|
|
Visa Denied:
How Anti-Arab Visa Policies
Destroy US Exports, Jobs and Higher Education |
| PDF
Download (2 MB) |
In the aftermath of 9/11 US visa
processing in the Arab world has ground to a halt.
US
consulates formerly striving to outsource key visa processes to
travel agencies before the terror attacks are now paralyzed and fearful.
Under funded and insufficient security review processes leave Arab
executives, prospective students, and vacation travelers in limbo for years
or looking for alternative destinations. Shabby treatment of those who
successfully run the visa gauntlet leaves many vowing never to return to the
US. How much has it cost? The damage assessment is now
in:
- Total US manufacturing jobs sustained
by Arab market demand reached 215,000 in the year 2005, but could
have been 420,000 with more effective and non-discriminatory US visa
policies.
- Arab business and tourist travelers
remained at half their 2001 levels, creating five year travel
related service losses of $1.775 billion and 4,126 potential service
jobs.
- In 2005 Arab student enrollment
in the US higher education system reached only 66% of the 2001 level.
The US higher education system lost $1.989 billion in revenue and 9,000
education and support service jobs.
The 200 page Visa Denied report
quantifies the damage done to US exporters, travel related service
industries and the higher education system. Visa Denied recommends
steps to correct and realign a severely degraded system to the true
opportunity cost of flawed and sometimes discriminatory policies.
Visa Denied traces a
path from freewheeling days of outsourced national security of the State
Department "Visa Express" system
exploited by 9/11 hijackers toward the secure, efficient, and color blind
visa policy American stakeholders expect and deserve.
Table of Contents and
Individual Chapters
|
Institute for Research Middle
Eastern Policy, Inc. (IRmep)