President Obama issued an executive order today aimed at improving visa and foreign visitor processing and travel promotion in order to create jobs and spur economic growth in the U.S. He will announce the order at a Disney World speech to promote tourism.
With the U.S. share of global tourism dropping from 17 percent to 11 percent over the past decade, streamlining the process for obtaining visitor visas could lead to a significant economic impact. The White House optimistically hopes that the new measures will help add 1.2 million new jobs and $859 billion to the U.S. economy by 2020.
While nationals of the 36 countries who are eligible for the Visa Waiver Program may travel to the U.S. for B-1 or B-2 purposes without having to obtain a visa, consulate wait times for visitor visas at other consulates can be lengthy and deters visitors from traveling to the U.S. The U.S. Travel Association estimates that these delays have cost the U.S. economy $606 billion and 467,000 jobs over the past decade.
To combat the problem, President Obama is ordering the creation of an interagency process for coordinating the implementation of regulatory improvements and the evaluation of legislative proposals to enhance and expedite travel to and arrival in the United States by foreign nationals. In other words, Obama wants the B-1/B-2 application process streamlined. The order includes the following lofty goals:
1. Increase nonimmigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent over the coming year;
2. Ensure that 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa applicants are interviewed within 3 weeks of receipt of application, recognizing that resource and security considerations and the need to ensure provision of consular services to U.S. citizens may dictate specific exceptions;
3. Increase efforts to expand the Visa Waiver Program and travel by nationals of Visa Waiver Program participants; and
4. Expand reciprocal recognition programs for expedited travel, such as the Global Entry program.
The order also creates a Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness. The task force is charged with developing a National Travel and Tourism Strategy with recommendations for new policies and initiatives to promote domestic and international travel opportunities throughout the United States with the goal of increasing the United States market share of worldwide travel, including obtaining a greater share of long-haul travel from Brazil, China, and India.
While this is clearly a step in the right direction, it will be interesting to see if the federal government can live up to the goals set forth in the executive order.
