US visa policy to come under attack
US visa policy to come under attack
By Edward Luce in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: January 30 2007 23:37 | Last updated: January 30 2007 23:37
US private-sector bodies will on Tuesday criticise the Bush administration for persisting with strict visa policies that they say are damaging the country’s reputation around the world and harming US business interests.
The group, which includes bodies representing US universities, business exporters, student associations and think-tanks, will urge the White House and Capitol Hill to make rapid changes to the US visa regime.
These would include steps to expand the number of countries that benefit from the US visa waiver programme and ending the requirement that all visa applicants to the US must submit to a personal interview at US consular offices.
The National Foreign Trade Council estimated that US businesses lost more than $30bn in the two years before mid-2004 because of the visa restrictions imposed after the 2001 terrorist attacks. That figure is likely to be much larger now.
“American businesses now routinely hold training seminars, conferences and sometimes even board meetings outside of the US,” said Bill Reinsch, head of the NFTC. “At the same time you see foreign universities attracting more students by advertising the fact that they don’t have a US-style visa regime.”
The State Department says it has responded to private sector criticisms by employing more than 500 new consular officers, increasing the use of electronic visa processing and cutting down the waiting time for scientists to obtain a visa.
“We recognise the critical importance for the US economy and American public diplomacy of making it easier for students and business travellers to get visas,” Dina Habib Powell, US assistant secretary of state, told the FT in a recent interview. For example, the number of visas granted to foreign students last year stabilised at 565,766 after consecutive years of decline, she said.
However, private sector groups say the Bush administration has not done nearly enough to address the seriousness of the problem. “US agencies must recognise that the conduct of visa policy and the treatment of visitors at ports of entry is public diplomacy,” says the private sector statement that will be issued today.
Last year the Discover America partnership – a coalition of travel and tourist groups – found that two-thirds of the 2,011 international business travellers it surveyed thought the US was “the worst country in the world” in the way it treated foreign visitors at the border.
Similar proportions said they feared mistreatment at the hands of US immigration officials. There was no difference in response between visa waiver countries, such as France and Germany, and those requiring visas, such as China and India. Discover America will separately today issue a recommended “blueprint for change” to persuade 10m more foreign visitors to visit the US.
By Edward Luce in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: January 30 2007 23:37 | Last updated: January 30 2007 23:37
US private-sector bodies will on Tuesday criticise the Bush administration for persisting with strict visa policies that they say are damaging the country’s reputation around the world and harming US business interests.
The group, which includes bodies representing US universities, business exporters, student associations and think-tanks, will urge the White House and Capitol Hill to make rapid changes to the US visa regime.
These would include steps to expand the number of countries that benefit from the US visa waiver programme and ending the requirement that all visa applicants to the US must submit to a personal interview at US consular offices.
The National Foreign Trade Council estimated that US businesses lost more than $30bn in the two years before mid-2004 because of the visa restrictions imposed after the 2001 terrorist attacks. That figure is likely to be much larger now.
“American businesses now routinely hold training seminars, conferences and sometimes even board meetings outside of the US,” said Bill Reinsch, head of the NFTC. “At the same time you see foreign universities attracting more students by advertising the fact that they don’t have a US-style visa regime.”
The State Department says it has responded to private sector criticisms by employing more than 500 new consular officers, increasing the use of electronic visa processing and cutting down the waiting time for scientists to obtain a visa.
“We recognise the critical importance for the US economy and American public diplomacy of making it easier for students and business travellers to get visas,” Dina Habib Powell, US assistant secretary of state, told the FT in a recent interview. For example, the number of visas granted to foreign students last year stabilised at 565,766 after consecutive years of decline, she said.
However, private sector groups say the Bush administration has not done nearly enough to address the seriousness of the problem. “US agencies must recognise that the conduct of visa policy and the treatment of visitors at ports of entry is public diplomacy,” says the private sector statement that will be issued today.
Last year the Discover America partnership – a coalition of travel and tourist groups – found that two-thirds of the 2,011 international business travellers it surveyed thought the US was “the worst country in the world” in the way it treated foreign visitors at the border.
Similar proportions said they feared mistreatment at the hands of US immigration officials. There was no difference in response between visa waiver countries, such as France and Germany, and those requiring visas, such as China and India. Discover America will separately today issue a recommended “blueprint for change” to persuade 10m more foreign visitors to visit the US.
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