Michael Sestak sold thousand of Visas for up to $70,000 each.

US officer takes bribes from Vietnamese seeking visas

Posted: 24 May 2013 09:43 PM PDT

US Foreign Service officer Michael T. Sestak who once worked at the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City has been charged with receiving millions of dollars in bribes from Vietnamese residents seeking visas last year.
Sestak, 42, was arrested last week in South California for the visa-for-money scam and will be escorted to Washington for prosecution, according to US State Department investigators.
Sestak worked as the head of the non-immigration visa department of the consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City from August 2010 until September 2012, when he left the position to pepare for active-duty service with the Navy.
During the period, Sestak, led a visa-for-money ring comprising of five persons and any Vietnamese people who want to obtain visa to the US had to pay up to US$70,000.
Sestak’s accomplices told visa seekers that the charge would be between $50,000 and $70,000 per visa but they would sometimes charge less, according to State Department investigator Simon Dinits.
The ring encouraged visa brokers to raise the price and keep the amount they charged over the fixed rate as their own commission, Dinits said.
Sestak transferred the money gained from the visa-for-money scam out of Vietnam by using money launderers through offshore banks, mainly based in China, to a bank account in Thailand that he opened in May 2012.
He later used the money to buy real estate in Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand, Dinits added.
According to investigators, the consulate received 31,386 non-immigrant visa applications and rejected 35.1 percent of them from May 1 to September 6, 2012.
During this period, Sestak handled 5,489 visa applications and rejected only 8.2 percent of them. The rate dropped to 3.8 percent in August, shortly before Sestak left the office.
One of the Sestak’s alleged accomplices was the general director of the Vietnam office of a multi-national company located in Vietnam. The four others were friends or relatives of this person, and all are living in Vietnam, Dinits said.
Last July the consulate general was reported by an informant that 50 to 70 people from one village in Vietnam had illegally paid for their visas, he said.

Tuoitrenews is contacting with the consulate general for more information.

Visas fee exempted for foreign tourists - Travel

Foreign visitors who go to Vietnam under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism’s (VNAT) promotional program from now to the end of the year will be exempted from visa fee.

The VNAT has just made public this program, which benefits citizens from all countries and territories who enter Vietnam in tours.

The visa fee exemption is also effective for car tours to Vietnam. This program will last from now until the end of December 2010.

To join this program, tourist firms must meet two conditions: be registered with the VNAT and be listed on the website of VNAT’s Vietnam – Your Destination program.

PV

Free Visa for Foreign Vistors to Vietnam (August & September)

Photo:Chuck Kuhn
Foreign visitors to Vietnam in August and September would receive free visa, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Activities to celebrate 1000th Thang Long – Hanoi anniversary
The authority said they would also receive value added tax refund when they buy goods in Vietnam.
In addition, a promotion campaign with reduction of 10-40 percent on goods prices would be run at the same time in Hanoi, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City.
A forecast by the authority said that the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi, which will take place on October 10, would attract a large number of visitors to Hanoi and northern provinces.
Hanoitourist Travel director Luu Duc Ke said that during the peak period of the anniversary, the hotel system in Hanoi would be preferentially used to serve invited guests, and delegates from other provinces, and other foreign countries.

So, to prevent a shortage of rooms or the overloaded situation, Hanoitourist and other travel companies have designed suitable routes so that visitors would rest in other neighboring provinces.
It is expected that the number of customers of Hanoitourist will rise to around 10,000 on this occasion, 10 times higher than normal, of which domestic visitors account the most.
Vietnam Airlines will continue to implement the campaign to stimulate domestic tourism demand. The fares from southern and central provinces to the north will be cut by 30-35 percent.

India implements ‘visa on arrival’ to boost tourism |

To attract more tourists, the Union government on Friday has decided to implement a Visa on Arrival scheme for the citizens of five countries— Japan, Singapore, Finland, New Zealand and Luxembourg. The facility is launched on an experimental basis for a year.

The tourists from these countries could also procure their visas from the diplomatic missions/posts in the normal course.

The “tourist visa-on-arrival”, with a maximum validity of 30 days with single-entry facility to begin with, will be granted by the Immigration Officers at the airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

The move comes at a time when visa norms in the country are being tightened. This is the first time the country has decided to relax rules to permit visitors to get their passports stamped at Indian airports for entry

Addressing a meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs Home Minister P Chidambaram said the present number of about five million visitors every year was too small and a large country like India should have at least 50 million visitors.

The tourist traffic needs to boosted. This will be possible through various measures including streamlining of visa and immigration procedures and extending them better service, he said.

The Home Minister said the Foreigners' Division of the Home Ministry, which deals with visa issues, will be revamped through the use of information and communication technology.

The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said: “The [rule of] gap of two months between two visas would apply to all tourist visa holders.”

However, the restriction of two-month gap will not apply to PIO (Persons of Indian origin) or OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card-holders and foreigners holding business, employment, student and other categories of visa.

