US to interview almost all visa applicants

The Times of India ^ | May 16 2003 | PTI

[knighthawk]

WASHINGTON: In order to plug holes in anti-terrorism efforts, the US State Department plans to conduct face-to-face interviews with almost all visa applicants.

"Under the new policy you are probably going to be looking at 90 per cent of the cases being interviewed. We are trying to get a more uniform approach around the world, but still offer some local variations. The new policy will affect some of our visa-issuing posts very significantly," Stuart Patta, a State Department spokesman said.

The new policy will not affect citizens from 27 countries, many in Europe, who by law don't need visas for tourist or business travel, or from Canada, who do not need visas for most kinds of travel.

The change, details of which are still being worked out, is designed to plug holes in anti-terrorism efforts and address Congressional criticism of lax consular operations abroad, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The change will increase the workload of the country's 200-plus visa-issuing embassies and consulates, which processed 8.3 million visa applications and approved 5.7 million in fiscal 2002.

Though administration officials said that they do not track the percentage of applicants interviewed, they said fewer than half the applicants are questioned in countries that have relatively high standards of living and are deemed unlikely to produce many illegal immigrants or terrorists.

The visa process came under criticism after the Sept 11 attacks, when it was found that 15 hijackers who obtained visas in Saudi Arabia received them under a then-new procedure at the US embassy in Riyadh called Visa Express, allowing applicants to obtain visas through travel agents.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[umgud]

Ig they come thru Mexico, they won't have this inconvenience.

[umgud]

Ig = If

[ImpotentRage]

Right - it's only the ones who APPLY for visas.

[madfly]

ping

[b4its2late]

It's about time.

[Regulator]

This will last about 15 minutes at which point the airlines and the hotels and all the rest of the tourism industry will start squawking, along with all the Consular officers who will say that it's too much of a burden, and they will quietly end it and go back to rubber stamping any one who wants to get in.

And, of course, as always, the saintly Mexican citizens will never have to inconvenience themselves with any American laws, and will continue to simply walk, drive or run in whenever and wherever they feel like it.

[gubamyster]

This is a start. However, what kind of inane questions are they going to ask them:

"Has anyone other than you packed your luggage?"

"Have your bags been with you then entire time since being packed?"

"OK, thank you, here's your visa."