Senate to Vote on Visa Reforms

The Senate Appropriations Committee last week voted to send the 2012 State Department Foreign Operations Bill, which contains key directives endorsed by the U.S. Travel Association regarding the U.S. visa system, for consideration by the full Senate.

“Increasing travel to the United States is the most effective form of economic stimulus, but for far too long the U.S. visa system has stood as a barrier for travel to the U.S.,” says Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. “We urge the full Senate to quickly pass this bill so we can welcome more travelers to the U.S., which will create much needed U.S. jobs.”

The bill includes requirements and directives concerning several key State Department activities, including:

•A requirement that the State Department submit a report outlining a five-year forecast of demand for nonimmigrant visas in Brazil, China, and India, and a plan to meet that demand. 

•A required assessment by the State Department comparing their five-year forecast to the Commerce Department’s five-year visitor arrival projections from Brazil, China and India.

•Steps to hire a sufficient number of consular officers, which may include limited non-career appointment officers, in China, Brazil and India to meet the Department of State’s standard of interviewing all tourist visa applicants within 30 days of the date of submitting their application.

•Discretion allowing the State Department to carry out a secure visa videoconferencing pilot program.

The proposed changes will improve efficiency of the U.S. visa process for legitimate international visitors while at the same time maintaining – and in some cases increasing – security.

According to the U.S. Travel Association, in the last 10 years the United States lost the opportunity to welcome 78 million more visitors and generate $606 billion in direct and downstream spending – enough to support more than 467,000 additional U.S. jobs annually – by failing to keep pace with growth in global long-haul international travel.