M A I N   N E W S

USA may soon be out of bounds for Asians
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 5
If the sharp decline in the number of visas granted by the US Embassy in India after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack and the proposed legislation requiring Canadian landed immigrants from most Commonwealth countries, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Banglades, to get visas are any indication, the USA may virtually soon be out of bounds for Asians in general and Indians in particular.

According to figures available, the total number of non-immigrant visas (NIVs) issued by the US Embassy in India between October 1, 2001, and September 30, 2002, were 2,75, 099 against 3,29,179 issued in 2001 and 3, 27, 085 issued in 2000. The decline is more than 15 per cent. US officials in India admit that there has been nearly a 20 per cent fall in NIV applications.

It is not only NIVs but even the number of student visas granted this year has come down compared to last year. While 18,776 visas were issued this year, 21,100 were issued in 2001.

Further, reports also suggest that under the proposed regulations, any Commonwealth citizen who lives in Canada but who is not a Canadian citizen will need valid travel documents to enter the USA, according to a document prepared by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service.

The US plan is to remove an exemption that allowed the citizens of Commonwealth countries who are permanent Canadian residents to enter the USA without a visitor visa. There is no way to know exactly how many landed immigrants could be affected by the change, but based on immigration figures, it has to be in tens of thousands.

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are key source countries for immigrants to Canada. Indeed, last year alone, these three countries sent Canada nearly 50,000 landed immigrants — all of whom would be caught by the new US visitor visa policy. Malaysia is another Commonwealth country on the US visitor visa list.

Nationals from about 50 Commonwealth countries, including India, Pakistan, South Africa, Jamaica and Trinidad, living in Canada as landed immigrants will need both a passport and a visa to enter the USA for any reason. The amended legislation will, however, exempt citizens of the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore as their citizens would require valid passports only.

At present Canadian citizens and landed immigrants from Commonwealth nations do not require passports or other travel documents to cross the border. The new legislation is a part of the strengthening of security measures to prevent any further terrorist attacks after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Canadian officials, opposing the proposed legislation, argue that landed immigrants go through a rigorous screening process that includes criminal and security checks and takes at least a year to process. Canada would use quiet diplomacy to try to kill the proposal, says Mr Bill Graham, Foreign Affairs Minister. His Cabinet colleague, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre, went much further, slamming the US plan as a possible example of racial profiling he was so annoyed that he would use a trip to Washington next week to take up the matter with his US counterparts.

News of the US proposal, defended by the Americans as a security measure, comes only days after the Bush Administration backed down on a policy that had required Canadian citizens born in a handful of Arab and Muslim countries to be fingerprinted and photographed when entering the USA.