The United States wants to tear off the Armenian programming
specialists from Russia, but instigates to Russia's "arms"
October 25 2014
The US Embassy in Armenia is trying to "cut off the foot" of the
Armenian programming specialists from America. The point is that it
has been a long time since the Consular Service of the Embassy "with
and with no reason" denies US visa entry to the employees of the IT
sector in Armenia. The Armenian specialists believe that the denials
are due to the political reasons, particularly with regard to
Armenia's decision to join the Eurasian Economic Union. In the
conversation with Aravot.am, one of the employees of the IT industry
who recently was also rejected told that they are rejecting for such a
silly reason that he sees an intention in such activities by the US
Embassy. As said by our interlocutor, the high-tech employees were
leaving for America on business trip for years, with the so-called
business visa. This is prescribed for business meetings, for meetings
to discuss business project, or for training for any project. In other
words, the specialist of this industry with this type of visa have
travelled to the US to present the project and so on. Whereas the
Embassy consular officer, as told by one of the rejected, is asking,
"Why are you leaving?" "I'm going on business trip to present a
project," after receiving this answer from the Armenian programming
specialist, the Embassy employee is asking again, "Do you work on a
computer?" Naturally, the IT industry representative was not going to
present the project by paper and pen, so, the latter has told the
Embassy employee, "Yes, I work on a computer." "Hence, you are going
to work, you have applied for a wrong visa, you should have applied
for a work visa rather than a business visa," this is how the
Consulate employee substantiated the rejection. Similar questions and
rejections is absurd for the IT sector employees, because these
specialists are actually leaving for the United States on a business
trip. Our interlocutor said, "The work visa is for other conditions,
first, if the specialist leave by the work visa, then it is a
long-term and should be paid by the company of given country. In our
case, there is no such thing." In addition, the embassy also brings
another ridiculous excuse for rejection. The specialist leaving for
the US on business trip was asked, "Why are you going to present the
project there, do it by the telephone?" And the explanations that
there is a 12-hour difference between our countries, and it is no
appropriate to present such projects by the phone, though, there are
some projects that I present through the . This type of
rejections are not 10-20, we can say, hundreds, they reject the
employees of all the companies. Karen Vardanyan, Executive director of
the Union of Information Technology Enterprises, also sees a political
objective in such activities by the US Embassy, because these
obstacles began since last summer. Note that it was the period when
Armenia's stance to join the EaEU was visible. Since last November,
the embassy began the rejection process more frequently. According to
Karen Vardanyan observation, the US, probably, has decided to somehow
"tear off" Armenia from Russia, and as the IT sector is more active,
such as "Dem em" movement, and has calculated to raise a wave of
protest against the EaEU with the help of these specialists. "Maybe,
people in the US think that there are professional revolutionaries in
the IT industry, and someone sends such an instruction to the
embassy." But this move by the US, according to Mr. Vardanyan, to
leave the reverse reaction, the Armenian companies can cooperate with
the same Russia, China, Singapore, Taiwan, India and other countries
companies. "We are talking about 12 thousand specialists, there is a
deficit of such scale of specialists in any market. If the US State
Department has made such a decision, then it is a stupidity. This
problem needs an urgent solution, because our IT sector is a
fast-growing one and it is one of the most important branches of the
economy, and with these artificial obstacles, they cause suffer to our
companies," said Karen Vardanyan.
Nelly BABAYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2014/10/25/167483/
specialists from Russia, but instigates to Russia's "arms"
October 25 2014
The US Embassy in Armenia is trying to "cut off the foot" of the
Armenian programming specialists from America. The point is that it
has been a long time since the Consular Service of the Embassy "with
and with no reason" denies US visa entry to the employees of the IT
sector in Armenia. The Armenian specialists believe that the denials
are due to the political reasons, particularly with regard to
Armenia's decision to join the Eurasian Economic Union. In the
conversation with Aravot.am, one of the employees of the IT industry
who recently was also rejected told that they are rejecting for such a
silly reason that he sees an intention in such activities by the US
Embassy. As said by our interlocutor, the high-tech employees were
leaving for America on business trip for years, with the so-called
business visa. This is prescribed for business meetings, for meetings
to discuss business project, or for training for any project. In other
words, the specialist of this industry with this type of visa have
travelled to the US to present the project and so on. Whereas the
Embassy consular officer, as told by one of the rejected, is asking,
"Why are you leaving?" "I'm going on business trip to present a
project," after receiving this answer from the Armenian programming
specialist, the Embassy employee is asking again, "Do you work on a
computer?" Naturally, the IT industry representative was not going to
present the project by paper and pen, so, the latter has told the
Embassy employee, "Yes, I work on a computer." "Hence, you are going
to work, you have applied for a wrong visa, you should have applied
for a work visa rather than a business visa," this is how the
Consulate employee substantiated the rejection. Similar questions and
rejections is absurd for the IT sector employees, because these
specialists are actually leaving for the United States on a business
trip. Our interlocutor said, "The work visa is for other conditions,
first, if the specialist leave by the work visa, then it is a
long-term and should be paid by the company of given country. In our
case, there is no such thing." In addition, the embassy also brings
another ridiculous excuse for rejection. The specialist leaving for
the US on business trip was asked, "Why are you going to present the
project there, do it by the telephone?" And the explanations that
there is a 12-hour difference between our countries, and it is no
appropriate to present such projects by the phone, though, there are
some projects that I present through the . This type of
rejections are not 10-20, we can say, hundreds, they reject the
employees of all the companies. Karen Vardanyan, Executive director of
the Union of Information Technology Enterprises, also sees a political
objective in such activities by the US Embassy, because these
obstacles began since last summer. Note that it was the period when
Armenia's stance to join the EaEU was visible. Since last November,
the embassy began the rejection process more frequently. According to
Karen Vardanyan observation, the US, probably, has decided to somehow
"tear off" Armenia from Russia, and as the IT sector is more active,
such as "Dem em" movement, and has calculated to raise a wave of
protest against the EaEU with the help of these specialists. "Maybe,
people in the US think that there are professional revolutionaries in
the IT industry, and someone sends such an instruction to the
embassy." But this move by the US, according to Mr. Vardanyan, to
leave the reverse reaction, the Armenian companies can cooperate with
the same Russia, China, Singapore, Taiwan, India and other countries
companies. "We are talking about 12 thousand specialists, there is a
deficit of such scale of specialists in any market. If the US State
Department has made such a decision, then it is a stupidity. This
problem needs an urgent solution, because our IT sector is a
fast-growing one and it is one of the most important branches of the
economy, and with these artificial obstacles, they cause suffer to our
companies," said Karen Vardanyan.
Nelly BABAYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2014/10/25/167483/