Understanding
the New Visa Policies
By Melissa J. Koplow
Trade Information Center,
Trade Development
As appearing in Export
America, Feb. 2004
The U.S. government has
revised its visa policies to
ensure that tourists,
students, and business-people
who travel for legitimate
purposes are allowed access to
the United States, while
providing a higher level of
security to U.S. citizens.
Visa applicants of all
types-those planning to
participate in trade shows,
consult with business
associates, view and purchase
products, travel, or attend
universities-are all subject
to the same scrutiny and visa
policies. The following
information may help your
company facilitate visits of
foreign customers to this
country for business purposes.
Q WHAT IS A VISA?
A A visa, issued by the
U.S. Department of State and
affixed in a traveler's
passport, is permission to
apply to enter the United
States. U.S. immigration law
delegates the responsibilities
for issuance or refusal of
visas to U.S. consular
officers abroad, giving them
final say in all visa cases.
However, a visa does not grant
entry; it simply indicates
that a consular officer has
determined the visa holder's
eligibility to travel to a
U.S.. port of entry for a
specific purpose. At the port
of entry, an immigration
officer of the U.S..
Department of Homeland
Security has the final
decision on granting entrance
into the United States-and for
how long an individual is
permitted to remain in the
country.
Q WHAT ARE THE NEW VISA
POLICIES?
A Consular officers
carefully scrutinize all visa
applications. Most
applicants are required to
have a personal interview as a
standard part of the visa
process. The relevant U.S..
embassy or consulate has the
authority to waive the
interview without approval
from headquarters in
Washington, D.C., in certain,
very limited circumstances.
All applicants' names,
regardless of nationality, are
checked against a government
database for possible criminal
or other disqualifying
information. Visa
applicants may need to undergo
an extra review process if
they seek to engage in a
commercial exchange or
academic pursuit involving
certain fields of advanced
technology.
Additionally, all nonimmigrant
tourist and business visa
applicants between the ages of
16 and 45, regardless of
nationality, must now include
supplemental information on an
additional visa application
form (DS-157). Consular and
border officers have the
authority to require any visa
applicant or applicant for
entry from any country to
complete supplemental forms if
they are needed to help
determine eligibility for a
visa.
Q HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO
GET A VISA?
A. The new policies and
procedures may increase the
length of time to process visa
applications. Consequently,
applications should be
submitted as early as
possible. Exact processing
times are difficult to
predict, but most applications
are processed within 30 days.
Visa applications are reviewed
on a case-by-case basis, each
on its own Ğmerits. Since
each person's circumstances
are different, individuals
applying for the same class of
visa may be asked different
questions, required to submit
different supporting
documents, and may have to
wait varying lengths of time
before a final decision is
made on the visa application.
Additionally, certain visa
applicants may be required by
law to undergo additional
administrative processing. As
a result, it is critical that
groups hoping to travel
together submit their visa
applications well in advance
of planned travel dates.
Q WHAT CAN A U.S. COMPANY
DO TO ASSIST FOREIGN BUYERS
WHO NEED VISAS?
A. Although every effort
has been made to inform the
public of these new visa
policies, travelers may not
know about the requirements
and changes. U.S. companies
can assist the Department of
State by letting their foreign
buyers know what to expect
when applying for a visa.
An applicant can facilitate
the visa application process
by presenting a letter of
invitation or support from a
U.S. company. Although this
does not guarantee visa
issuance to a foreign
national, it may help to
establish legitimacy of intent
and the reason for the
intended visit. Consular
officers do not maintain files
on applicants prior to receipt
of the formal applications;
letters sent in advance of
applications rarely come to
the attention of consular
officers at interviews.
Rather, the applicant should
submit any supporting letters
during the interview. The
State Department's Web site, http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/,
provides links to pages
maintained by U.S. embassies
and consulates. U.S. companies
can also help foreign
customers by making sure to
plan events as far in advance
as possible to give
individuals sufficient time to
submit their visa applications
and appear at an embassy or
consulate for interviews. In
addition, U.S. companies must
adhere to their established
schedules. Remaining in the
United States beyond the time
authorized at the time of
admission may make a foreign
national ineligible for
readmission to or a visa for
the United States.
