The nature of
immigration policy and visa procedures for Tunisians who wish to travel to the
United States to take advantage of these academic and professional exchanges
reflects to some extent the degree of authenticity of US rhetoric for
cooperation, partnership, and collaboration at the level of civil society.
Word on the
street is that securing a visa in Tunisia for travel to the United States is a
relatively straightforward and fruitful process, at least compared to obtaining
a visa for France—a process modestly described on the French Embassy website as
«a complex administrative procedure that operates within European regulation,»
and profusely criticized in online articles and blogs. At least in terms of
immigration policy and practice, the afore mentioned La Presse de Tunisie
comparison between the US and France regarding «interests not friends» is
confounded by what can be heard through the grapevine about each countries’
visa procedures. In response to an article written in 2012 after the French
Embassy outsourced its visa application procedures to a third-party
organization, a long string of comments and debate (dated through January of
this year) evoking colonialism and racism has ensued.
