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The no-win visa
wars
By N Janardhan
DUBAI -
To protest tough new US immigration checks on nationals
from Muslim countries, Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi
sent over to US President George W Bush the prize he won
at the just-finished Chicago International Film
Festival, which he missed.
Ghobadi won a Gold
Plaque for his film Marooned in Iraq, cited for
its "idiosyncratic fusion of comic fairy tale and
searing reportage into a compelling human statement", at
the October 4-18 festival.
Ghobadi's failure to
get a visa is just one of several incidents that has
angered the Islamic world, the sort of incident that has
prompted countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) to announce that they would impose the
same measures against US visitors as are applied by the
US against Saudi and UAE nationals.
The new
mechanism - part of the US Patriot Act introduced last
month but effective from October 1 - mentions
immigration checks on only nationals from five
countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria and the Sudan. But
there is plenty to suggest that other Muslim countries
have been targeted as well. News reports from as far
away as Malaysia and Indonesia have told of students,
professionals, artistes being unable to go back in time
for classes or meet performance dates.
Stringent
rules - put in place by the US State Department after
the September 11 attacks - now require a three-month
background check on some of the applicants for visas,
particularly Muslims. This has created a logjam in the
approval process, both at the regional offices of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service and at US
consulates overseas, affecting artistes, students and
academics the most.
Under the new system, male
visitors from the Middle East aged between 16 and 45 are
required to appear for an interview at immigration
offices if they wish to stay in the United States for
more than 30 days. They are expected to inform the
authorities within 10 days of any change in their place
of residence, are required to undergo digital
fingerprinting and photographing, and provide
information on travel plans.
Starting September
11 of this year, the US embassy in Riyadh has also
stiffened procedures for issuing visas to Saudi
citizens, including students. It has abolished a system
by which Saudis could submit visa applications through
certain travel agencies. While men have been asked to
submit pictures without the traditional headgear, women,
normally veiled, have been asked to hand in photos
showing their faces. These have been criticized by Arabs
as discriminatory.
In response, Saudi Interior
Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz told the
London-based Al Hayat Arabic daily on Monday that his
government "is fighting bureaucracy with bureaucracy".
The proposed Saudi retaliatory measures include hiking
visa fees for US citizens, shortening the duration of
their visas and fingerprinting them. The US embassy
reacted by saying that the Saudi measures were in
"response to the introduction of the National Security
Entry and Exit Registration System".
Ghassan Al
Jashi, a political analyst with the UAE daily newspaper
Al Itihad, says that the Saudi reaction reflects its
increasing frustration with the United States after more
than a year of strained bilateral ties, during which it
has been established that 15 of the 19 plane hijack and
bombing suspects on September 11 last year were Saudis.
"There is a realignment of ground realities at
three levels: within the royal family, between the
rulers and the people, and between the two countries,"
said Jashi. "At one level, by imposing these tit-for-tat
measures, the conservatives are pushing their agenda
ahead of that favored by the moderates. At another, the
rulers are also attempting to placate the people by
suggesting that they are not completely at the mercy of
the Americans, thereby aiming to keep a check on the
growing anti-US sentiment in the region. Lastly, there
is a serious reassessment of the strengths and
weaknesses of the relationship between the two
countries, one that has largely been a marriage of
convenience."
In a move similar to the Saudis,
the UAE last week decided to revise a decision taken in
2001 that allowed visitors from 33 countries to obtain
visas upon arrival. These included its main economic
partners in Europe and the United States. The government
says it will now issue instant visas based purely on
"reciprocity". At a broader level, it is considering
introducing retaliatory curbs on visas for foreign
nationals.
Ahmed Kafafi, a researcher with Dar
Al Khaleej Publishers, said of the new US measures, "A
country that drew its people from all parts of the world
is now obstructing free movement. How can they view all
Muslims as militants or potential threats?"
The
US measures have reduced the number of Muslim tourists
venturing to the West, and students are looking for
alternative destinations to pursue higher studies.
According to the latest US Commerce Department figures,
Middle East trade with the United States has fallen some
20 to 26 percent during the last year.
Jordan's
universities have reported a dramatic increase in Saudi
Arabian students joining them in the last year. Among
non-academic institutions reporting an increase is the
Royal Jordanian Air Academy, which registered 80
students for a technical maintenance course this year,
majority of them from Persian Gulf countries.
"This is primarily due to the difficulties
people in the region, particularly Saudis, face getting
visas to study aviation in Europe or the United States
following the September 11 attacks," explained Mohammed
Khawaldeh, general manager of the Jordanian air academy
in The Jordan Times last week.
Kafafi suggests
that the United States would lose its identity as a
melting pot with its immigration measures, but also
finds the Saudi plan "a knee-jerk reaction and
irrational". "How many Americans actually go to Saudi
Arabia as tourists? Most of the US citizens visiting the
kingdom are those working in the oil industry, and the
Saudis can't do without them. The entire exercise, thus,
becomes cosmetic," he added.
(Inter Press
Service)
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