Press Releases
Visiting the United States through Open Doors
January 24, 2007
The United States is proud of its tradition of Open Doors and welcomes over sixty million tourists, researchers, business people and students to visit and study in America each year. Tourism alone brings in $600 billion dollars annually in the United States, just one indicator of the importance alone of these visitors. Equally significant is the opportunity for these visitors to tell others of their first hand experience of the United States: its natural beauty, its diverse society, and its democratic and inclusive values.
Tanzanians are traveling to America, and in the twelve months ending December 2006, the American Embassy issued over 2,600 visitor visas to Tanzanian citizens. In addition, over 620 Tanzanians obtained visas to study or participate in exchange programmes in the United States.
The Embassy strives continuously to improve service for its visa clients. For example, in the past four months the Consular Section of the Embassy has reduced the waiting time for an interview from four weeks to less than five days: The Section achieved this while demand for visas rose 25 per cent in the same period!
The Open Door policy involves tourists, students and immigrants. America’s character as an immigrant nation is as important today as ever. The United States has a strong, robust programme of legal immigration-- accepting over one million immigrants annually--more than any other country. There is a steady flow of Tanzanians taking up legal residence in the United States. In the last twelve months, almost 250 Tanzanian citizens received visas to move permanently to the United States.
The necessary balance to Open Doors is Secure Borders. The United States, like Tanzania and many other countries, knows from painful experience that some individuals attempt entry to reside illegally, conduct criminal activities, and mount violent, terrorist attacks. In response to the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the United States created a state-of-the-art, real-time name checking programme and a new computer-generated secure visa. This required a massive investment in computer and data systems. This programme has been strengthened by the collection of biometric data – fingerprint scans and facial recognition. These moves have significantly increased the security of the United States by stopping hundreds of criminals and terrorists from illegally entering the country.
These recent security practices add to the over fifty-year old legal standard for visa eligibility. A visa applicant of any nationality applying at any United States embassy or consulate is presumed an intending immigrant. The applicant must overcome this presumption by demonstrating strong ties (that may include a variety of economic, professional, family, social, cultural, and educational circumstances) to a residence outside the United States that will likely compel him or her to return.
Despite this relatively high standard of proof, millions of applicants around the world establish their eligibility for a visa every year. In the last twelve months in Tanzania, 80 per cent, that is four out of five Tanzanians applying for a tourist visa demonstrated their eligibility and received visas. Student applicants must also demonstrate a serious intent to study in addition to establishing ties to an overseas residence. Over 75 per cent of Tanzanian students successfully met this burden of proof and received visas.
Maintaining a Consular Section and performing all these security steps is costly. The U.S. Congress directed that these costs be borne by these seeking the benefits of a visa. For nearly fifteen years, applicants have been paying an application fee to cover these costs. These costs are incurred whether the applicant is ultimately issued a visa or not. For this reason, all Embassy and Department of State information on the visa process makes clear that this is a non-refundable fee.
International visitors remain very important to the United States. Despite very real security concerns, the United States proudly maintains its open door welcome to the world. And the Embassy is pleased to serve the thousands of Tanzanians joining millions around the world who enjoy this opportunity.