Susie
09-27-2007, 05:35 AM
http://www.nafsa.org/_/Document/_/visa_policy_coalition_s.pdf
Our nation’s ability to build and sustain strong
diplomatic, academic, business, and cultural
ties with other countries—ties critical to our
leadership, security, and competitiveness—relies
heavily on people’s ability to travel to the United
States. Without a system in place to ensure this
essential flow, the United States risks losing its
status as the destination of choice for the best and
brightest in academia, business, and science. Yet,
despite improvements in the visa process, travel to
the United States remains unnecessarily challenging.
The time has come for more fundamental
reforms—reforms that address legitimate security
concerns and keep our nation a welcoming nation.
The United States needs a visa policy that keeps us
safe, prosperous, and free. Our organizations have
come together to urge Congress and the Executive
Branch to take the following actions:
_______
Congress must:
Restore to the Secretary of State the authority
to grant U.S. consulates discretion to waive the
personal interview requirement based on risk
assessment.
In 2004, Congress unwisely wrote into law
temporary State Department guidance requiring
consular posts to conduct personal interviews
of virtually all nonimmigrant visa applicants. In
most cases these interviews add little security,
and actually make us less safe as officers rush to
complete interviews and are not focusing their
time and efforts on truly suspicious travelers. The
expense, inconvenience, and long wait times for
personal interviews are among the most frequently
cited factors that make travel to the United States
unpopular, particularly in large, high-demand
countries. Available technology and sophisticated
risk-assessment techniques make interviews
unnecessary in many cases. Congress should restore
to the Secretary of State the authority to grant
U.S. consulates discretion to waive the personal
interview requirement, subject to State-DHS
guidance, and according to plans submitted by each
consulate for State Department approval.
Strengthen and expand the Visa Waiver Program.
The Visa Waiver Program allows most visitors from
27 countries who carry a valid passport to enter
the United States without a visa for up to 90 days.
Participating countries must meet strict eligibility
standards based on U.S. diplomatic, immigrationenforcement,
and national security interests. In
recent years, about one-half of all nonimmigrant
admissions to the United States have been VWP
travelers. VWP has become a vital mechanism for
facilitating legitimate travel, establishing strong
diplomatic ties, sustaining economic growth, and
enhancing our nation’s security. This successful
program should be strengthened and expanded
in a manner that enhances security and increases
opportunities for travel between the United States
and its friends and allies.
Exercise vigorous oversight of Executive Branch
implementation of the Rice-Chertoff vision,
especially the recommendations listed in the
following section.
_______
Realizing the Rice-Chertoff Vision:
A National-Interest-Based Visa Policy
for the United States
NATIONAL FOREIGN
TRADE COUNCIL, INC.
The Executive Branch must:
Articulate a clear, operational visa policy that fully
realizes the Rice-Chertoff vision.
Despite the 2003 State-DHS memorandum
of understanding on visa processing, and the
2006 joint-vision statement by Secretaries Rice
and Chertoff, relationships between the two
departments remain plagued by serious disconnects,
which severely affect travel. More important, the
very positive vision articulated by the secretaries—
truly balancing security and openness—has not
been achieved at the operational level, where that
balance must be forged. In this operational policy
vacuum, law enforcement authorities have an
effective veto, and the essential balance is lost. The
agencies must:
• Develop and implement a comprehensive human
capital workforce plan for the appropriate
selection, training, and supervision of all those
whose contact with the public impacts America’s
image abroad, including consular, immigration,
and customs officers.
• Implement plans to elevate DHS’s assistant
secretary for policy to an undersecretary, and
fully staff the Office of Policy, to provide strong
leadership to the former Immigration and
Naturalization Service.
• Issue strong operational guidance to all consular
posts to eliminate inconsistencies in visa
processing, and hold posts accountable through
regular reviews.
• Recognize that the conduct of visa policy and
the treatment of international visitors at ports of
entry is public diplomacy, and ensure that these
procedures support our public diplomacy goals.
Realizing the Rice-Chertoff Vision:
A National-Interest-Based Visa Policy
for the United States
Improve efficiency, transparency, and reliability in
the visa process.
We give the State Department credit for adding 570
new consular officers since 9/11, increasing the use
of electronic visa processing, improving consular
training, enhancing the information available to
visa applicants, creatively adjusting its procedures
to cope with an enormous workload, and cutting
down the time required for security clearances
for scientists. Yet more can and should be done,
specifically:
• Establish a “Trusted Traveler” program to
expedite approval for all frequent travelers
willing to submit to extensive background checks
in advance, and who have a prior history of visa
approval.
• Implement a fully electronic (“paperless”)
application process to allow consulates to
undertake necessary additional screening prior to
the interview.
• Further improve the security clearance process
for scientists to reduce the overall visa processing
time to no more than 30 days. Establish a special
review process to resolve applications that take
longer than 45 days to process.
• Enhance consular resources to respond better to
shifts in visa demand.
• Restore domestic visa-revalidation procedures
that were available to non-immigrants with
employment-based visas before 2004.
• Develop an efficient system for providing social
security numbers at the port of entry for those
visitors eligible to work, as is already done for
immigrants.
