Draconian visa restrictions costing America billions each year

The US has always had targeted visa restrictions on entry, particularly for those coming from communist or developing countries, but since 9/11 policies intended to give the US more control over its border in an attempt to halt possible terrorists from entering the country have also impacted on tourists, businessmen and those seeking to study in the US.

This problem has become particularly apparent in China, where visa refusals have been a common cause of complaint, and where China’s increasing number of wealthy middle class citizens who are now looking to travel or study overseas in ever increasing wave, have been flocking to Australia, Japan and most recently the European Union because they have found visas applications to be faster and that they have a higher possibility of being accepted for a visa than they do in the US.

Maters have been further highlighted by the recent enactment of Sino-EU pledges to ease travel restrictions on those heading to the EU for vacations or other short trips, making travel to the EU a more certain prospect than to the US for many people.

Concerns over new regulations and the lack of accountability for the issuing of visas have not only been a mater of concern for Chinese tourists who have not been able to get short stay visas, and students looking to study in American institutes. US based businesses and trade organizations have voiced concern that overly strict or opaque visa processes have had a negative impact on the US business community by impeding business travel from China, and by portraying the US as an apparently hostile destination for Chinese nationals.

US tourism groups have also voiced expressed that increasingly affluent Chinese tourists are now finding it so much easier to gain access to the EU than the US that the US is slipping down the list of prime destination for China’s growing minority of jet setters.

The US visa system has widely been criticized as having unacceptable delays built in and as providing no certainty on how a claim may be handled, hindering business travellers and slowing down efforts to built relationships between US and Chinese companies.

Groups from both China and the US have requested that the visa process be streamlined and that greater transparency be introduced, believing that it would be essential to further mutual trust and to improve trade relations, and that it could be done with respect to matters of national security.

Despite assurances that visa restrictions are in place as a mater of national security, some have voiced concerns that increased scrutiny and entry refusals have less to do with preventing terrorism and more to do with preventing foreigners from "undesirable" countries from entering America.

Despite China having no involvement in the financing or execution of the 9/11 attacks, its citizens are still routinely fingerprinted on entry to the US under post 9/11 security regulations, and the number of tourist, family and student visa refusals on unspecified or un justified grounds has increased notably since 9/11, as well as the number of visas refused on immigrations grounds.

There is concern both from foreign government and from US human rights organisations that national security regulations are being used to supplement immigration restrictions, and that they overly discriminate against non white, non English speaking applicants.

Many human rights and civil liberties groups feel that in a substantial number of instances, new security measures are being used as a blanket tool to prevent entry to those suspected of coming to the US to work, claim political asylum, marrying a US national to gain citizenship or to overstay their visas, as well as those voicing political opinions opposed to the current administration, because national security refusal cannot be so readily appealed against.

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit