Changing Rules for Visa Interviews

[Guest Long_strider]

Tougher rules on U.S. visas

 

Face-to-face interviews likely to mean long backlogs

 

By Dan Eggen

THE WASHINGTON POST

 

May 24 — The State Department has ordered Foreign Service officers in many nations to begin face-to-face interviews with millions of visa applicants who previously have not merited such scrutiny, a step that will result in months-long backlogs, according to officials and documents.

 

The rules, formally issued in a cable sent to 221 embassies and consulates Wednesday, have prompted strong objections from business, education and tourism groups. The groups say that longer delays in obtaining visas will discourage foreign nationals from visiting the United States at a time when the economy is still struggling.

The heightened scrutiny will be applied to about 90 percent of visa applicants from countries in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, with general exceptions for diplomats and people ages 16 and under or 60 and over. The rules will not affect citizens of Canada and 27 other countries — most of them in Europe — who are not required to obtain U.S. business or tourist visas, and who comprise about half of the 35 million people who visit the United States each year.

 

 

• National security issues

 

U.S. consulates have until Aug. 1 to implement the new regulations.

“This is probably going to add a lot more time to the process and could bog the system down very seriously,” said Randy Johnson, vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “These are businessmen coming in to make deals with American businessmen, as well as workers coming in to help our economy. . . . If it’s going to take six months or more to get a visa, why would anyone bother?”

 

SECURITY MEASURES

The policy change is part of an array of new restrictions designed to improve security and monitoring of visitors in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The government has also established a new Internet-based registration system for foreign students and now requires visitors from many Muslim countries to register and be fingerprinted at ports of entry.

For months, the departments of Justice and Homeland Security have advocated increasing the number of visa interviews. The Homeland Security Department now has jurisdiction over visa policy.

But many in U.S. diplomatic circles strongly opposed the new rules, in part because applicants already must wait three months or more for visas in many locations. The cable announcing the policy change warned that the additional interviews must be handled “using existing resources” and without offering overtime hours to employees.

Foreign posts “should develop appointment systems and public-relations strategies to mitigate as much as possible the impact of these changes,” the cable read.

Technically, U.S. law already requires non-immigrant visa applicants to submit to in-person interviews, which generally last two to three minutes. But State Department rules have traditionally given consular officials broad leeway in granting exceptions.

State Department officials said they do not keep track of the proportion of visa applicants required to submit to interviews, but outside immigration experts estimate that as little as 20 percent are required to do so in some countries. Nearly 5.8 million business and tourist visas were issued in fiscal 2002, officials said. Besides visitors from visa waiver countries, the rest of the visitors to the United States fall into a variety of .

 

 

By requiring the interviews, Patt said, U.S. officials hope to increase their chances of catching terrorists or preventing them from attempting to obtain visas. One of the alleged Sept. 11 conspirators, Ramzi Binalshibh, was rejected for a U.S. visa on four occasions and never entered the country. He is now in U.S. custody.

 

‘VISA EXPRESS’

Advocates of stricter U.S. immigration policies have repeatedly criticized the State Department since Sept. 11 for failing to properly scrutinize visa applicants.

A General Accounting Office study found that at least 13 of the 15 hijackers from Saudi Arabia were never interviewed by U.S. consular officers before they were granted visas, and none had filled in his application properly. Three hijackers obtained their documents through travel agents under a “visa express” program that has since been abandoned.

But many Foreign Service officers complain that they are already overburdened by their workload. Some fear that increasing interviews will only increase the chances of mistakes.

Patt said that “pragmatic factors were a consideration,” but those problems have been worked out.

The State Department cable notes that the department will “try to provide the resources necessary to cope with any additional workload, but expects and accepts that many posts will face processing backlogs for the indefinite future.”

Business and tourism leaders said that while they applaud the goal of improved security, the State Department could cause serious economic damage if it does not provide sufficient staff to handle demand. Higher education groups have expressed alarm that the rules could reduce travel by instructors and students from overseas.

Jack Connors, executive vice president for public policy at the American Hotel & Lodging Association, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell that “if the proposed requirement is implemented without significant increases in staffing at our consulates, there will be severe backlogs causing a sharp decrease in business and tourist travel to the United States.”

