By Mike Clary
Havana Bureau

Havana · Starting next month, Cubans seeking non-immigrant tourist or business visas for travel to the United States will be able to schedule application interviews here by having a family member or other associate already in the United States dial a toll-free number.

By using a call center service run by a U.S. firm in Mexico, American officials said Tuesday they hoped to wrest control of the scheduling process from a group of entrepreneurial Cubans who charge potential applicants up to $100 to get a call through the ever-busy phone lines of the U.S. Interest Section.

"We have no idea how it is that they are able to get through on the phones" when ordinary Cuban citizens often cannot, said U.S. Consul General Carl Cockburn.

The new scheduling system goes into effect May 25.

The change does not affect those Cubans seeking refugee status, or the annual lottery that grants up to 20,000 visas to Cuban applicants chosen at random.

While the call to 866-374-1769 is free, the service itself is not. Family members or associates of those seeking a visa appointment in Havana will be asked for a Visa or MasterCard number to purchase a personal identification number, or PIN, which gives the caller eight minutes of telephone time to talk to the scheduler. The charge is $11.

Calls will be processed in Mexico by the Virginia-based technology firm CSC, which runs similar operations for American consulates in 37 other countries, Cockburn said. This will mark the first time that appointments for in-country interviews can be made by second-parties calling from outside the country.

Copyright © 2006