January 31, 2007
Our nation’s ability to build and sustain strong
diplomatic, academic, business, and cultural
ties with other countries—ties critical to our
leadership, security, and competitiveness—relies
heavily on people’s ability to travel to the United
States. Without a system in place to ensure this
essential flow, the United States risks losing its
status as the destination of choice for the best and
brightest in academia, business, and science. Yet,
despite improvements in the visa process, travel to
the United States remains unnecessarily challenging.
The time has come for more fundamental
reforms—reforms that address legitimate security
concerns and keep our nation a welcoming nation.
The United States needs a visa policy that keeps us
safe, prosperous, and free. Our organizations have
come together to urge Congress and the Executive
Branch to take the following actions:
_______
Congress must:
Restore to the Secretary of State the authority
to grant U.S. consulates discretion to waive the
personal interview requirement based on risk
assessment.
In 2004, Congress unwisely wrote into law
temporary State Department guidance requiring
consular posts to conduct personal interviews
of virtually all nonimmigrant visa applicants. In
most cases these interviews add little security,
and actually make us less safe as officers rush to
complete interviews and are not focusing their
time and efforts on truly suspicious travelers. The
expense, inconvenience, and long wait times for
personal interviews are among the most frequently
cited factors that make travel to the United States
unpopular, particularly in large, high-demand
countries. Available technology and sophisticated
risk-assessment techniques make interviews
unnecessary in many cases. Congress should restore
to the Secretary of State the authority to grant
U.S. consulates discretion to waive the personal
interview requirement, subject to State-DHS
guidance, and according to plans submitted by each
consulate for State Department approval.
Strengthen and expand the Visa Waiver Program.
The Visa Waiver Program allows most visitors from
27 countries who carry a valid passport to enter
the United States without a visa for up to 90 days.
Participating countries must meet strict eligibility
standards based on U.S. diplomatic, immigrationenforcement,
and national security interests. In
recent years, about one-half of all nonimmigrant
admissions to the United States have been VWP
travelers. VWP has become a vital mechanism for
facilitating legitimate travel, establishing strong
diplomatic ties, sustaining economic growth, and
enhancing our nation’s security. This successful
program should be strengthened and expanded
in a manner that enhances security and increases
opportunities for travel between the United States
and its friends and allies.
Exercise vigorous oversight of Executive Branch
implementation of the Rice-Chertoff vision,
especially the recommendations listed in the
following section.
_______
Realizing the Rice-Chertoff Vision:
A National-Interest-Based Visa Policy
for the United States
NATIONAL FOREIGN
TRADE COUNCIL, INC.
The Executive Branch must:
Articulate a clear, operational visa policy that fully
realizes the Rice-Chertoff vision.
Despite the 2003 State-DHS memorandum
of understanding on visa processing, and the
2006 joint-vision statement by Secretaries Rice
and Chertoff, relationships between the two
departments remain plagued by serious disconnects,
which severely affect travel. More important, the
very positive vision articulated by the secretaries—
truly balancing security and openness—has not
been achieved at the operational level, where that
balance must be forged. In this operational policy
vacuum, law enforcement authorities have an
effective veto, and the essential balance is lost. The
agencies must:
• Develop and implement a comprehensive human
capital workforce plan for the appropriate
selection, training, and supervision of all those
whose contact with the public impacts America’s
image abroad, including consular, immigration,
and customs officers.
• Implement plans to elevate DHS’s assistant
secretary for policy to an undersecretary, and
fully staff the Office of Policy, to provide strong
leadership to the former Immigration and
Naturalization Service.
• Issue strong operational guidance to all consular
posts to eliminate inconsistencies in visa
processing, and hold posts accountable through
regular reviews.
• Recognize that the conduct of visa policy and
the treatment of international visitors at ports of
entry is public diplomacy, and ensure that these
procedures support our public diplomacy goals.
Realizing the Rice-Chertoff Vision:
A National-Interest-Based Visa Policy
for the United States
Improve efficiency, transparency, and reliability in
the visa process.
We give the State Department credit for adding 570
new consular officers since 9/11, increasing the use
of electronic visa processing, improving consular
training, enhancing the information available to
visa applicants, creatively adjusting its procedures
to cope with an enormous workload, and cutting
down the time required for security clearances
for scientists. Yet more can and should be done,
specifically:
• Establish a “Trusted Traveler” program to
expedite approval for all frequent travelers
willing to submit to extensive background checks
in advance, and who have a prior history of visa
approval.
• Implement a fully electronic (“paperless”)
application process to allow consulates to
undertake necessary additional screening prior to
the interview.
• Further improve the security clearance process
for scientists to reduce the overall visa processing
time to no more than 30 days. Establish a special
review process to resolve applications that take
longer than 45 days to process.
• Enhance consular resources to respond better to
shifts in visa demand.
• Restore domestic visa-revalidation procedures
that were available to non-immigrants with
employment-based visas before 2004.
• Develop an efficient system for providing social
security numbers at the port of entry for those
visitors eligible to work, as is already done for
immigrants.
January 31, 2007