| Fact Sheet Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Washington, DC October 7, 2004 Burma: U.S. Visa RestrictionsSection 6 of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act (BFDA) authorizes the President to deny visas and entry to the United States to current and former leaders of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), as well as their immediate family members. The Department of State accomplishes the objectives of these provisions by denying to these categories of individuals visas and entry to the United States through a Presidential proclamation issued in 1996 pursuant to section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The application of that proclamation was broadened to encompass the categories specified in section 6 of the BFDA. The Department of State now implements the Presidential Proclamation to cover members of the SPDC and their immediate family members, government ministers and other senior government officials and their immediate family members, senior officials of the USDA and their immediate family members, military above the rank of colonel and their immediate family members, and civil servants above the rank of director-general and their immediate family members. |
