Remarks of Maura Harty
Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs
Annual Conference of the Association of International Education Administrators
February 18, 2005

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today and have the opportunity to discuss with you the efforts of the Department of State, and specifically the Bureau of Consular Affairs, to maintain the openness of the United States to international visitors.  I know many of you attended the NAFSA Conference in Baltimore at which I spoke, and I thank you for the warm reception I received there.
 

A lot has changed over the last twelve months, and I am pleased to be able to brief you today on what I consider to be the great progress we have made in improving the service we provide to foreign student visa applicants, and therefore to you.  I would also like to thank you for your suggestions and support.
 

Let me start, however, with what has not changed.  That is our immutable commitment to supporting international educational exchange.
 

The men and women of the Department of State share with you a sincere appreciation of the importance of international education and exchange.  Many of us have had a personal experience in this regard.  We have studied overseas.  We have lived overseas.  Like many of you, we have grown in different ways under the tutelage of a talented professor from another country.  Perhaps the spark of interest in international affairs was ignited for some of us when our families hosted exchange students in middle school or high school.  All of us who serve overseas learn quickly that understanding and tolerance are fostered by common experience and that understanding flows both ways.  We appreciate the value of interacting with foreign leaders who are personally familiar with the United States, instead of having formed their views through information about the United States presented in a perhaps biased way by foreign media outlets.  In fact, like you, we strive to identify young people who should study in the United States so that their understanding of our nation is fostered at an early stage – even before we know just what their respective leadership roles in their own country might be.  And I believe all of us have a deep and abiding commitment to serving the national interests of our own country.  In the United States Foreign Service, the U.S. academic community has a staunch ally.

As academics at leading institutions, you will be familiar with the importance of context.  You can illustrate this point in virtually every field of academic study. 

The context for today’s U.S. visa policy is, quite simply, September 11, 2001.  Our nation changed irrevocably on that day when we lost so many of our own in the World Trade Center, in the skies above Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon.  We also lost citizens from more than 90 countries.  In the immediate aftermath, the U.S. Government moved quickly to address our nation’s border security needs and to make our nation safe and secure for American citizens and our foreign visitors. 

U.S. immigration policy must also be considered, however, in a broader context, as a reflection of our history, our values and our common ideals.  America is a nation of immigrants, and has always welcomed visitors from all over the globe.  We are a “nation of nations.”  Even before she took the oath of office, our new Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, confirmed her commitment to the abiding tradition of welcoming visitors to the United States.  She stated in her confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate,

It is our fundamental commitment to protecting both our nation and the openness of the United States that underpins our approach to border security and immigration.  Security must always be our first priority, but we work every day to see that access to our country is not impeded for those whose presence we encourage and value. 

I have spent my 23 years in the U.S. Foreign Service dedicated to precisely this conviction.  But it is not only the public servant in me that speaks in support for international student education and exchange.  It’s also the kid who grew up in the melting pot of New York City.  It’s the student who learned at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service the value of diverse views offered by students and faculty drawn from all over the world.  It is most definitely the American diplomat who has seen with her own eyes the light of understanding and recognition spread by personal interactions between Americans and citizens of other nations. 

The United States is preeminent in business, academia and scientific research.  We attract talented people from the far reaches of the globe.  If you read the “Chronicle of Higher Education” you might have run across an op-ed piece I wrote in which I maintain that the loss of even one qualified student is one too many.  It bears repeating.  A young person's positive experience in America strengthens and enriches our nation today and in the future. 

During the last three years of unprecedented change in visa practices, we have kept those students in mind.  We know our role in getting that student here – on time for the start of the school year – is critical.  At the State Department, I lead a team of people – some 7,800 strong at over 200 locations around the world – who are committed to turning the strength of our beliefs into the proof of our actions. 

Let me share with you a little bit of what I saw and experienced when I became Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs in November 2002.  The Department was under intense scrutiny from Congress, the public, the media and government watchdog agencies to make sure that we had in place as strong a shield as possible against those who would do us harm.  We were embarking on a comprehensive review of visa procedures and making dramatic, even revolutionary changes.  If I can quote from the 9/11 Commission’s Staff report entitled, September 11 and Terrorist Travel, we were, among other things, “retooling consular work for counterterrorism, supporting the development of U.S. and international biometric border and travel document standards, and enhancing the security of the U.S. passport system.”    

