Palau’s Ambassador Hersey Kyota says he is addressing the impact of the Real ID Act on Palauans residing in the United States having difficulties renewing or getting driver’s license or ID cards as result of new regulations issued.
United States Department of State and Homeland Security Recently, United States Department of Homeland Security issued a regulation to implement U.S. Real ID Act that included a requirement for a visa which affected number of Palauans as well as other FAS citizens living and working in United States.
Palau’s Ambassador to United States Ambassador Hersey Kyotasaid that he had sent letters to US Department of State and US Department of Homeland Security to request removal of unexpired visa requirement from regulations for Palau citizens as they are not required a visa to be in the United States.
An amendment to the Real ID Act was passed and signed into law by President Trump last year which was intended to clarify the law and make FAS citizens eligible for Real ID driver licenses and ID cards.
Regulations however, applied the rules issued in 2008 which covered all aliens, requiring them to show a visa that most FAS citizens are not required to have in order to enter United States.
Ambassador Kyota also addressed the recent report in a major US news network that said Palau and FAS countries are on the recently issued VISA watch list for countries with high number of people overstaying in United States.
Again, he said he had addressed this matter to Department of State and that he was informed that DoS will be communicating with their embassies on the matter. (By L.N. Reklai)