Sorry, we don´t have any visa stickers

Americans not welcome.

A Bolivian that wants to visit the United States has to submit a lot of paperwork to get a visa.



There are two reasons for this.  

The first is to discourage illegal immigration.  Because lots of people applying for tourist visas actually intend to stay in the US, the US asks for evidence that people will return. This means a return ticket, a hotel reservation, and bank accounts or a house in Bolivia.


The second is to discourage drug trafficking.  As the coca capital of South America, this can be a problem.  Applicants are interviewed and fingerprinted.


Bolivia´s government is offended by this.  So they require all the same paperwork for Americans, putting them in the same bucket as folks from Angola, Sudan or the Congo.  The same policy doesn´t apply to European or Australians, who are presumably less problematic visitors.


The bureaucracy is bad enough.  But to add insult to injury, their consulate in Northern Argentina doesn´t have any visa stickers.    They can´t issue any visas.  But the staffers also don´t know that they don´t have stickers.  And they can´t ask their boss, because she rarely shows up at the office.  

So they say ¨come back in 3 hours¨, hoping their boss will be in the office so they can ask.  Two wasted days later they finally get an answer.

It is an incredible example of pointless policy that benefits no one.  It wastes tourists´ time and taxpayers money.  And with per capita income hovering around $1,500 a year, you don´t need many tourists to create jobs. 


While the Mongolian government just waved visa requirements for most of the world, and 2011 is ¨Visit Nepal Year¨, Bolivia´s government is insisting on getting revenge on America through their visa process.  Americans can easily change their vacation plans.  Sadly, most Bolivians don´t have the same option when it comes to earning a living.