Obama Executive Orders the State Department to Ease Visa Restrictions on Brazilian & Chinese Tourists, Even Though One Group Has Histories of Crimes & Visa Overstays:
President Obama orders State Department 60 days to come up with a way to decrease time for Brazilian and Chinese tourists to get U.S. visas.
Obama wants to cut their waiting time from four month to just a few weeks. He is calling for consular officials to interview 80% of visa applicants from Brazil and China.
Michael Gould of Bloomindales, and others like Macy’s and Saks, have all begun lobbying congress to ease immigrations from Brail and China.
They are saying shoppers from both countries buy their products and spend a whole lot of money. People from both countries have become big spenders and demand for tourist visas have increased.
The average Chinese tourist spends $6,000 while in the United States according to the Commerce Department.
This is a win-win situation for U.S. retailers, because overseas visitors want to come and shop, says David French chief lobbyist for the National Retail Federation. Obama’s executive action also orders the state department to issue 40% more visas for Brazilian and Chinese tourists in 2012.
“The more folks who visit America, the more Americans will get back to work,” says President Obama. Despite the consequences of allowing more possible visa overstays, and with millions of Americans out of work, it’s another of Obama’s lunatic policies to help Wall Street, over unemployed Americans.
With roughly 1.4 million Chinese and over 1 million Brazilians are expected to come under this program. Bloomingdale’s is preparing for the influx by hiring more multi-lingual sales staff, planning overseas ad campaigns and so on. Where does that leave the regular American Joe? Without a job, the plan would bring foreigners and hire foreigners! It’s totally absurd.
We did that, but not too long ago, and we ended up with tens of thousands undocumented visa overstay Brazilians. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the undocumented Brazilians, like the visa overstays Brazilians got involved in stolen ID’s and other corruptive acts.
Illegal Brazilians have corrupted numerous DMV, Department of Motor Vehicles by offering exorbitant amounts of money to get driver’s licenses and Brazilian cabbies allegedly asked for ‘whole package’
“The FBI first learned of “possible corruption by members of the San Francisco Police Taxi Detail” in 2007 when two members of the now-defunct Taxicab Commission introduced special agents to a confidential source, according to an arrest affidavit prepared by the Police Department.
That source said a Yellow Cab driver had paid Paul Makaveckas, a 36-year veteran officer who has since retired. Makaveckas is accused of being involved in a scheme with William Hancock to charge Brazilian taxi drivers who could not write in English to pass the SFPD exam.
It was “common knowledge” in the Brazilian community that Hancock had a relationship with Makaveckas and that he could help pass the required training for a $100 fee, according to the affidavit. Students allegedly had to go to Hancock’s driving school, Flag-A-Cab, and ask for the “whole package.”
FBI Special Agent Scott Springer set up an undercover sting in which three agents documented instances when Makaveckas reportedly ignored incorrect answers to questions for a bribe.”
Almost half of total Brazilian emigrants are living in the U.S. “There are over 3.1 million Brazilians living outside of Brazil, according to Brazilian Ministry of External Relations (Itamaraty). Impressively, almost half of total Brazilian emigrants are based in the U.S.
This recent study implies that only less than 2% of the total Brazilian population (about 200 million people) is living abroad, including 1,388,000 in the USA (or about 45% of total Brazilian emigrants).
Even though the Brazilian economy has been doing very well in the past few years, with GDP growing 7,5% in 2010, and many expats have returned to Brazil, the total number of Brazilians living abroad seem too low. Clearly, these figures are not accurate since they are based in inquiries by Brazilian embassies and consulates in 2010.
Brazilians go to the U.S. not only to seek the “American Dream” and thus compete for jobs with Americans but also to enjoy vacation and so fuel American economy. In 2010, 1.2 million Brazilians tourists visited the US, Brazil ranked 5th in total number of tourists.”
Some comments from Forbes Readers on the subject: krigah 5 months ago
"As an ex-ins inspector I could not disagree with you more on this matter. I remember one particular LAP flight with 150 Brazilian nationals from the infamous city of Valladares, state of Minas Gerais, all with fake visas, years ago. Tens of thousands of poor Brazilians have attempted to, and a great many successfully, to circumvent the visa requirements to come live in the US. Ironically, as an example, the Miami Brazilian consulate lists the names of Brazilian citizens living illegally in Florida because they have to register by law to vote as long as they are Brazilian citizens.
They are great people. But in a country of around 250 million, a great many would give anything to come and stay permanently in the US. If the VWP was opened to Brazil it would be devastating, you would soon run out of flights to bring them, seriously overload the already overwhelmed ports of entry that are understaffed, and the Cuban Muriel boatlift will look like a ferryboat of people in comparison. Remember when president Clinton allowed Argentina the VWP for awhile? Didn’t last long did it? Make no mistake; this would be a huge no."
Ricardo Geromel, Contributor 5 months ago
"The main reason why the U.S. does not include Brazil in the visa waiver program list is to avoid a flow of Brazilian immigrants. This is a large risk since Brazilians are obsessed with the U.S. In fact, Almost half of Total Brazilian Emigrants Are Living In The U.S.
On the other hand, the boost that more Brazilian tourists, motivated by Real’s current strength against the dollar, would bring to U.S.’s economy is needed more than ever. Further, there are a few sectors that would specially benefit and they are lobbying hard to see Brazil included in the VWP.
Fairleigh Dickinson University, where I completed my bachelor’s degree, has a campus near Newark, New Jersey.
There are neighborhoods in this city where people only speak Portuguese; one can easily find Churrascarias (Brazilian restaurants), Botecos (Brazilian bars), Coxinha e pastel (Brazilian pastry), and even the billboards are in Portuguese.
I liked this place because it took more only one hour driving to “be back in Brazil,” I went there sometimes to watch Brazilian soccer. This Brazilian/Portuguese community seemed to be always growing and most people I met told me they were happy but illegal in the US.
Nonetheless, I believe that the flow of Brazilian illegal immigrants would not be that high. Brazil’s economy is booming while the US’s is declining. For instance, unemployment rate in the US is around 9.0%; in Brazil it is around 6.5%."
· appereira 5 months ago
"According to Mr. McClatchy from Tribune News Service, fewer than 3% of Brazilians overstay their visas. Although there have been a strong wave of immigrants in the 90′s – who ended up staying long and forming those communities, it is each time more unlikely that Brazilians will decide to simply stay in the US. However, it is possible that more than 3% will end up overstaying, and that could create undesirable issues."
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