Wild WC wrote:does other sports have this much visa hassle ??
Wild, it's not just sport, Bollywood star Sonu Nigam pulled out of a concert at the O2 arena in April as he couldn't get a visa, interesting what he said - "Never happened in 20 years of overseas travel. Don't know whom to blame. Our entire team's time and repute has been wasted"
I think the smaller the sport, the less inclined they are to sort Visas. And any country with a high Muslim population seems to get worse problems. But it does hit other sports, caused problems for West Indies at the start of their cricket tour this year:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricke ... blems.htmland been other cases such as Aussie Mitchell Starc joining Yorkshire:
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/sports/ ... rc_arrivalwomen's soccer too:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17356221It was initially a real headache for riders in equestrian events at the Olympics, because a number of them sensibly wanted to train in the UK with their horses in the run up to the Olympics but found sports visas only gave them limited time, particularly those who had already been here for other competitions. Australian and American riders had to move to France or the Netherlands whilst awaiting their visas being sorted out. At least the London organising committee dived in on the problem when it came to light last autumn, so it got sorted.
Edit: Hits ordinary people simply seeking travel visas too. From Travelbite website "Research conducted by ETOA [European Tour Operators Association] reveals that hundreds of millions of pounds are lost to the UK economy every year because the visa process is so alienating that applicants give up and decide to go elsewhere ... UK Visa's require forms to be filled out in English, are much longer than other applications [for EU countries] and prospective visitors have to submit fingerprints, a photo, and make themselves available for an interview at a location that can be hundreds of miles from where they live".