In forging the strongest shield possible, some of the changes we made resulted in processing delays, and the delays were particularly troublesome starting in the summer of 2002 and extending into 2003.  Unfortunately, as the saying goes, bad news travels around the world seven times before good news gets up and has breakfast.  It has never been an option for us to simply shrug our shoulders, cite border security and accept the status quo.  And my team has worked tirelessly to improve our processes and performance as we have all adapted to a changed world.  Some of you have been kind enough to share with me your questions and concerns.  I would like to address them in part by discussing some of the ways that we have worked to improve the transparency, efficiency and predictability of the visa process. 

We have made a concerted effort to undertake profound changes to increase our nation’s security while also trying to mitigate the impact of those changes on legitimate travelers.  We phased in biometric collection, starting at smaller posts so that, frankly, we could work the kinks out.  The biometric is an electronic scan of the applicant’s two index fingers that, coupled with a digitized photograph of the applicant, helps confirm the identity and absolutely matches the bearer of a visa with that document. 

We have added to the resources dedicated to processing visas, even in spite of a significant drop over the last two years in the number of visa applications we have received.  We have created more than 350 new consular positions since September 2001 and have already requested funding for an additional 121 consular officer positions during this budget cycle.  Some of you have expressed concern about waiting times for obtaining visa interviews at specific posts.  We review the waiting times assiduously and have developed rapid response mechanisms within our fiscal constraints to provide additional resources to Embassies or Consulates in need.

Increased staffing is only one way in which we have increased the predictability and efficiency of the visa process.  The overwhelming majority of students have access to an appointment for a visa interview within one week.  Almost all of the visa applications we receive – some 97 percent – are processed in one or two days.  We are demonstrating that we are capable of handling more and we would welcome the opportunity to do more.

We invested $1 million in automating outdated systems and continue to find ways to streamline the visa process by taking advantage of systems that already exist.  Many consular sections have utilized the Internet to develop online appointment systems and are encouraging applicants to use our online application forms.  We are currently developing a more sophisticated electronic application process that will allow applicants to submit biographic information so that we can begin our necessary screening before they even appear for an interview.  We are also exploring ways to make it more convenient for students to seek visa appointments at posts overseas before they even leave the U.S. to visit home. 

And although the introduction of biometrics into the visa process is an advance in border security, we are exploring ways to leverage this technology to actually facilitate travel.  Think of a biometric visa as a travel and identity credential that, because it is uniform and reliable, will help to speed repeat visa applications and a traveler’s passage through border inspection.

We pursue expanded reciprocity schedules with other nations in order to issue visas with a longer period of validity to visitors to the U.S. and to secure these benefits for American citizens traveling to other nations.  I am very pleased that we were recently able to negotiate an agreement with the Chinese government that lengthens the validity of visas for tourists and business travelers from six months to one year.  Of course we sought to expand the reciprocity schedule with the Chinese government for student visa applicants, but we hit a roadblock.  Our counterparts tell us it would require a change in their domestic law.  Nevertheless, we continue our dialogue on this issue.  Worldwide, we will continue to push for expanded visa validity where it makes sense and where our own citizens will be assured the same treatment. 

I know many of you have been concerned about visa applicants who require special clearances.  Two-and-a-half percent of visa applicants are subject to extra screening, some for national security reasons due to the applicant’s involvement in a sensitive scientific field.  These are what we refer to as VISAS MANTIS cases.  We have streamlined the screening process so even this small percentage of the overall number of applicants can expect an answer promptly. 

The results of our efforts make me proud.  A year ago, the average processing time was about 75 days for a MANTIS case, and I’m sure you heard stories about cases that took even longer than that.  Today, the average processing time for a MANTIS is less than 14 days.

In addition, the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security announced on February 11 that the validity period for VISAS MANTIS clearances has been extended to up to four years for students.  Clearances for other categories of visas were also extended.  This breakthrough means that, if a student receives a clearance, it remains valid as long as he or she remains in the program, up to a maximum of four years. 

Some of our other efforts are ongoing, but important in their own right.  We have made the processing of student and exchange visitor visas a priority at all of our overseas posts.  Our Embassies and Consulates have developed innovative ways to make sure student applicants obtain appointments in a timely way.  They have been very successful, using special appointment days or times, group appointments, dedicated interview windows and other initiatives, and by making sure that students are aware of them.
 
We believe that transparency is an important element of the visa application process, not only as a reflection of the essential fairness of the United States, but of our grounding in the rule of law.  Visa applicants have more information to plan their travel since we began posting current visa appointment wait times and processing times on our Internet website at:  www.travel.state.gov.  In fact, we overhauled the website to make it more user-friendly and to provide additional resource material.  Having more information about the process helps visa applicants be better prepared when they attend an interview.

