The Hindu : National : U.S. visa processing likely to go paperless in 2008

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Sunday, Oct 14, 2007
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U.S. visa processing likely to go paperless in 2008

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Don’t approach middlemen : consular official

U.S. Assistant Secretary Maura Harty

CHENNAI: The United States is likely to introduce a paperless visa processing service “sometime in 2008,” according to Maura Harty, Assistant Secretary of State of Consular Affairs, U.S. State Department.

“We have done the first step in the process right now…The next step probably sometime in 2008…We will get there [to issue paperless visas.] We are not there yet,” she told The Hindu here on Friday.

Ms. Harty stressed that one should not approach middlemen for a visa to the U.S. Simply because “you will not get one.” Her advice to visa applicants: “Check our website, apply early, and be prepared and truthful.”

More and more Indians are travelling to the U.S. Last year, the U.S. posts in India issued 5.71 lakh visas. “Our posts in India process over a hundred thousand temporary worker visas per year, more than any other country in the world,” she said.

“India sends more students to the U.S. than any other country. This year we have received over 50,000 student visa applications [from Indian students]. This is the highest number ever.”

Asked if she had heard the complaint that enough information was not made available to all applicants in a country the size of India, she said she had not come across such complaints. The U.S. Missions were reaching out to the various sections to make sure that information was made available as widely as possible, she said.

Asked if the new visa procedures led to greater detection of fraud, she said: “Our vigilance is unabated…We are eager to deter [the] illegitimate traveller.”

Asked if she pressed India to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, she said India had been looking at it for some time. She wanted India to take the next step. This was because 45 cases in which as many as 55 children (a few are siblings and hence the larger number of children than the cases) had been forcibly taken away from either of the parents from the U.S. were pending. The convention, among other things, insists that the child should be in his/her place of natural residence.

Ms. Harty’s office also handles issue of passports to U.S. citizens.

Asked about the problems she encountered in the U.S. over issuing passports, she said her department did act but did not have the resources to process all requests at the same time. “We did process 1.6 million passport applications in a month,” she said and added that she put all resources she had on the job.

“Even the Chennai and Delhi offices helped in this. Together they processed some 40,000 applications. I am very proud of them.”

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