The group said in a statement yesterday that “unfortunately, it appears that the State Department is moving ahead in implementing the regulation without devoting the necessary resources.”

 

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

[Mick]

While the necessity of protecting our borders is well-intentioned, I do not feel this measure will help in the long run. Like the article mentions, without increasing staff at the Consulates this will result in significant delays. Further, I suspect this will have a negative impact on the economy. Just my take on this. B)

[tonado]

Whenever a new process is implemented, there will be plenty of hicups before things go smoothly. Hope it won't delay the K process with the new procedure.

[tonyuab]

more bad news....

 

i just don't understand how the INS or national security's mind working?! they should tight up the visa process in the countries where the most terrorist came from, like the mid east. i think most terrorist are using the tourist visa or student visa to come to U.S and not the K visa.

 

did this already been passed by the congress?

[tonado]

more bad news....  

 

i just don't understand how the INS or national security's mind working?!  they should tight up the visa process in the countries where the most terrorist came from, like the mid east.  i think most terrorist are using the tourist visa or student visa to come to U.S and not the K visa.

 

did this already been passed by the congress?

INS is no more. It is replaced by BCIS.

[Myles]

Aloha from Hawaii,

This is a political correct liberal policy. I has the appearance of doing something

but does nothing. We are hit on to avoid the racial profile issue. It creates the

appearance of activity when less work is completed.

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

[Guest R2D2]

This is a right wing Republican conservative ploy that again discriminates against non whites. Pretty typical for this group!

[tonado]

Guys,

 

No more debating about conservative vs liberal (or Republicans vs Democrats). Did you know that Lincoln was a Republican and he freed the slaves. There are liberal Republicans and converative Democrats. It doesn't matter what party they belong to, it is what actions they take. Some even switch party and flip-flop issues so that they can get elected.

 

Blaming Republicans or Democrats for visa delays won't solve anything. Just focus on issues and not on polical debate.

[Guest R2D2]

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/comics/updating...ng/thompson.jpg

[rocksplit]

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/comics/updating...ng/thompson.jpg

Excellent Device!

 

R2D2, Thank you , the big question remains how to help our government voting? hoping congressional help? letter writing

 

A Rainer Maria Rilke Poem:

 

The Wait

 

It is life in slow motion,

it's the heart in reverse,

it's a hope-and-a-half:

too much and too little at once.

 

It's a train that suddenly

stops with no station around,

and we can hear the cricket,

and, leaning out the carriage

 

door, we vainly contemplate

a wind we feel that stirs

the blooming meadows, the meadows

made imaginary by this stop.

 

 

Translated by A. Poulin

[rocksplit]

Allow me to indulge with another poem, easy to relate to, since most here have or are experiencing the third line vividly:

 

 

The future enters into us,

in order to transform itself in us,

long before it happens.

 

- Rainer Maria Rilke

[sarah36]

The Wait

 

It is life in slow motion,

it's the heart in reverse,

it's a hope-and-a-half:

too much and too little at once.

 

It's a train that suddenly

stops with no station around,

and we can hear the cricket,

and, leaning out the carriage

 

door, we vainly contemplate

a wind we feel that stirs

the blooming meadows, the meadows

made imaginary by this stop.

 

 

Translated by A. Poulin

Great!

 

 

 

Sarah

[Mick]

Thanks for sharing the poems rocksplit. I really liked them.

[Guest R2D2]

So it seems that if you are a white European, no problem. But if you are not, the path is filled with adversity to the point that one says the hell with it. Maybe we should go on a crusade ( just a pun of the current administration's philosophy). Crossing the Mexican border is easier. Coming by boat from Cuba is even better. Less costly too.

[owenkrout]

So it seems that if you are a white European, no problem. But if you are not, the path is filled with adversity to the point that one says the hell with it. Maybe we should go on a crusade ( just a pun of the current administration's philosophy). Crossing the Mexican border is easier. Coming by boat from Cuba is even better. Less costly too.

Unless you are a French journalist, that is. My Korean friends scolded me years ago for not just having my wife smuggled in from Mexico and then waiting for an amnesty. After two and a half years of work we finally managed to get her the coveted visa, though by then it had changed to an IR-1 and next month on the 23rd she finally goes to the US, so I guess it is a moot point now.