[pelaut] Crew visa protest rages

[Budiman]

Crew visa protest rages     THE U.S. PROPOSAL to end the crew list visa system as part of its post 9/11 security clampdown drew a wide range of protests from various organizations representing seafarers. The US State Department is planning to replace the existing system – which allows an entire ship's crew to be covered by one visa – with one in wherein individual seafarers will be required to obtain valid US visas before stepping ashore.   The organizations include the British union of seafarers NUMAST, the International Transport Workers' Federation, the Mission to Seafarers and the US Center for Seafarers rights. They urged the US government to drop the plan.   NUMASTgeneral secretary Brian Orrell said the Union was "gravely concerned" by the plan and the elimination of the crew list visa could further reduce the opportunity for seafarers to go ashore. "The move would have a significant and adverse impact on seafarers," he warned, adding that it will be "a sign of the way seafarers are often treated as second-class citizens."   In a letter to the US authorities, NUMAST pointed out that shore leave is undoubtedly one of the most vital elements of the seafarer's well-being in terms of living and working conditions and essential to programmers to develop safer shipping and decent work at sea.   Loss of the crew visa arrangements could fuel the already critical international maritime skills shortage, the union warned. NUMAST is also urging the UK government to make diplomatic protest to the US and to submit "a reasoned written objection" to the elimination of the crew list visa.   Canon Ken Peters, justice and welfare secretary of the Mission to Seafarers, said no one argued with the need to improve security, but it was hard to see how the elimination of crew list visas could contribute to that. "Seafarers are currently assumed to be, and are portrayed as, possible terrorist rather than the one marginalized victims," he added. "Seafarers are singularly disillusioned when arriving at the land of the free, where they are denied their freedom of movement."   Douglas Stevenson, director of Center of Seafarers' Rights (CSR) the US was already violating international agreements by being the only major maritime nation requiring crew members to have visas. "Strict security measure do not need diminish the already limited freedoms and opportunities for shore leave that seafarers posses," he added.   The US$100 fee for an individual crew visa would prove "an unreasonable economic burden" on seafarers, Stevenson argued, many of whom earn less than $500 a month.   The CSR has urged the State Department to provide at two-year transitional period before eliminating the crew list visa – in line with timetables set by US legislation and to give time for an international agreement to be reached on seafarers identity cards.   The ITF has pointed out that seafarers work and live on ships involved in international trade – often for over six months at a time – and do not always know when they will join a vessel and whether it will call a US port. The ITF is concerned that an increasing number of companies are requiring seafarers to have individual US visas as a condition of employment – thus shifting the cost from employers to employees,   The State Department said it needed to "ensure that every effort is made to screen out undesirable aliens" and one of the main reasons for the proposed rule change is to allow US authorities to conduct background-checks on seafarers – including running names through a computer system. The agency also noted that crew list visa applicants are generally not interviewed by consular officers and therefore there is presently no opportunity to question them regarding such things as employment history or knowledge of their trade.    (Telegraph)   JALESVEVA YAYAMAHE Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pelaut/   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.