Lawmakers challenge streamlined visa service

A State Department service that lets foreign visa applicants apply for entry to the United States without being interviewed by consular officers should be canceled, two lawmakers told Secretary of State Colin Powell in a letter Tuesday. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. David Weldon, R-Fla., blasted the service, which lets foreign citizens submit visas through travel agencies. Consular officers then decide whether to interview applicants based on their applications and on background checks. In Saudi Arabia, State Department officials called the service "visa express." The lawmakers said the "visa express" service let three of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers get into the country without speaking with a consular officer. "We strongly urge you to dismantle the "visa express" program, which is putting the American people at risk," the lawmakers said in their letter. Ed Dickens, a spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, which issues visas, said "visa express" was not an official program. He said it was simply the name embassy officials in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, gave to the procedure by which travel agents could file visa applications on behalf of travelers. Once applications are submitted, consular officers don't follow written criteria to decide whom to interview. Instead, they use their judgment to decide whether they need more information. The lawmakers said interviews should be conducted. "There needs to be complete termination of this and other similar programs that give our national security a low priority," the lawmakers said. In 1998, the Bureau of Consular Affairs issued almost 6 million temporary visas and 400,000 immigrant visas to applicants around the world. About 900 Foreign Service consular officers, augmented by 2,500 foreign nationals and 236 other consular associates and agents, handle consular affairs abroad. To handle the workload, the bureau has tried to streamline the visa process in a number of ways, including the policy allowing travel agents to send in applications on behalf of travelers. Consular offices in Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, issued 66,000 visas in 1998. Most Saudis-almost 40,000-got visas for temporary business or vacation visits. Nearly 6,000 traveled to the United States as students. The lawmakers have asked State Department Inspector General Clark Kent Irvin to investigate the "visa express" service. They want to know who approved the service, how many Saudi Arabian applicants were granted visas without in-person interviews, the criteria for deciding whether to conduct interviews and how travel agencies are selected to participate in the service. "Our response will be forthcoming," Dickens said. The concern over in-person interviews surfaced at a House Government Reform Civil Service Subcommittee hearing last week. Weldon is the head of that panel. The Bureau of Consular Affairs has long struggled to balance good customer service with strong enforcement. Embassies often receive complaints from lawmakers when constituents grumble about slow visa processing for friends and family members who are foreign citizens. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has struggled with the same problem. Some observers want consular affairs removed from the State Department and placed in the proposed Department of Homeland Security, but State officials have resisted the move.