NY Times: “European Union to Consider Requiring Visas for U.S. Travelers”

The days of visa free travel for Americans to the European Union may be over. While Americans take for granted the ease of traveling without a visa to many European countries—while, conversely, many Europeans travel to the US visa-free under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP)—the European Union is threatening to change the requirements if the US government does not agree to include additional European member states, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, and Romania, in the Visa Waiver Program. Although the deadline for the decision was this week, and has now been moved to this summer, the timing is not ideal, as the New York Times explains: 

The escalating dispute comes at a time when Washington is especially concerned about security, in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Europe and the presence of suspected terrorists in the flow of migrants to the Continent out of the Middle East. Should the commission decide to move toward imposing visa requirements, it could be a blow to trans-Atlantic relations just before a visit to Europe by President Obama and could complicate negotiations on other issues, including a proposed trade deal.

Security concerns, however, haven’t affected certain European officials who are pressuring Washington to include the additional countries in visa-free travel. “Over the past months, all sides have intensified their efforts in order to reach tangible and concrete progress,” Mina Andreeva, a spokeswoman for the commission, said in a statement. “Our goal is full reciprocal visa waiver with our strategic partners,” she said.

The Visa Waiver Program currently includes thirty-eight member countries, and the program enables eligible citizens of approved countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of ninety days or less without first obtaining a visa, as long as they apply and are approved under the ESTA program. Last year additional security measures were added to the Visa Waiver Program.

In Bulgaria, the economy minister, Bojidar Loukarsky, reportedly told local news media in 2014 that his country’s support for a trade pact with the US was contingent on visa-free travel to the US for his country’s citizens, while Marietje Schaake, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, disagreed, telling the New York Times: “No matter what happens with visas, this should not impact trade negotiations with the United States as immigration plays no formal part in those talks.”

Artur Habant, the spokesman for the Permanent Representation of Poland to the European Union in Brussels, said it’s a matter of fairness, as US citizens can travel to Poland visa-free. “Polish governments have been lobbying for a long time with the U.S. authorities, in Congress and in the administration, to eliminate this obstacle in traveling to the United States.” US officials, however, are concerned that countries such as Romania have not met the requirements to be included in the VWP. 

State Department Visa and Passport Systems Back Online

Following the technological issues they experienced over the last few weeks, the State Department reports that as of last Friday all visa-issuing US Embassies and Consulates abroad are now back online. They are scheduling visa interviews as well as issuing nonimmigrant and immigrant visas. While consular posts may be still experiencing problems with some online immigrant visa application forms, which are still being fixed, they have been working to clear the extensive backlog, which they state will be done this week (which is perhaps a bit optimistic).

What happened?
A biometric hardware error brought the entire system down on June 7, preventing US Embassies and Consulates around the world from processing and issuing hundreds of thousands of visa stamps. Consular posts receive approximately 50,000 visa applications a day, and thus the downtime severely backlogged the system and caused major delays for many international travelers.

Who was able to obtain visas?
During the outage, with limited systems functionality, the State Department promised to prioritize visas for humanitarian reasons and also for foreign agricultural workers as part of the government's H-2A visa program. It was this latter group of workers that farmers especially needed as the summer harvest began. North Carolina, the top employer of seasonal workers under the H-2A visa program, was facing severe worker shortages and loss of revenue given the extensive delays in issuing visas.

"It's a crisis," Jason Resnick, general counsel for the Western Growers Association, said to the Wall Street Journal about the workers not being issued the visas. Crops affected by the shortage of foreign workers include berries, cherries, peaches, corn, vegetables, and tobacco. The Wall Street Journal reports:

In most cases the stranded workers’ motel bills in Mexico are being paid by the farmers or the U.S. agents who contracted them, according to the visa program’s requirements. Agents said some stranded workers, who typically travel to the border from far flung villages, are being approached by people-smugglers offering to spirit them over the border at a price. Coming at the start of the busiest season, 'it’s a desperate situation for growers,' said Libby Whitley, president of MAS Labor, a Virginia-based agency that sources 10,000 seasonal workers each year for U.S. agriculture. 'They have to get the stuff off trees and fields or you don’t have it anymore,' she said.

With delays costing farmers in California an estimated $500,000 to $1 million per day, the State Department reports that more than 3,750 temporary seasonal workers have been issued new visas in Mexico since last week, and they are stating that all pending H-2 visas that were delayed have been issued this week.  

Who didn't get visas?
The systems outage caused major problems for many international travelers and performers to the US. Dutch theatre troupe Dood Paard had to cancel its Botox Angels production, set to run over Pride weekend in New York City, after they were unable to secure visas for its cast. International students were unable to attend the US National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia, a prestigious month-long educational program for high-school graduates from around the world.

As for the sporting world, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) had to cancel several high-profile fights scheduled for the UFC Fight Night event in Hollywood since twelve foreign fighters were unable to obtain visas. Players and staff with the Bayern Munich football club, which had planned a visit to the US to “crack the American market,” were unable to obtain visas and had to cancel their trip. Matthias Sammer, director of sport at Bayern Munich, called it a "shame" and said he hoped they could make it later.

Musicians were hit especially hard. Nigerian jazz singer-songwriter King Sunny Ade had to cancel his entire US tour due to the visa problem, and Chinese concert pianist Fei-Fei Dong also had to cancel performances. Peruvian electronic psychedelic band Dengue Dengue Dengue! were also not able to get visas in time, Australian pop band the Veronicas had to cancel their US tour, and Japanese heavy metal band Crossfaith had to cancel part of theirs. India's Barmer Boys, Sufi folk musicians from Rajasthan, India, also had to cancel their US tour. Even diplomats who needed to visit the UN headquarters and financial institutions in New York for "urgent negotiations" also faced visa delays because of the system outage.

