line is that actions, in this case an election, had far-reaching consequences which people either chose to ignore or did not fully grasp. Visa policies are revocable and subject to change, while some government decisions will have effects that endure far beyond the era.

This is why paying attention to our national debate on the panoply of issues matters a great deal—and should involve every one of us every single time we get the chance to voice our opinions.

I welcome your retorts, observations, and pleas as this is a dialogue. I genuinely want to hear your thoughts on the visa question, whether it relates to the World Cup matches or the Raw Milk Convention in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

I appreciate your time reading this column. I especially thank those who offer financial support to this column, whether it’s an annual subscription for $55 or a monthly at $8. I am touched by those who make Founding subscriber commitments at $80. Your generosity keeps me reaching into every greater access to information to factor into my thinking.

It was a beautiful Friday walkabout that let me capture a couple of splendid shots here in Eastport.

Be well, have a satisfying week, and be safe. FIN

Arab Desk, “ 3 Australian Women Arrested After Returning from Syria, Terror and Slavery Charges Rock Canberra”, EasternHerald.com, 7 May 2026, retrieved at https://easternherald.com/2026/05/07/australian-women-arrested-syria-return-isis-probe/

Lauren Edmonds and Lakshmi Varanasi, “The US is now reviewing social media of certain visa applicants. Here’s everything you need to know”, BusinessInsider.com20 December 2025, retrieved at https://www.businessinsider.com/us-visa-requirements-social-media-review-what-to-know-h1b-2025-12?op=1

“2025 Legal Cuba Travel for Americans”, LegalCubaTravel.com, accessed 11 May 2026, retrieved at https://legalcubatravel.com/

Shashank Singh, “How to List Social Media for DS-160: Step-by-Step Instructions”, visaverge.comm 22 December 2025, retrieved at https://www.visaverge.com/knowledge/how-to-list-social-media-for-ds-160-step-by-step-instructions/