WASHINGTON, 8 July 2003 — On Oct. 1, the US government will begin enforcing a new arbitrary law requiring visitors from 27 mostly-European nations to undergo strict new passport requirements.
The Washington-based Travel Industry of America, TIA, insists these countries are already “rapidly moving” toward this goal, and has launched a concerted effort to prevent these rules from further hurting an “already fragile international visitor market” as these tourists decide to forgo the hassle and vacation elsewhere.
According to TIA, the entire travel and tourism industry now faces several new, ill-advised State Department and Homeland Security rules and directives, which will require new complications for Visa Waiver Program travelers, more interviews for visa applicants, a barcode ID, and a proposed US VISIT program to track the entry and exit of all visitors.
These rules, says TIA, harms America’s ability to remain a viable international destination. “It now appears we’re punishing our allies by moving up the debate and making it impossible for them to meet the deadline,” said Dexter Koehl, manager of media relations at TIA.
“With them, visitors will have to go through the increasingly time-consuming visa application process as a security check,” said Koehl.
If left unchanged, says TIA, these measures will significantly impede inbound international travel that contributes $88 billion annually to the US economy.
TIA has asked its members throughout the US to contact their representatives in Congress and protest the following federal government’s plans for international visitors:
— Entry-Exit Control System (US VISIT): The US Department of Homeland Security is moving forward with a complex new system to collect and use biometric identifiers such as fingerprints for millions of visitors to the US by the end of the year. TIA says no technology or plan has been developed to implement this directive.
—Personal Interviews for Visa Applicants: A directive was issued to US embassies and consulates in May to interview personally nearly every applicant for a US visa, effective immediately. TIA says the State Department has admitted publicly that it doesn’t have the staff or resources in place and that this would seriously backlog the system,.
—Visa Waiver Program Machine Readable Passports: The US government is standing by an arbitrary Oct. 1, 2003 date when visitors from 27 nations must have passports with machine-readable bar codes.
