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Newsletter for American Citizens - Volume 2:  July, 2006
U.S. Consulate General, Calcutta, India
Table of Contents
Farewell to Consul General William M. Bartlett
2006 Federal Elections
Avian Influenza Update
Consular Information Sheet for India
Income Tax Changes for Expats
Precautions to Be Taken During Demonstrations
FBI Fights Cyber Crime
ACS Unit Location & Hours (including upcoming holiday schedule)
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1.  Farewell to Consul General William M. Bartlett
We say farewell to Consul General William M. Bartlett and his wife Christina “Tina” Bartlett who left India in June 2006.  Bill and Tina arrived in India in 2002.  In his job as Consul General, Bill Bartlett oversaw the entire consular operation at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, as well as the consulates in Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta.  Bill had previous assignments with the Department of State in Washington, DC, Germany, the United Kingdom, Nigeria and El Salvador.  Bill’s next position will be at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.  We wish Bill and Tina the greatest success in the future, and thank
Bill for his incredible contribution to the consular operation in India.  Bill’s job was particularly challenging since demand for U.S. visas and American citizen services in
India is growing faster than at almost any other location in the world!
Bill’s replacement expects to arrive in India in August, and we will introduce him in our
next newsletter.  Until then, Deputy Consul General Richard M. Sherman will serve as acting Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs.
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2.   2006 Federal Elections.
Now is the time to request your absentee ballot for the 2006 U.S. Federal Elections scheduled for Tuesday, November 7, 2006.  Every seat in the U.S. House of Representatives will be at stake, as well as one-third of the seats in the U.S. Senate.  There are many important state and local races as well.  Here are some handy questions and answers to help you to vote this year:

