[holyscroller]

I read that many foreign embassies give the job of doling out VISAs to nationals, instead of having Americans making the decisions. This means the VISAs can be given out to anybody, friend or foe, deserving or terrorist, with absolutely no oversight.

[Pushi]

That's right. I have heard many reports of visas being sold. My son married a Brazilian girl. Her mother applied for a visa to visit. They refused her. Some people I know told her to pay for it and she would get one. They, or people they know, had obtained visas that way. I wrote Sen Phil Gramm about it. My son's mother-in-law got a visa real quick. I saw the email that the consulate in Sao Paulo sent to Sen. G. They were interested in finding out why she had been refused one before. I did not pursue it further, but I think it was because the crooked bastards at the consulate in Sao Paulo were on the take.