I know that there is still a widely held perception that changes in visa processing that we and other agencies implemented discourage foreign students, exchange visitors, and business travelers from choosing to visit the United States.  This is a perception that we must work together to dispel. 

I am particularly concerned by reports that “America no longer welcomes foreign students” or that the criteria for issuing student visas has changed.    This is simply not true.  In fact, our own statistics comparing visa applications 2003 and 2004 show that the percentage of student visa applicants receiving visas has increased by almost 3 percent. 

We have taken steps to address the immediate challenges stemming from changes to U.S. visa policy, and to improve visa processing with the security imperative in mind.  The Bureau of Consular Affairs has also taken action in pursuit of our long-term goals:  building capacity to be able to accommodate increasing numbers of visa applicants, and encouraging a balance so that the “open doors” component of U.S. policy is as well-tended as its “secure borders.”  They are not mutually exclusive goals and welcoming legitimate students to our country is an investment in this nation’s future.

We have developed a veritable management textbook for consular officers worldwide using sound business practices and standard operating procedures – 81 as of this week – to encourage consistency in our consular operations all over the world.  Augmented training at all levels backs up these guidelines.  Our introductory consular training class has been expanded in terms of length and content and now includes a briefing on the importance of international education and exchange.  We have also developed “Consular Management Assistance Teams” that are essentially crack management consultants who travel to Embassies and Consulates to make sure regulations and guidelines are being implemented uniformly and that services are offered in a courteous, efficient manner.

More and more consular sections are appointing training coordinators and implementing orientation programs so that even the newest officers have the on site and continuing support they need.  I hope these efforts will go a long way toward eliminating the occasional anomalies in practice. 

In my capacity as Assistant Secretary I have the opportunity to speak to Foreign Service Officers at every stage in their careers, from entry-level officers who have yet to embark on their first tour of duty, to seasoned veterans including Ambassadors.  I take each opportunity to reinforce the importance this nation ascribes to legitimate travel to our shores. 

I also take the opportunity when we bring groups of officers and our locally engaged employees to Washington to impress upon them the importance of their role.  They are, after all, among the first representatives of the U.S. Government that many foreigners interact with overseas.  They are the “public face” of the Embassy.  Courtesy and respect toward others reflect not only on the U.S. Government but also on the United States.  I firmly believe that, although we may not be able to fulfill the wishes of every visa applicant, each one is entitled to a courteous, dignified experience and I am not shy about sharing my expectations with the officers in my charge.

I said earlier that the Bureau of Consular Affairs is committed to encouraging legitimate international students to study in the United States by providing transparent and predictable visa services.  It is in our own national interest to continue to encourage people to visit the United States.  The U.S. is preeminent in the field of higher education and gained that standing with the contributions of countless students and academics from all over the world.  Beyond the economic benefits, which are impressive, we as a nation gain so much from the people around the world who visit our country, study at our premiere colleges and universities, work in our dynamic business sector, and conduct research at the leading medical and scientific facilities in the world. 

Specific initiatives including the Bureau and members of the academic community range from the micro to the macro.  For example, the American Association of Community Colleges has included a letter I drafted with the information packets it sends out to prospective students.  I recently drafted a welcoming letter for a university in Washington, D.C. that includes the same message.  With input from the U.S. academic community, we have sent instructions to our consular officers abroad on the importance of community colleges and English language instruction as well as other institutions of higher education. 

On a broader scale, I have traveled to approximately 40 countries since I became the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs in November 2002, and have made a point of speaking with student groups as often as possible during those trips.  In fact, I’m leaving on Sunday for a trip to several Asian nations, including three of our diplomatic posts in China, and a key part of my visit to Beijing will be a speech at one if its preeminent universities.  I can assure you my message to these students will be that the United States continues to welcome them.

We encourage consular and public affairs officers at Embassies and Consulates to work with Education USA advising centers to conduct outreach to prospective students overseas.  Our Embassy and Consulates in Poland, for example, hold an annual conference with educational and exchange organizations from both the U.S. and Poland.  And in India and China – the two largest sources of foreign students in the U.S. – you need only to look at the websites of our missions to see how actively they are engaging their publics on this issue.

Is there more work to do?  Of course.  I look forward to your suggestions on how we can continue to attract international students to the premiere academic institutions in the United States and to convincing them that our welcome mat is still out. 

And now, although I’m afraid my time is limited, I will be happy to take a couple of your questions.