Visa

Basic standards of fairness require immigration cases involving married gay couples to be treated the same as heterosexual couples. But so far, the Defense of Marriage Act prevents the federal government from recognizing such marriages. As a result, legally married same-sex couples can't petition for a green card for their foreign spouses. Sometimes, those spouses are deported. Since the Obama administration announced in 2011 that it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, same-sex couples in this situation have been in limbo.

HAVANA - The daughter of Cuba's president, Mariela Castro, has been granted a US visa to attend events in San Francisco and New York, sparking a firestorm of criticism from Cuban-American politicians who called her an enemy of democracy and a shill for the Communist government her family has led for decades. The trip, which kicks off next week when Castro is due to chair a panel on sexual diversity at a conference organized by the Latin American Studies Association, is among several to the United States by prominent Cubans, some with close links to the government.

Jose "Pepe" Moreno has received his P1 work visa and is expected to join the Revolution later this week, according to general manager Michael Burns. Moreno, who will be playing on loan from CD Once Caldas, missed the Revolution's season-opener, a 1-0 loss at San Jose. His status for the Revolution's visit to Sporting Kansas City has not been determined. "We are still working on a couple of details, but we are hoping (Moreno) will be here by Wednesday or Thursday," Burns said Monday.

Al-Jazeera's sole English-language reporter in China has been expelled, the pan-Arab news network said Tuesday. It's the first time since 1998 that Beijing has kicked out an accredited foreign journalist. Melissa Chan's expulsion is seen as China's latest attempt to punish international media whose reports the authoritarian government dislikes and sees as besmirching its global image. The move "seems to be taking China's anti-media policies to a new level," Bob Dietz, the Asia coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

RESTAURATEURS IBONNE Zabala and Oleg Konovalov aren't the only ones who deserve to know why the couple was denied re-entry to the United States; so do the former employees and customers of their now-shuttered Jamaica Plain bistro, Bon Savor. As the Globe recently reported, Zabala, a 36-year-old Colombian, and her husband, a 42-year-old Russian, seemed to have their immigration paperwork in order when they traveled to Bogota in September 2009 to have their baby son baptized. But when they tried to return two weeks later, they learned that their US visas had been canceled on the grounds they no longer met the...

NEW YORK - Visa Inc. in the past six months has cut off 100 scammers who use bogus marketing to dupe consumers. Among the most common hustles: billing the credit cards of customers who thought they were getting free trial products like dietary supplements or teeth whiteners $79.95 per month or more, and then making them jump through hurdles to cancel the charges. While there are always a handful of complaints about merchants, most are resolved quickly. But in the case of the ongoing charges, it was clear the problem was widespread.

Former Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek had his visa revoked by Chinese authorities yesterday, hours before he was set to travel to Beijing to promote his effort urging China to help make peace in the war-torn Darfur section of Sudan. Cheek, the president and co-founder of a collection of Olympic athletes known as Team Darfur, was planning to spend about two weeks in China, when he received an unexpected call from authorities. The 2006 American gold medalist said they told him they were denying him entrance into the country and were "not required to give a reason.

A technical problem affecting the Visa network barred some people around the United States from using their credit and debit cards for about 45 minutes on Sunday, the company said. The outage was caused by a recent update Visa has made to its system, said Visa Inc. spokeswoman Sandra Chu. She said Visa had trouble processing some transactions as a result, but the system is operating normally now. Chu said the problem Sunday was unrelated to the security breach potentially affecting Visa and MasterCard customers that was reported Friday by credit card...

Visa Inc. it is increasing its quarterly dividend by 47 percent. The payment processing network operator on Wednesday said it will pay shareholders of its Class A common stock a dividend of 22 cents, up from 15 cents. Visa has increased its dividend for three straight years, more than doubling it since going public in 2008. The dividend is payable Dec. 6 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 18. Visa, based in San Francisco, is due to report its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results next week.

