VYING FOR A VISA
While airlines and hotels have improved immeasurably over the years, the process of getting visas has pretty much stagnated. It remains painful for passports from the so-called emerging markets to get permission to visit at all. Can something be done?
I had the unfortunate experience of being a Hong Kong passport holder newly working in Singapore and needing to go to a speci#c south Asian country for a work-related conference. I was unable to apply in Singapore as I've been there for less than two years, and a visa application would not be considered in less than two to three weeks’ time; thus I had to make a special trip to HK to apply.
The documentation was serious: a letter of invite, the tax certificate of the organisation providing the letter, the national identity card of the person signing the letter, a pledge related to the use of satellite phones (really?), as well as copious details about me, my mother and father, et al. You're not allowed to send an agent. I had to spend four