Incidentally, India has already introduced long-term multiple entry visas for 18 countries including France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, Chile, Vietnam, and Japan.

Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Thailand issue visa on arrival for most nationalities including Indians. Malaysia also used to issue visa on arrival for Indians, but stopped it recently because there were complaints of Indians overstaying.

- Asian Tribune -

Vietnam will issue tourist visas ‘on arrival’

Vietnam will soon begin issuing tourist visas to foreign travelers when they arrive at airports and border crossings.

The head of the travel department of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Vu The Binh, told reporters that the move is intended to boost the nation’s attractiveness to foreign visitors. He predicted that the plan will be implemented “in the coming months,” once the Customs Department adapts its information technology system to accommodate the new system. VNAT and other concerned departments will develop the procedures.

At present, visas are issued on arrival only in exceptional cases, when foreign visitors have hired local travel companies to complete visa procedures before flying to Vietnam. Many Vietnamese tourism firms are asking that visitors be spared from this job and be issued a visa upon arrival, as in Thailand and Cambodia.

This month, the Government has agreed to charge no visa fees on foreigners who enter the country under the national tourism promotion ‘Impressive Vietnam” program’ until September 30 or until the end of this promotion.

Binh said that the national tourism department would decide when to end the program based on results. Tour operators have praised the exemption of visa fees, saying that the tourism authority needs to continue this policy for the long term in order to attract international visitors.

“This is a good rule but needs to run for a long time, six months to a year, to attract guests because foreign tourists need time to prepare for their trip to Vietnam,” said Nguyen Viet Hung, general director of Fiditourist.

Bui Viet Thuy Tien, director of Asian Trails Co. Ltd., said that the national tourism agency should advertise the new policies because many international tourists do not know that they it is possible to receive a visa at entry points or from which website they can download visa applications.

Tran Xuan Hung, director of Viking Travel and Media Company, said that the new policies ought to be continued, and that along with the promotion program it would help the country’s tourism to promote its image to the world.

“We hope that it’s a first step for the country’s tourism to help foreign tourists,” Hung said.

Many local hotels behind the times

Only 30% of three to five star hotels in the country are equipped with global booking and web-based booking technology and only 8% of them use online marketing solutions, according to a survey conducted by a hotel marketing organization.

The survey found that 30% of tourists booked hotels via websites last year and another 30% booked rooms at travel agencies after reading online information. As a result, around 70% of Vietnamese hotels have lost opportunities to serve international travelers, Nam said at a seminar on comprehensive solutions for Vietnam’s hotels and resorts in Hanoi last week.

If hotels are not equipped with comprehensive facilities and services, Vietnam cannot keep foreign visitors long in the country, Nam added.

Phan Duc Man, vice chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said that Vietnam’s hotels and resorts are insufficient in infrastructure development and competitiveness compared to other countries. Meanwhile, the number of foreign visitors has increased by 15% annually over the past five years.

Foreign experts suggested Vietnam push up comprehensive hotel management solutions to reach professional development and potential customers. Technologies, online marketing and multimedia services will help hotels build up brands, save workforces and improve management.

Vietnam has over 8,500 lodging facilities with around 180,000 rooms. However, only 260 of these facilities have been classified from three to five stars, according to the latest statistics of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

VietNamNet/SGT

VietNamNet - Vietnam will issue tourist visas ‘on arrival’

Vietnam, Israel to exempt visas for diplomats

Vietnam and Israel will waive visas for diplomatic passport holders in the near future.

An agreement to this effect was signed in Hanoi on May 21 between the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nguyen Thanh Son, and the Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam, Ephraim Ben Matityau.

The agreement will take effect 90 days after the two countries informed each other of the completion of domestic ratification procedures.

VietNamNet/VOV

More buses run for HCM City-Cambodia trips

Ho Chi Minh City-based Sapaco Tourist Company increased bus tours between the city and Cambodia on December 4, the day the Vietnam-Cambodia visa exemption for ordinary passport holders takes effect.
At its station in HCM City, the company operates daily seven buses to Phnom Penh instead of five previously, departing at 6 am, 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am, 11:30am and 1pm.
At its station in Phnom Penh, the seven buses leave for HCM City at 6 am, 7am, 8am, 9am, 11:30am, 1pm and 2 pm.
In addition, Sapaco buses between HCM City and Cambodia’s Siem Reap, home to Angkor, now run daily instead of every two days.
Before December 4, Vietnamese holders of ordinary passports had to pay US$20 for Cambodia entry visa.
On November 4, the government of Vietnam and Cambodia signed an agreement on visa exemption. Under the agreement, which takes effect on December 4, citizens of both countries with ordinary passports valid for at least six months can stay up to 14 days in the other country without a visa.
Given this visa exemption, Vietnamese tour operators and tourism companies expect that more Vietnamese and Cambodian tourists will visit the other country
(Source: SGGP)