Now that the systems are back up, we are hopeful the State Department and consular posts will work through the backlog and start issuing those visas. Because, on behalf of concertgoers across this great land, we don't want to miss anymore great international performances. And we definitely don't want a repeat from last year when Harry Potter was unable to enter the US because of a (different) systems glitch!

AP: “U.S. passport and visa database crashes due to an 'unspecified glitch' leaving millions of travelers stranded”

The Associated Press is reporting that the Department of State’s database for issuing US passports, visas, and other travel and identity documents has crashed. There is no indication yet of the cause of the crash, but travelers and others abroad applying for these documents are warned of “major delays.” According to the AP, “potentially millions” of US citizens and international travelers in need of visas are affected by the problem, which “is worldwide and not specific to any particular country, citizenship document, or visa category.” The State Department’s Consular Consolidated Database is used to verify that background checks on applicants are conducted and to print the visas and other documents.

SECOND UPDATE 7/31/14: The main travel page of the State Department’s website is providing daily updates as they work towards a resolution.  They have added a FAQ page which provides more extensive information on the problem and the steps they are taking to process visa applications faster. They’ve also announced that during this period, priority is being given to immigrant visa processing. As for nonimmigrant visa processing (i.e., the processing of temporary work and travel visas), the site states: “Some Embassies and Consulates may temporarily limit or reschedule nonimmigrant visa interview appointments until more system resources become available to process these new applications.” Therefore, applicants for nonimmigrant visas are encouraged to give themselves plenty of time to process their visa stamps, and to expect significant delays until the visa system is back up and running at full capacity.   The Wall Street Journal has detailed some of  the difficulties these technical problems have caused.

Immigration Apps

Thirty years ago cells phones were the size of footballs and were limited to making and receiving phone calls. Now we can order dinner, email a coworker, and play Words With Friends with a cousin who lives across the country. The variety and sophistication of apps continues to multiply daily, and that includes apps related to US immigration law. We downloaded and tested some of these apps, and while nothing can replace the value of seeking professional legal advice from an attorney, these may be helpful tools to help with the US immigration process.

Pocket DACA (free) on iTunes and Google Play – On June 15, 2012, President Obama signed a memo outlining consideration for deferred action for certain undocumented foreign nationals called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). One great app we found is Pocket DACA. The app’s main function is to walk the user through the process of figuring out if he/she is eligible to apply for DACA. As users go through the requirements, the app either allows users to continue or stops and explains why the user is not eligible. It also asks follow-up questions depending upon the answers given. If the user makes it to the end of the brief set of questions, the user may enter his/her zip code and find local legal assistance. The app also features a helpful FAQ tab, which tells the user what forms to use, how much it costs to apply for DACA, and other pertinent information. The app also does a great job at updating its DACA news tab. Overall, this is a helpful app for users to find out if they are eligible for DACA.

CitizenshipWorks (free) on iTunes and Google Play – This is one of the most comprehensive immigration mobile apps we found and it is available in both English and Spanish. With this app, the user can determine eligibility for naturalization, learn about the process of naturalizing, find legal assistance, and study for the requisite citizenship test. Additionally, while there are dozens of citizenship tests available in the iPhone app store (ranging from free to $4.99), CitizenshipWorks has perhaps one of the best practice tests we found. Most other apps are set up as a multiple-choice test, which is not how the exam is actually given. CitizenshipWorks’ quiz is set up as a Q&A, best played with a friend. Indeed, the exam is giving orally and this will help the user practice speaking the answers out loud. In short, this app is helpful, easy to navigate, and practical.

USCIS Helper (free) on iTunes – The user plugs in his/her receipt number, and the app will give the case status from the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) website. This app is not affiliated with USCIS, so there is a disclaimer that the app does not guarantee the accuracy of the information. We did, however, check a case to test the app and the information was current and accurate. One drawback is that while the user can store multiple case numbers, there is no place to set an alert for the case number entered. Instead, the user will have to go into the app and check it manually instead of receiving an alert when the status of the case has changed; however, this developer, Spinach Mobile LLC, does have an app available for Android devices and on Google Play called USCIS Case Status Notifier that does just this. This feature on the iPhone could greatly improve the app.

Best Time to Cross the Border (free) on iTunes and Google Play – The app, created by students at the University of California – San Diego, focuses on Mexican and Canadian border wait times. It provides information about entering the United States (not exiting) via foot or car from these countries. On this app, users can not only check current wait times, but can also search the best time to cross according to the average over the previous three months. It also breaks down the wait times according to passenger, commercial, and pedestrian lanes. It should be noted, however, that a quick search through the app’s reviews note several instances when the app was inaccurate.

VisaProcs ($1.99) on iTunes – Like USCIS Helper, VisaProcs is a helpful and practical immigration app. The app provides current visa bulletin dates and visa processing times for various service centers, and while it is not officially affiliated with USCIS, when we checked information against USCIS.gov, it was correct. As with USCIS Helper, while these apps can be a convenient source of information, it is always safest to double-check on USCIS.gov (for free!) for the most current and accurate information.  

While we did find some helpful immigration-related apps here, we’re looking forward to a time when USCIS, Customs, and US Embassies/Consulates worldwide use smartphone apps in new and inventive ways to help navigate the immigration process. In the meantime, they are active on YouTube.