US State Department cedes vast control over visa process

[Judi Lynn]

US State Department cedes vast control over visa process
Agence France-Presse
Washington, September 30

The US State Department has agreed to cede much of its authority to issue visas to potential foreign visitors after a long battle with the Department of Homeland Security over decisions on who should be granted permission to visit the United States, officials said.

Although US diplomats will retain the right to actually place a visa in an applicants' passport, applications will have to be first vetted by homeland security officials wielding broad powers over the process, they said on Monday.

The switch -- which follows congressional mandates to tighten US immigration procedures after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington -- was outlined in an agreement signed by Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge.

Under it, Homeland Security agents will review visa requests to determine whether the applicant is a potential threat to the United States and will decide on denial or rejection on those grounds, the officials said. (snip/...)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_396461,00050001.htm

[dArKeR]

1. I've got a bad feeling vacationers are going to say 'screw the US' when

they find out they are submitting their data to Homeland Security. It just sound too Nazi. It is too Nazi. And we're going to pay for it in lost visitor/tourism revenue. Which is the best kind of revenue a country could ever hope for.

(Including Student applicants who pay double the tuition as Americans)

[rooboy]

2. Any ideas I had...

of visiting the US for either business or pleasure evaporated some time ago. I don't see the need to travel thousands of miles to be interrogated and have a rubber glove stuck up my ass...