Visa delays 'hamper US business'

[tonado]

Visa delays 'hamper US business'

 

By Edward Alden in Washington

Published: January 28 2003 21:53 | Last Updated: January 28 2003 21:53

 

US companies are preparing to lobby Congress to try to ease the impact of new visa restrictions they say are hampering their ability to win business abroad.

 

The restrictions, introduced last year as part of the US administration's effort to combat terrorism, have resulted in long delays in issuing visas to foreign buyers of US products, as well as to scientists and engineers working for US companies.

 

The companies' lobbying campaign will be one of the first occasions when big US companies have spoken out against homeland security measures adopted since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

 

Motorola, the US telecommunications and semiconductor group, said it might lose a $10m contract to supply two-way radios to Vietnam because of the delays.

 

The US state department took more than six months to issue a visa to the head of a Vietnamese government delegation who wanted to examine the product in the US. As a result, Vietnam has opened the contract to competition from Nokia of Finland and Marconi of the UK.

 

"Motorola is in a diff- icult competition it never had to have," said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a body that represents US multinational companies.

 

Governments around the world have clamped down on visa issuance since September 11. In Germany, for example, two sets of new security rules have been brought in, which have included tighter immigration legislation.

 

Rules enacted in the US last year require that any individual from a list of a dozen nations undergo a thorough security review if he or she is involved in research or commercial deals involving any of 16 different industries.

 

The industries include aerospace, chemicals, biotechnology, robotics and advanced computer technology.

 

The restrictions seek to prevent the dissemination of US expertise that could help countries build weapons of mass destruction or improve their conventional military capabilities. But the security reviews, carried out by the FBI and the CIA, have been taking months.

 

"The security agencies were completely overwhelmed," said Edmund Rice of the Coalition for Employment Through Exports, which represents large US exporters.

 

Russia, India and China have been particularly affected by the procedures.

 

Moore Nanotechnology Systems, a small US company that makes precision machine tools for optical components, says it has been unable to complete a $500,000 sale to China because it took more than five months for the Chinese buyer to get a visa.

 

Len Chaloux, the company's president, said the consequences for his company were enormous. "All optical production is moving to China, and if we cannot play in that market we are out of business."

 

Mr Rice said companies had been trying to work quietly with the US administration to ease bottlenecks. "The companies had hoped up until now that this would be a temporary blip in the system," he said. "But it is clear now that is not the case."

[Mike and Ying]

Umm...how much work have we done at our jobs after the interviews???? Yup, the gov..is loosing more than it will ever know!!!

[tonado]

How come we won't let people come to this country so easily? But we will invade any countries we want.

[Mike and Ying]

We are starting to think again....this could be dangrous....

[kkimm]

How come we won't let people come to this country so easily?  But we will invade any countries we want.

 

my co-worker used to (and still) joke about "it's easier to get in this

country illegally and stay, than to try the legitimate way"

 

heard in the news that congress is pushing a bill on illegal immigrants (similar to 245i)...are they aware people cannot get a visa in a timely fashion these days???