Visas

American consumers and the federal government haven't been able to bail out the sinking U.S. real estate market. Now wealthy Chinese, Canadians and other foreign buyers could get their chance. Two U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would allow foreigners who spend at least $500,000 on residential property to obtain visas allowing them to live in the United States. The plan could be a boon to California, which has become a popular real estate market for foreigners, particularly those from China.

If you're Chinese or Brazilian, the wait for your U.S. visa may be over. OK, not completely over, but perhaps not as long as it once was. Against the backdrop of Disney World in Florida, President Obama acknowledged on Jan. 19 the importance of tourism to the U.S. economy and promised that the waits for visas, which published reports said often lasted three months, would improve. “We will always protect our borders and shores and our tourist destinations from people who want to do us harm,” Obama said.

The United States has revoked the visas of three Palestinian Fulbright scholars whose cases were taken up personally by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after Israel refused to let them leave Gaza for interviews, officials said. Visas for the three, along with a fourth Palestinian student from Gaza who had hoped to come to the U.S. under a different program, were approved after Rice intervened in June but were rescinded last week on the basis of "new information," officials said.

MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. warned that some of the data in their cardholder accounts may have been breached. MasterCard said that it had notified banks, as well as law enforcement, of a potential problem with a third party "U.S.-based entity. " An independent data security organization is conducting a forensic review, MasterCard said. The company's own systems haven't been compromised. Visa said the same. "MasterCard is concerned whenever there is any possibility that cardholders could be inconvenienced and we continue to both monitor this event and take steps to safeguard account information," the company said Friday in a statement, without specifying how many cards might be at risk.

France has agreed to drop its visa requirement for American tourists after Washington's announcement of a similar loosening of restrictions for French citizens, the Foreign Ministry said in Paris. No date has been set for the new regulation to take effect, a ministry spokesman said. Ministry sources, however, said they expect that Americans will be able to start entering France without visas this summer. The announcement comes one day after the State Department said the United States is dropping the requirement for tourist and business visas for citizens of six European countries, including France.

When Jorge Garcia delivered a pizza in Van Nuys in September 2003, he was forced at knifepoint to enter the apartment. Garcia said two men choked him until he passed out. When he awoke, his neck and wrist had been sliced and his stomach burned with an iron. The men told Garcia they had a gun and threatened to kill him. Then the assailants picked him up, threw him in the trunk of his car and dumped the vehicle. Bleeding and in pain, Garcia escaped and sought help.

25,500: Number of E-2 visas issued to investors and family members in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2010. 13.4%: Decline in the number of E-2 visas issued over the five-year period that ended in fiscal 2010. 8,578: Number of E-2 visas issued to Japanese nationals in fiscal 2010, the largest number that went to any of the 80 countries whose citizens are eligible to apply for E-2 visas. Source: U.S. State Department

As U.S. employers start applying today for visas for foreign workers, the hiring of talent from other countries is facing heightened scrutiny and the threat of greater restrictions as domestic unemployment soars. In recent years, the annual competition for 85,000 temporary work visas awarded to foreign computer technicians, engineers, university educators and other highly skilled professionals has drawn twice as many applications as spots available.

A visa beef? The line starts here There is a very simple solution to the "Visa Vexation" issue [On the Spot by Catharine Hamm, Oct. 3]: Don't visit Brazil. If you are on a cruise line that has a port of call there, book another cruise. Do not plan to go to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil either. Maybe with the loss of hundreds of thousands in tourist dollars, they will figure it out. Scott Snyder Mission Viejo I found Hamm's response to the reader who complained about needing a visa for Brazil somewhat lacking.

The de facto ruler of Honduras said Saturday that Washington had pulled his U.S. visas as punishment for failing to reinstate President Manuel Zelaya, ousted more than two months ago. Roberto Micheletti, acting as president since the June 28 coup, said on a radio program that the visas of his foreign minister, Carlos Lopez, and 14 Supreme Court justices were also revoked. Micheletti said he accepted the U.S. decision but would remain firm in refusing to allow Zelaya to return to power.

