JOURNALISTS thinking of visiting the USA, and having perhaps read last week”s issue, will be pleased to hear that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) bureau in the Department of Homeland Security, last week gave its border agents discretionary authority to admit foreign media representatives with visas other than the "I" visa required for working journalists. But pressmen who benefit from the new rule once will be required to have the proper visa for subsequent trips to the US, it said. The news release cited recent problems with journalists (and we don”t know if your editor was one of those/or indeed was the cause of the change of mind) but Roger Bray, the distinguished travel editor of the London Financial Times, seems to think that it is always best for writers to travel with a full visa. If it is a holiday trip who knows?
http://usinfo.state.gov