NEW DELHI – The U.S. is holding discussions with various countries to make the rules and regulations of travelling bit lighter, so as to avoid further incidents like the detaining of Bollywood star Shahrukh “King” Khan. But the surprising thing is that India is not a part of these discussions.
Everyone will have to go through the normal immigration procedures; even if he is a VIP and exception in rules are only for individuals who have diplomatic exemption.
For “process for VIP arrivals, unless they have some type of, say, diplomatic visa or exemption, everyone would go through the same type of process. We don’t want it to be seen as a hassle,” says John Wagner, executive director of US customs and border protection’s office of field operations, admissibility and passenger programme, reports IANS.
“It works on a reciprocal basis and some level of agreement on a level of background checks each country will do.” “So it’s a matter of whether we can reach agreement with those countries and they’re willing and able to do the types of checks, and we can negotiate a threshold for qualifying our participation in that.’’
“But Wagner made clear that as far as the “process for VIP arrivals, unless they have some type of, say, diplomatic visa or exemption, everyone would go through the same type of process. We don’t want it to be seen as a hassle.”
He also asked “people to understand the importance of it, and we are keeping people safe, and we want people to have the confidence that it’s safe and secure to come here, and part of those processes is ensure that.” “So we do ask for the public’s patience in helping us help them and make sure all those requirements are met.”
Wagner also added that he was not aware whether any kind of discussions is being held with India regarding people from the nation travelling to U.S.
