To comply with new security legislation, which requires all visas issued after October 26 to include biometric information and just five months before the American presidential elections, the US state department said it would no longer allow overseas journalists to renew visas from within the country.

From next week the estimated 20,000 foreign journalists stationed in the US, who used to be able to renew their visas in any major city, will have to leave the country to do so and this will delay their application for between four weeks and six months.

The action has been criticised in the US by the Society for Professional Journalists, which fears that beside the logistical problems for thousands of foreign journalists, it could lead to a backlash against American reporters working overseas.

From The Guardian.