I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3039 

To promote job creation in the United States by directing the Secretary 

of State to address inefficiencies in the visa processing system that 

discourage overseas business and leisure travel to the United States, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011 

Mr. HECK (for himself, Mr. MACK, Mr. AMODEI, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. WILSON

of South Carolina, and Mr. POSEY) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To promote job creation in the United States by directing 

the Secretary of State to address inefficiencies in the 

visa processing system that discourage overseas business 

and leisure travel to the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Welcoming Business 

5 Travelers and Tourists to America Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) International travel to the United States 

4 generates more than $134 billion annually in exports 

5 and supports 1.8 million United States jobs. 

6 (2) Each overseas visitor spends an average of 

7 $4,000 at hotels, restaurants, and other United 

8 States businesses. 

9 (3) As an industry sector, travel and tourism 

10 creates one of the country’s only balance-of-trade 

11 surpluses, valued at $31.7 billion in 2010. 

12 (4) Global travel spending is expected to double 

13 over the next decade, reaching $2.1 trillion. 

14 (5) While world-wide long-haul international 

15 travel grew by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010, 

16 the United States market share of long-haul travel 

17 dropped from 17 percent in 2000 to 12 percent dur18 ing the same timeframe. 

19 (6) Over that decade, the United States lost the 

20 opportunity to welcome 78 million visitors and gen21 erate $606 billion in direct and downstream spend22 ing. 

23 (7) The volume of travel to the United States, 

24 as compared with other global destinations, is par25 ticularly uncompetitive from emerging markets with 

26 fast growing demand. 


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1 (8) Lagging overseas arrivals result in large 

2 part from a United States visa application process 

3 that is perceived by potential business and leisure 

4 travelers as inefficient, time consuming, and inacces5 sible. 

6 (9) The Government Accountability Office has 

7 reported that the Department of State’s efforts to 

8 address staffing, facilities, and other consular con9 straints are generally temporary, unsustainable, and 

10 insufficient to meet expected increases in demand 

11 for nonimmigrant visa applications. 

12 (10) Instituting new procedures to make the 

13 visa process more efficient without reducing security 

14 protocols and developing longer-term plans that ac15 curately meet increasing workload demand can sys16 temically address visa application backlogs and inef17 ficiencies. 

18 (11) By regaining 17 percent of the long-haul 

19 travel market in 2015 and sustaining it through 

20 2020, the United States can attract 98 million more 

21 visitors, create 1.3 million additional jobs, and gen22 erate $859 billion in United States economic output 

23 by 2020. 

24 (12) Increased international travel to the 

25 United States also achieves United States foreign 


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1 policy objectives by introducing foreign visitors the 

2 United States and to Americans, who are the United 

3 States best goodwill ambassadors. 

4 (13) The Department of State recently imple5 mented some reforms to accelerate visa application 

6 processing in China and Brazil, laying the founda7 tion to increase capacity, but still requires additional 

8 reforms to meet demand on a permanent, systemic 

9 basis. 

10 (14) Removing the self-imposed barriers in the 

11 visa application process that currently discourage in12 bound international travel to the United States 

13 would yield significant economic and public diplo14 macy benefits for the United States. 

15 SEC. 3. VISA PROCESSING. 

16 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec17 retary of State shall set a visa processing standard of 12 

18 or fewer calendar days at United States diplomatic and 

19 consular missions in China, Brazil, and India, and use ma20 chine readable nonimmigrant visa fees to hire a sufficient 

21 number of Foreign Service officers and limited non-career 

22 appointment consular officers to meet and maintain such 

23 standard throughout the year. 


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1 SEC. 4. VISA VIDEO-CONFERENCING. 

2 (a) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of State shall 

3 conduct a two-year pilot program for the processing of 

4 nonimmigrant visas using secure remote video-confer5 encing technology as a method for conducting visa inter6 views of applicants, and shall work with other Federal 

7 agencies that use such secure communications to help en8 sure security of the video-conferencing transmission and 

9 encryption. 

