SATELLITE OFFICIALS CONCERNED ABOUT U.S. VISA POLICIES
Satellite officials are fearful of lengthy delays in obtaining visas may hurt future industry trade shows and may cause relations with some non-U.S. companies to break down, they said. “The visa situation with China certainly could have a long-term effect on cultural business and scientific relations between the U.S. and China,” satellite consultant Timothy Logue said: “I think it should be of concern of every organizer of space satellite or telecommunications conferences in this country which count on significant involvement of foreigners.” Logue has been working on problems on behalf of several clients who do business with foreign companies.
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Visa problems were cited when hundreds of foreign delegates weren’t able to attend World Space Congress (WSC) Oct. 14-18 in Houston, conference organizers said. Delegates from Russia, China, Algeria, Iraq and India were among those denied travel visas by U.S. State Dept. because of heightened security since Sept. 11 and delays in processing paperwork, WSC spokesman said. He estimated 200 members of Chinese delegation weren’t able to attend because of problems entering U.S., although some members of delegation were able to participate in absentia through submission of technical papers. WSC, which is held every 10 years, was sponsored by U.S. National Academy of Sciences, American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA), International Astronautical Federation (IAF).
Visa situation tarnished largest space trade show in world, which attracted 4,500 delegates, 6,000 students and 350 exhibitors, AIAA spokesman said. “Overall, the event was a resounding success,” he said, and getting visas “was the only problem. We're disappointed. Everyone realized it would be more difficult because of what happened last year [terrorist attacks]. The Russians, Chinese and Indians didn’t facilitate their visa applications in time.”
Many foreign delegates submitted applications around Sept. 4, but didn’t receive approvals in time for WSC. Some Chinese officials were told erroneously that it would take only 10 days to obtain approval for visas to enter U.S., satellite official said. Russians experienced similar problems, Moscow Aerospace Institute official said. He said some of Russians applied for visas in Aug. and still hadn’t received approvals in time to travel to U.S. for WSC.
AIAA made request to State Dept. and U.S. Embassy in Beijing to speed up processing of visa applications for WSC, AIAA spokesman said. He said WSC organizers knew getting visas might be troublesome for foreign delegates and had advised foreign them to submit applications in July or Aug. “The local organizers didn’t properly communicate what the problems would be,” said U.N. Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization Deputy Dir.-Gen. Marcio Barbosa: “We weren’t aware of the problems so we didn’t warn delegates.”
Visa reviews “are taking longer” than normal because of security precautions, State Dept. spokesman said. “We aren’t denying visas, but no one can say for sure when they will get an answer. It takes longer than 30 days. There are people being inconvenienced, but our national security is at stake.” Visa applications from China go through interagency security review in Washington in addition to review by local agencies, State Dept. spokesman said. “Since 9-11 our systems have been heavily taxed with security reviews all around the world and not just China.” He admitted delays had caused foreign visitors to “miss certain dates. It happens.”
Chinese delegation included 60-80 scientists and engineers who were scheduled to present technical papers. They were forced to miss conference despite having bought airline tickets and making hotel reservations, officials said. Chinese also were hurt because Chinese holiday Oct. 1- 10 closed U.S. Embassy. Problems presented sticky political problem for WSC organizers because at 2001 meeting in Beijing with Chinese space officials, organizers had promised there wouldn’t be problem with visas. Chinese asked for visa guarantee in exchange for participation.
WSC officials are confident problems will be worked out before next meeting in either 2010 or 2012. “This event usually takes 4-1/2 years to plan,” AIAA spokesman said. State Dept. spokesman also said system would be improved. “We are trying very hard to work out improved ways to conduct reviews to minimize the times conferences are missed, but it happened in this case.”