Q WHAT ARE THE NEW
POLICIES FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS
OF VISA WAIVER COUNTRIES?
A The Visa Waiver Program
enables citizens from certain
countries to visit the United
States for either business or
tour ism without first
obtaining visas. To come to
the United States under the
Visa Waiver Program, a
traveler must be a citizen of
a VWP country, must have a
passport from such a country
valid for six months beyond
the intended stay, must be
traveling for business or
pleasure under what would be
visa class Bl/B2, and must
remain in the United States
for 90 days or fewer. VWP
travelers cannot extend their
visits or change to another
visa category once they enter
the United States. VWP
requirements and the 27
current VWP countries can be
found at http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html.
Representatives of the foreign
press and of foreign radio,
film, or other information
media traveling in their
occupational capacity require
nonimmigrant media (I) visas
and cannot travel to the
United States using the Visa
Waiver Program. The USA
Patriot Act of 2001 mandated
that a VWP traveler must
present a machine-readable
passport, or MRP, at the U.S.
port of entry to enter the
United States without a visa.
An MRP is a passport with two
typeface lines printed at the
bottom of the biographical
page, which can be read by a
special machine. When read,
these lines electronically
provide identical information
to that contained on the bio
graphical page. This
requirement was to go into
effect on October 1, 2003.
However, U.S. Secretary of
State Colin Powell granted 22
VWP countries a postponement
until October 26, 2004. Five
countries did not request
postponement, and therefore,
effective October 1, 2003,
visa waiver travelers from
Andorra, Brunei,
Liechtenstein, and Slovenia
must present either MRPs or
U.S. visas. Citizens of
Belgium have had to present
MRPs since May 2003. If VWP
travelers do not meet the MRP
requirement, they will be
required to obtain a
nonimmigrant visas to enter
the United States.
Additionally, all U.S. visas
issued after October 26, 2004,
must include biometric
information. A combination of
index fingerprints and digital
photographs will be the
biometric means for
identifying visa applicants
and matching their records
When they arrive at a port of
entry in the United States.
Many U.S. embassies and
consulates around the world
now take an inkless,
electronic fingerprint scan of
the right and left index
fingers of every visa
applicant. By October 26,
2004, electronic
fingerprinting of all visa
applicants will be done in all
visa-issuing posts.
Q ARE THERE OTHER
REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRY INTO
THE UNITED STATES ONCE A VISA
HAS BEEN OBTAINED?
As of January 5, 2004,
visitors to the United States
who are traveling on visas
must be digitally photographed
and have their index fingers
scanned electronically.
Currently, 115 U.S. airports
and 14 U.S. seaports are
equipped to collect
information from travelers.
Entry and exit enhancements at
land borders will be phased in
throughout 2004 and 2005. The
Department of Homeland
Security compiles visitor
information and cross checks
it against information
provided during the visa
application process to ensure
documents have not been stolen
or altered. The information is
also checked against other
databases maintained by law
enforcement agencies to ensure
that entrants are fully
screened before they are
allowed entry into the United
States.
Q WHERE CAN I GET FURTHER
INFORMATION?
Individuals or companies with
questions concerning visas
should review http://travel.state.gov,
http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/
or the consular section in the
country of application at http://usembassy.state.gov/.
The State Department's
Consular Affairs Public
Inquiries Division can be
reached directly via email at usvisa@state.gov
and fax at(202)663-3899.
The Homeland Security
Department's Web site is http://www.dhs.gov,
and its Web site for U.S.
visitors is http://www.dhs.gov/us-visit.
Special thanks to Stuart
Patt, Consular Affairs Bureau
of the U.S. Department of
State, and Helen N. Marano and
Linda Harbaugh, Office of
Travel and Tourism Industries,
International Trade
Administration, for their
contributions and expertise on
this topic.
Date Updated: March 27, 2007
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