FRACK, FRACK, double FRACK.
A few years ago (ok, more like 10) it was easy to get a US Visa. All one needed to do was show enough juice to pay for the tickets and a reasonable proof he/she was not going to stay as an illegal alien. Usually a moderately fay paycheck was enough.
But all good things must come to an end, and after 9/11, the red tap only multiplied. Now one can no longer apply for a Visa in a week’s notice. The process crawls for months, everything must be scheduled, sometimes the face-to-face interviews are only available in 60 days.
The Visas expire really fast, too. I remember, back in the 80s, people with +10years Visas. My last one was valid for 3 months only.
Guess what? My own US Visa IS long gone. Now my Editor-in-Chief comes with an Indecent Proposal: An invitation from a big software company to travel to the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, all expenses covered.
Can I go? No, because the farking show is 1/08, and no farking way I can get a Visa in such a short notice.
Frack. Fracking terrorists. Hate those guys.