NEW YORK - Stocks are shaky, credit is tight, the economy may be tipping into a recession. Not the best of times to be going to the markets for what could be the largest initial public offering in US history. That's the gamble Visa is taking as it gave details yesterday about an IPO that could raise up to nearly $19 billion: If it works, it could be an encouraging sign to the stock markets and may even help loosen the credit knot. While Visa's IPO will have little direct effect on its cardholders, the banks that issue Visa cards are expected to see a total windfall of more than $10 billion -...

JACKSON, Miss. - The State Department announced major changes Friday to one of its premier cultural-exchange programs following an investigation by the Associated Press that found widespread abuses. The agency issued new rules for the J-1 Summer Work and Travel Program, which brings more than 100,000 foreign college students to the United States each year. The changes are the latest in a series of steps the State Department has taken to fix the program since the 2010 AP investigation.

The State Department has announced it is making major changes to its premier student-exchange program following an investigation by The Associated Press that found widespread abuses. The agency announced new rules Friday for the J-1 Summer Work and Travel Program, which brings more than 100,000 foreign college students to the Unites States each year. The AP investigation found some participants working in strip clubs, not always willingly, while others were put in living and working conditions they compared to indentured servitude.

The State Department announced major changes Friday to one of its premier cultural-exchange programs following an investigation by The Associated Press that found widespread abuses. The agency issued new rules for the J-1 Summer Work and Travel Program, which brings more than 100,000 foreign college students to the United States each year. The changes are the latest in a series of steps the State Department has taken to fix the program since the 2010 AP investigation. The investigation found that some participants were working in strip clubs, not...

Visa said Wednesday that its profit for the first three months of the year was up 30 percent from the year before, primarily because credit card use rose in the United States and overseas. The company said Americans rang up 12 percent more on their charge cards for the quarter. Debit card use grew by only 4 percent to $284 million, however, the slowest growth in a year. Banks have eliminated some debit card rewards programs since October, when the government limited the fees banks can charge stores for card transactions.

Americans have reached for their credit cards less often this year. That's bad news for Visa and MasterCard, which report their quarterly earnings Wednesday. MasterCard is scheduled to report results before the stock market opens, and Visa plans to release results after the market closes. WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic growth, rose 2.9 percent from January through March, the fastest pace in more than a year. That would suggest a great start to the year for Visa and MasterCard, which process...

After controlling the comings and goings of its people for five decades, communist Cuba appears on the verge of a momentous decision to lift many travel restrictions. One senior official says a "radical and profound" change is weeks away. The comment by Parliament Chief Ricardo Alarcon has residents, exiles and policymakers abuzz with speculation that the much-hated exit visa could be a thing of the past, even if Raul Castro's government continues to limit the travel of doctors, scientists, military personnel and others in sensitive roles to prevent a brain...

Leading German industry groups are urging their government to make a bigger effort to loosen visa rules for people from Europe's east and southeast, saying they are a barrier to business. Six groups made the joint appeal Tuesday — including Germany's main exporters' association and groups representing the key car-making and machinery industries. People from countries beyond the European Union's eastern borders still require visas to enter the bloc's borderless Schengen zone.

NEW YORK - As Americans see their home prices plunge, bills climb, and credit lines shrink, they are swiping their credit cards less and their debit cards more - and Visa and MasterCard are still raking in the fees. Debit card use has been catching up to credit cards for years, but the weak economy has cemented debit as a major US revenue driver for card processors. US credit card use hasn't dropped off, but it is growing at its most anemic pace yet compared to debit. "Credit card spending in general is much softer" in the United States, said Visa Inc. chief executive Joe Saunders in a...

Leading German industry groups are urging their government to make a bigger effort to loosen visa rules for people from Europe's east and southeast, saying they are a barrier to business. Six groups made the joint appeal Tuesday — including Germany's main exporters' association and groups representing the key car-making and machinery industries. People from countries beyond the European Union's eastern borders still require visas to enter the bloc's borderless Schengen zone.