Posted on: Friday, August 1, 2003

Businesses express concern as U.S. tightens its visa rules

By Barbara De Lollis
USA Today

The federal government will begin applying stricter requirements for granting visas today, and business groups fear that the changes will mean fewer international visitors to the United States.

Because of security concerns, the State Department now requires consular officers to personally interview most visa applicants instead of granting as many waivers as in the past.

Some offices will need to conduct at least twice as many interviews as before with no additional staff.

U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, says it takes months in some countries to schedule an interview.

"Until now, each post had the discretion to establish its own waiver policy, and in the interest of security, we think it's better that it be uniform," says Stuart Patt, spokesman for the State Department's Consular Affairs Bureau.

More than 90 percent of tourists to Hawai'i are from the U.S. Mainland, Japan or Canada and don't require tourist visas.

Visitors from countries that require tourist visas make up about 6.2 percent of all tourists to Hawai'i, or about 391,000 a year, according to 2001 state figures.

Although the numbers are relatively small, state tourism officials have nonetheless worried about any procedures that would slow issuance of visas.

Although few in the United States disagree with the need for greater screening, some business groups say the changes mount a new hurdle to the U.S. travel industry and corporations at a time when they can ill afford it.

Since 2001, the peak year for visa applications, the number of applications has dropped 20 percent to 8.3 million last year.

Visa hassles can be harmful to U.S. business, says Randel Johnson, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The impact already is being felt:

• CNET Networks sent its controller to Ireland to renew his visa just as the U.S. Embassy in Dublin switched from same-day issuance to an appointment system. Because of a three-week wait, the controller missed the quarterly closing of corporate books, Johnson testified before the government reform committee earlier this month.

• A unit of New Jersey-based Ingersoll-Rand had to delay the transfer of manufacturing from the United Kingdom to the United States by two months because of visa delays. Executives in London who are leading the move must wait about six weeks for interviews. Visa processing used to take 5-7 business days, Johnson testified.

• A CVS pharmacist may not be able to fly home to visit his family this summer in Chennai, India, because the consulate there isn't scheduling interviews until late September and he doesn't want to return without a new visa. He isn't convinced that another consulate will issue his visa quickly.

Of the United States' 210 consular offices, the State Department expects Seoul, Rome, Paris and Taipei to feel the greatest impact from the new rules.

Not all countries will be affected. In China, for instance, a majority of applicants already were being interviewed.

And some consulates have taken steps to reduce waits.