IndiaPost.com - Employment Third Preference Category stagnates

The Department of State (DOS) notes in the Visa Bulletin for March 2007 that little if any forward movement in the employment third preference category is expected in the near future. Recent discussions with both US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Labor indicate, the DOS said, that the demand for numbers with pre-August 2002 priority dates is likely to be extremely high in the coming months as both agencies continue to work on their backlogs.

This could easily cause a retrogression of the current employment third preference cut-off dates if that demand begins to materialize at USCIS offices during the spring and summer months. DHS Launches Traveler Redress Inquiry Program The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP), to enable travelers to seek redress and resolve watch list misidentification issues. DHS TRIP provides a way for travelers to address situations where they have been incorrectly delayed, denied boarding, identified for additional screening, or have otherwise experienced difficulties when seeking to enter the US.

The program also "facilitates redress information sharing" among the DHS's agencies and creates internal performance measures to monitor progress. DHS said that DHS TRIP enables travelers to outline their concerns in a single request via a secure Web site. The information received will be shared with appropriate DHS component agencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of State.

For more information on DHS TRIP or to use the system, see http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs/gc_1169676919316.shtm. CBP Establishes Traveler Complaint Web Site US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has launched a Web site for handling traveler complaints. CBP has four primary programs to address customer complaints and feedback: the Comment Card Program, the Customer Service Center, Passenger Service Representatives and a telephone/verbal complaint response system. An outline of the CBP's response programs and information on how to file a complaint is available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/customerservice/handle complaints.xml. Business Travel to US Down 10 Percent In the February 26, issue of Newsweek magazine, Fareed Zakaria noted that total international arrivals to the US declined 10 percent between 2000 and 2004 and that business travel to the US has declined by 10 percent in the last two years while other major capitals (London, Singapore, Dubai) are experiencing increases. Further, Zakaria said, although the US increased foreign student enrollment by 17 percent between 1999 and 2005, during the same period, enrollments have grown by 28 percent in Britain, 42 percent in Australia, 46 percent in Germany, and 81 percent in France.

The article blames the depression of the US travel market relative to other nations primarily on post-9/11 visa hassles, noting that Discover America polled 2,000 randomly selected international travelers this winter and asked them which location is the worst for visa problems and difficulties with immigration officials; the US topped the list.

The Saudi chapter of the Young Arab Leaders passed up a business forum held in New York last year, the Newsweek article reports, because they "refused to go through what has become an extremely demeaning process for visa applications," a conference organizer said. Attendees at the conference, the pro-business Arab and American Action Forum, were pulled out of line at John F Kennedy International Airport and made to stand for two to five hours, the article states, while security officials questioned them about whether they had used weapons and what they thought of the war in Iraq. "We seem to have lost the ability to think rationally about security," said homeland security expert Stephen Flynn.