US Consulate celebrates issuing 25,000 visas in 2012

The US Consulate in Jeddah celebrated on Sunday the issuance of 25,000 visas since the beginning of 2012. US Consul General Anne Casper handed visa number 25,000 to Saudi businessman Hussam Al-Andejani.
“Today, I am welcoming Hussam Al-Andejani, a Saudi businessman who applied for a visa here yesterday. He will use his visa to attend meetings about franchising an American company, Engineering for Kids, that promotes studying engineering sciences through after-school programs for young people,” Casper said.
“We are excited and proud to meet the growing demand for visas to the United States. The growing number of applications for tourism, academic exchange, and business is evidence that we are making efforts to find areas of cooperation with our Saudi partners,” she added.
The visa statistics for fiscal year 2011 showed that 93.7 percent of Saudi visa applicants have been approved. Applicants for student visas numbered 26 percent of those, according to the statistics of the US consulate in Jeddah.
“Our staff includes both American officers and locally hired staff. We are proud that many of our local staff members have been providing excellent service here for decades. We currently have more consular officers and consular staff members working for the US consulate in Jeddah than ever before. We are looking forward to a remodeling of our section during the upcoming Eid Al-Adha vacation, allowing us to continue making improvements in our services to the Western Region,” said the consul for visas and American citizen services.