VISA DELAYS COSTING U.S. FIRMS BILLIONS
by Michael J. Gurfinkel, Esq.

Claiming that tighter border controls and visa delays have cost them more than $30 billion in less than two years, U.S. firms are seeking an immediate solution to the problems. The companies recommended streamlining the visa processing system to focus on the most serious security threats, and increasing resources of agencies involved in the visa review process.
 
According to the Los Angeles Times, a recent study by eight business groups showed that U.S. companies, both big and medium-sized, are concerned that the Bush Administration had tightened security too much in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, keeping out legitimate foreign business people, students and tourists. In addition, they said that the tight security policy is breeding resentment abroad just as U.S. firms were becoming increasingly global.
 
The study, which was based on responses from 141 companies in eight business groups, including giants Boeing Corp. and Microsoft Corp., estimated that visa processing problems cost the firms $30.7 billion in lost revenues and indirect expenses between July 2002 and March 2004.
 
The U.S. firms said they are having difficulty in obtaining visas for even longtime customers and employees. As a result, many of these firms are forced to open branch offices abroad, or to “outsource” (meaning sending U.S.-based jobs to other countries), particularly in China and India. This results in additional revenue losses to the U.S., because income taxes for these salaries will be paid elsewhere. In addition, jobs are kept out of reach of U.S. workers, adding to the increasing unemployment problem.
 
Many companies have also been forced to delay deliveries of airplanes and expensive machinery, or to postpone projects because of delays in visa processing and unusually tight security measures in the country’s ports and airports.
 
Twenty of the nation’s leading scientific and academic organizations had already complained that U.S. academic institutions could lose “not only millions of dollars in tuition and other revenue from foreign students, but also the brainpower that has helped keep the U.S. at the forefront of science and technology.”
 
The concerns of these U.S. companies have apparently reached Washington, as Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top officials have acknowledged that the country must act now to remove the growing worldwide perception that America has closed its doors to foreign visitors and business people.
 
While the State Department has added consular officers abroad and invested in new computer systems to hasten visa processing, the U.S. government has also increased the scrutiny of foreigners seeking to enter the U.S.
 
Obviously, the U.S. government must find a balance between protecting its borders and keeping business moving and growing. With the intense lobbying by U.S. business groups and academic institutions, we hope there will be a little easing of the government’s visa and entry policies in the near future for law-abiding visa applicants. In the meantime, it is best that foreigners intending to visit the United States be aware of the country’s tight visa and entry requirements, so as to avoid problems at the embassies and at ports of entries.

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