Q1.  How do I request an absentee ballot?
A1.  You can fill in a form called the Federal Post-Card Application, which is available at the Consulate’s American Citizen Services Unit, or can be easily downloaded at www.fvap.gov (click on “Forms”).  You must mail it to the local election official in for your U.S. voting address.  That information is also available at www.fvap.gov.  The Consulate’s American Citizen Services Unit has a book that lists voting procedures and addresses for every voting jurisdiction.  Please call us or stop by, and we can help make sure your request for a ballot is prepared and sent properly.  Another handy tool appears at www.overseasvotersfoundation.org which automatically prepares your ballot request and provides an address based on information you enter.
Q2.  What if I am not registered?
A2.  Your request for an absentee ballot in most cases also constitutes a request to be registered to vote.
Q3.  What if I don’t have a U.S. address?
A3.  If you don’t have a permanent U.S. address, you may still vote using the last
address where you resided in the United States.
Q4.  If I voted in 2004, won’t I automatically receive an absentee ballot?
A4.  You should, but there are 3,000 different voting jurisdictions in the United States
and nobody’s perfect.  It doesn’t hurt to send in an absentee ballot request. 
Better safe than sorry!
Q5.  Do I have to mail the ballot request myself?
A5.  You can mail it yourself, or the Consulate will mail it for you.  We have special postage-paid envelopes for this purpose.  Note that this is the only kind of mail that the Consulate will mail for you, so take advantage of it!
Make sure your vote counts.  Do not procrastinate.  Order your absentee ballot today!
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3.  Avian Influenza Update
India has experienced three outbreaks of avian influenza in poultry in February and March of this year.  The outbreaks occurred in rural areas of the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.  In each case, the Government of India ordered the culling of tens of thousands of birds.  The government has reported that the H5N1 avian influenza virus was contained in each of those outbreaks, and that no other outbreaks have been reported.  There have been no reports of any human cases of the H5N1 virus in India so far.  To keep abreast of this changing situation, you are encouraged to periodically check the Embassy website at http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov, and click on “Avian Influenza Update” on the right-hand side of the page.  In certain cases, we will be sending warden messages regarding avian influenza, if the situation so warrants.  That site contains a series of Questions and Answers that can help you and your family prepare for a possible influenza pandemic.
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4.  Consular Information Sheet for India
The Embassy recently updated the Consular Information Sheet for India.  The Consular Information Sheet provides the U.S. Government’s analysis of important information for travelers to India, including visa information, security, health, crime, etc.  You are encouraged to consult the Consular Information Sheet, and to share it with your family or friends who plan to visit India, to ensure that you take common sense precautions when traveling around the country.
The Consular Information Sheet for India, as well as every other country in the world, is available on the U.S. State Department’s travel website at http://travel.state.gov.
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5.  Income Tax Changes for Expats
Congress recently enacted important tax legislation.  Although most attention was paid
to the extension of certain previously-enacted tax cuts that were scheduled to expire, additional changes were included in the legislation of interest to Americans living and working overseas.  For example, the amount of earned income that can be excluded
by most Americans working overseas was increased.  However, favorable treatment of certain other types of compensation provided to expats, such as housing provided by an employer, was restricted.  These tax changes are retroactive to January 1 of this year. Interesting articles on these tax changes have appeared in major newspapers
such as the Wall Street Journal and the International Herald Tribune. See, for example, http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/26/news/ataxes.php. 
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6.  Precautions to Be Taken During Demonstrations
The Embassy’s Regional Security Office wishes to remind American citizens that demonstrations in India often occur spontaneously and can escalate with little
warning thus, posing safety risks to bystanders as well as participants.  American
citizens should monitor news reports regarding the location of protests and modify movements accordingly.  The Consulate will issue an advisory if information is
received that indicates American interests are being specifically targeted.  
American citizens should take the following precautions:
-  Be alert, cautious, and be prepared for demonstrations to suddenly occur
-  If caught up in a demonstration, take the quickest route that leads away
from the crowd
-  Report the location of violent demonstrations to the American Citizen Services
Unit as soon as possible.
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7.  FBI Fights Cyber Crime
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a reporting and referral system for Internet crime complaints from people in the United States and around the world. Through an online complaint form and a team of agents and analysts, IC3 serves the public and U.S. and international law enforcement agencies investigating Internet crime.  Internet crime, also called cyber crime, is any illegal activity arising from one or more Internet components, such as Web sites, chat rooms, or e-mail. Cyber crime can include everything from non-delivery of goods or services and computer intrusions (hacking) to intellectual property rights abuses, economic espionage (theft of trade secrets), online extortion, international money laundering, identity theft, and a growing list of other Internet-facilitated offenses.
Today at the IC3 office in Fairmont, West Virginia, six federal agents and approximately 40 analysts from industry and academia receive Internet-related criminal complaints from the public, then research, develop, and refer the complaints to federal, state, local, and international law enforcement or regulatory agencies and multi-agency task forces for investigation.  Through an IC3 Web site (www.ic3.gov), people from all over the world can file complaints about Internet crime.  IC3 sometimes helps law enforcement agencies by researching and building the initial case.
A growing group of international agencies are involved in fighting cyber crime. The IC3 works with law enforcement officials in many countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom. IC3 representatives also attend periodic meetings of the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom) Subgroup on High-Tech Crime, part of which works to combat cyber crime and enhance cyber investigations.
The IC3 and the CIRFU projects are a constantly evolving work in progress. Along the way, IC3 agents and analysts revisit what is working and what is not working, and constantly seek out experts and sources of intelligence to get smarter about cyber crime and learn how to more effectively fight it.
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8. ACS Location & Hours and Upcoming Holidays
Our hours: The American Citizen Services Unit is open to the public from Monday to
Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.  We are available outside of these hours for emergency services.  To contact us, call 91-33-3984-2400.  You can also e-mail us at CalcuttaACS@state.gov.

Upcoming Indian and American holidays on which the Consulate will be closed are
August 15 (Indian Independence Day), September 4 (Labor Day), and
September 29 (Durga Puja (Saptami).  The Consulate is always available for
emergency services for American citizens.

If you believe you may have missed a recent “warden message” sent to American citizens in India, all recent warden messages issued by the Consulate are available on the Consulate website at http://calcutta.usconsulate.gov/warden_messages2.html.