MasterCard Inc.andVisa Inc.warned Friday that some of the data in their cardholder accounts may have been breached. The companies don't directly issue credit cards - they process card transactions for the banks that do. MasterCard said that it had notified banks - as well as law enforcement - of a potential problem with a third party, “U.S.-based entity.” An independent data security organization is conducting a forensic review, MasterCard...

It took one simple mistake for Hector Xavier Monsegur, a hacker who goes by the name Sabu, to get caught by the FBI. That mistake led not only to his arrest but also to that of five other alleged hackers who, according to a grand jury indictment, have ties to high-profile underground groups online: LulzSec, AntiSec and Anonymous. The indictment filed in a U.S. District Court in New York ties the arrested men to online attacks against Sony, Fox, PBS, the Central Intelligence Agency, Visa, MasterCard and PayPal.

He rarely leaves his house. He's been shot at by gunmen in a passing car. He gets death threats over the phone. "Traitor," the callers say. "American agent. " Tariq, 27, is a quick-witted, tech-savvy Iraqi who tosses off idiomatic American English phrases such as "I'm outta here" and "That's cool. " When he served as an interpreter for the U.S. military, Tariq lived on a secure base, safe from fellow Iraqis determined to kill him because of his service to America. But when the unit he served pulled out of Iraq on Oct. 13, he was dismissed and escorted off the base.

Reliever Ronald Belisario has received a visa and will be in Arizona when the Dodgers open spring training, according to his agent. The hard-throwing Venezuelan missed the entire 2011 season because he was unable to gain entry into the United States. Belisario posted a 2.04 earned-run average in 69 appearances as a rookie in 2009, but his career was subsequently derailed by a series of personal problems. Facing drunk-driving charges, he had trouble securing a visa the next year and reported late to camp.

Jenny and Jason Messam couldn't be more different: She is white and Jewish; he is black and Christian. At 38, she is 15 years older. There is one other important difference: Jenny is American, and Jason is Jamaican. They married in January 2010, and Jason applied for a U.S. visa a few months later, hoping to join his wife in Los Angeles. Immigration officials in the U.S. initially approved the petition. But workers at the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica were suspicious and, after interviewing the couple and sifting through phone records, pictures, emails and other documentation, they decided that the marriage was probably a fraud.

Among Republican presidential candidates, it's been demagoguery as usual. Why have a substantive debate when you can exchange inflammatory sound bites instead, especially on immigration? But something surprising happened last week far from the campaign trail — on Capitol Hill, of all places. Just when we thought Congress would never act to address the nation's broken immigration system, members of the House made a critical breakthrough, voting overwhelmingly to approve a fix that will make American companies more competitive and the immigration system fairer and more welcoming.

"U.S. Considers Visa Grants for Skilled Workers" (July 25) takes me back to the '60s, when the farmers were looking for help to pick their crops. Now, we seem to be at the other end of the spectrum: high tech. High tech degrees from our universities in the electronics field apparently are not as important anymore. It seems that business degrees (especially MBAs), law degrees and medical fields have taken over. This has happened as U.S. manufacturing has gone to other countries, thereby moving our work force to service-oriented businesses.

Mexico has announced that beginning Oct. 23 it will again require visas for Brazilians, thousands of whom reportedly have been traveling to Mexico to enter the United States without documents. Brazil said it would begin requiring visas for Mexicans. Brazil and Mexico had agreed to waive visa requirements for each other in February 2004.

I am an Iraqi citizen who worked as an interpreter with the U.S. military for two years. It was an honor to serve, and I did it because I believed that bringing freedom to Iraq required brave people to stand up and try to make a difference. Now, as a result of my service, I find myself in a dangerous limbo. Before 2003, I thought of the U.S. primarily as the home of Bruce Willis, Hollywood and Las Vegas. But it was also a dream, a dream of freedom. Then, a bit of America came to my country.

American consumers and the federal government haven't been able to bail out the sinking U.S. real estate market. Now wealthy Chinese, Canadians and other foreign buyers could get their chance. Two U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would allow foreigners who spend at least $500,000 on residential property to obtain visas allowing them to live in the United States. The plan could be a boon to California, which has become a popular real estate market for foreigners, particularly those from China.