By Patricia H. Kushlis
Several years ago, I attended a meeting in Washington, DC in which two representatives of the Commerce Department’s Travel and Tourism Office bemoaned the fact that it took forever for US Consulates to issue tourist visas. And as a result, they said, the US was losing substantial tourist revenues to countries which were far more international travel friendly. Appointment times for such US Consulate interviews llagged 60 days or more and the visas themselves were expensive.
The meeting I attended was devoted to the question of how America’s image abroad could be improved. The two women from Commerce sensibly suggested that reducing the visa issuance time might help. Unfortunately, this was still too close to the 9/11 hysteria and the build up of Homeland Security to have been taken seriously.
In 2008, I had to ask for special assistance from Senator Tom Udall’s (NM) office so that the maid of honor in my son’s wedding could make it to the wedding. It was highly unlikely the maid of honor would not have qualified for a visa – she had just worked in the US for six years but had moved to London to take another professional level job. Thanks to Udall’s office she did in fact get the appointment. The visa was issued almost immediately after the interview.
But without the Senator’s staff’s intervention that forced the recalcitrant US Consulate to move the appointment date up to before, not after the wedding, the maid of honor would have been missing. This would have been particularly ironic since the wedding was held at DACOR, a private organization of US diplomats and consular officers.
The good news is that the Senator’s intervention made all the difference in the world. The bad news is that it shouldn’t have been needed – if the State Department had only figured out its staffing requirements and then filled the positions. But then management is not its forte.
On Sunday March 18, 2012 The New York Times carried an Op Ed by airline pilot Mark Vanhoenacker entitled “How Not to Attract Tourists.” The pilot’s complaint focused on the absurd ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) requirement whereby tourists from tourist waiver countries still have to complete this special form several days before travel. As Venhoenacker describes it, the form asks unnecessarily intrusive questions that delve into the prospective traveler’s personal life and habits – some of which they’ve already supplied on other forms.
It also requires the individual to fork over $14 to Uncle Sam not only for completing and filing the ESTA form but also for the privilege of standing in unnecessarily long lines only to be greeted by surly US immigration and customs officials after having endured a multi-hour flight in a packed sardine can because there are not enough US government officials on duty. Then there are the separate Customs Forms which are equally as loony. What’s this about importing snails?
I had read about the $14 fee when it was introduced and thought at the time "that’s great" – now all the other countries will follow suit - slapping on putative fees for visiting Americans. I don’t think most have – they know that American tourists bring in far more cash than the lousy $14 fee. Ironically, $10 of the ESTA tax goes to “visit America” ad campaigns.
Far better that it go to hiring more immigration and consular officers.