JEDDAH, 12 August 2003 — The new US non-immigrant visa application forms have been met with dismay in the Kingdom.
Section 38 of the application, which is a new addition, asks whether the applicant has been involved in past criminal activities, in particular prostitution. “Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any offense or crime, even though the subject of a pardon, amnesty or other similar legal action? Have you ever unlawfully distributed or sold controlled substances, or been a prostitute or procurer for prostitutes?” the section reads.
“I’m shocked,” said a Saudi woman, Nahid Omari, when told of the new security visa application question.
“What a weird and awful question. Imagine a husband filling out the application for his wife. The application is basically asking if his wife is or was a prostitute! What would he feel? This kind of question is totally unacceptable in our society. It is a possibility that they are doing all this to deter people from traveling to America,” she said.
On seeing the question, a Saudi husband, who asked not to be named, told Arab News: “This is ridiculous. Have they no respect? How dare they ask me if my wife or even I have ever been involved in prostitution? They need to realize that our society and our women are different from the women they have in America. What’s next, are they going to start questioning whether our children are really our own?”
Jim Wheeler, an American living in Jeddah, was more understanding. “I understand the question,” he said. “It is a possibility that because prostitution is so rampant in America they think it is the same in other countries. However, I know that the problem hasn’t reached the epic proportions here that it has achieved in the States.”
Last summer, the US State Department came under fire when it was disclosed that three of the 15 hijackers who obtained visas in Saudi Arabia received them under the “Visa Express” system, which allows people seeking visa to the US to obtain them without applying in person and use an agent instead.
The program was discontinued shortly afterward, and the State Department now says that more than 75 percent of applicants in Saudi Arabia are interviewed.
Also in September 2002, Saudi Arabia learned that the Justice Department had added Saudi Arabia to a list of terrorist-sponsoring countries subject to immigration restrictions
Attorney General John Ashcroft has authorized US immigration inspectors to begin fingerprinting, photographing and tracking Saudi nationals who enter the US on visas. The new Saudi screening targeted males between 16 and 45.
Alaa Ali Rashad, a manager at Zahid Travel, told Arab News that travel to the US has decreased by over 95 percent since the new restrictions have been in place. “I have heard people express the difficulties they have encountered during the visa application process, such as the length of time involved, and their interrogation on arrival in the US,” he said. “Also the fact that all Saudi visitors are fingerprinted and photographed like criminals is putting many people off. I know of one family who traveled to the US every year and spent over $100,000 on medical treatment and have now decided to go elsewhere.”
The British non-immigrant visa application only asks the question: “Do you have any criminal convictions in any country?” The Schengen European Visa application avoids questions of this nature altogether.
