Stricter visa rules hit US exports

Companies in the United States are facing a considerable drop in export orders due to stringent visa rules that came into effect after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

As a result of these rules, business executives from countries like India, China, and Russia are being forced to wait for months to get visas to visit the country.

In some cases, the countries have decided to manufacture the items themselves, depriving the US of some exports permanently.

Chip Storie, director (sales) of Cincinnati Machines, an Ohio-based company that makes equipment used in aircraft manufacturing, told The Washington Times, "We have $5 million worth of equipment that we have been waiting to ship for over two months."

Storie said that a Chinese company that wants to buy the machinery wants to inspect it before it is shipped, but the company's executives have not yet been issued visas to visit the US.

According to the newspaper, the problem stems from the US government's efforts to guard against terrorists entering the country.

New measures stipulate that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency clear visas for foreign nationals involved in buying high-tech products.

The measures are affecting a number of companies, mainly in the technology industry, said Ed Rice, president of the Coalition for Employment Through Exports, a business group that represents several exporters.

The visa backlog reached 25,000 in September last year, said Rice. The average waiting time now is around four months compared to around one month prior to the new security measures.

Rice's group has been telling the Bush administration to reconsider the restrictions.

"It has affected a great many people, but our national security concerns have caused us to impose these new measures," said Stuart Patt, spokesman for the state department's bureau of consular affairs.

Overall, the department had 7.5 million visa applications in the last 12 months ending September 30, 2002, and refused 27.8 per cent of them.

"We do still want people to come to the US. We are not discouraging them from applying for visas, but we are going to screen as much as possible to make sure we are not issuing visas to people who should not get them," Patt said.

PTI