10 (b) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 90 days after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

12 shall initiate a rulemaking process to establish the pilot 

13 program described in subsection (a), criteria for participa14 tion in such program, and the fee for such program in 

15 accordance with subsection (d). 

16 (c) PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary of State shall 

17 ensure that the pilot program described in subsection (a) 

18 includes as many visa applicants as practicable by— 

19 (1) establishing a reasonable cost of enrollment; 

20 (2) providing such applicants with clear and 

21 consistent eligibility guidelines; and 

22 (3) making program enrollment convenient and 

23 easily accessible. 

24 (d) FEES.—The Secretary of State may impose a fee 

25 for the pilot program described in subsection (a). Such 

26 fee may not exceed the aggregate costs associated with 


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1 such program and shall be credited to the Department of 

2 State for purposes of carrying out such program. Amounts 

3 so credited shall remain available until expended. 

4 (e) REPORT.—Not later than one year after initiating 

5 the pilot program described in subsection (a) and again 

6 not later than 90 days after the conclusion of the two7 year period referred to in such subsection, the Secretary 

8 of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

9 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

10 Foreign Relations of the Senate a report on such pilot pro11 gram. Each such report shall assess the efficacy of using 

12 secure remote video-conferencing technology as a method 

13 for conducting visa interviews of applicants, including any 

14 effect such method may have on an interviewer’s ability 

15 to determine an applicant’s credibility and uncover fraud, 

16 and shall include recommendations on whether such pro17 gram should be continued, broadened, or modified. 

18 SEC. 5. DATA ON VISA INTERVIEW WAIT TIMES. 

19 The Secretary of State shall post on the Web site of 

20 the Department of State the following data relating to 

21 nonimmigrant visas for each United States diplomatic and 

22 consular mission: 

23 (1) The monthly median wait times measured 

24 in calendar days for the past 12 months for a non25 immigrant visa interview appointment. 


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1 (2) The monthly median wait times measured 

2 in calendar days for the past 12 months for a non3 immigrant visa to be processed. 

4 SEC. 6. VISA SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT. 

5 The Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee 

6 on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and 

7 the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a re8 port that includes the following: 

9 (1) An annual forecast of demand through 

10 2020 for nonimmigrant visas in the key high-growth 

11 markets of Brazil, China, and India. 

12 (2) A description of the methodology used to 

13 determine the annual demand forecasts in accord14 ance with paragraph (1) for nonimmigrant visas in 

15 Brazil, China, and India, including— 

16 (A) details on the internal and external 

17 studies utilized to prepare such forecasts; and 

18 (B) details on whether such methodology 

19 utilizes the Department of Commerce’s analysis 

20 of visitor arrival projections. 

21 (3) A comparison of the Department of State’s 

22 nonimmigrant visa demand projections and the De23 partment of Commerce’s yearly visitor arrival projec24 tions for Brazil, China, and India through 2020 and 

25 details on whether the Department of State’s workVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:28 Sep 28, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3039.IH H3039

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1 load projections for each such country align with the 

2 Department of Commerce’s yearly visitor arrival 

3 projections. 

4 (4) A description of the practices and proce5 dures currently used by each United States diplo6 matic and consular mission in Brazil, China, and 

7 India to manage nonimmigrant visa workload. 

8 (5) Information on short- and long-term plans 

9 developed to meet the forecasted demand for non10 immigrant visas through 2020 in Brazil, China, and 

11 India, including facility expansion needs. 

12 (6) The total number of limited non-career ap13 pointment (LNA) consular officers the Department 

14 of State would need to hire annually through 2020 

15 to maintain a 12 or fewer calendar day non16 immigrant visa processing standard in Brazil, China, 

17 and India, in accordance with section 3. 

18 (7) Information on the strategies the Depart19 ment of State will use to maximize existing consular 

20 and embassy space to accommodate the new LNA 

21 personnel referred to in paragraph (6). 

22 SEC. 7. VISA VALIDITY PERIOD. 

23 If the Secretary of State can demonstrate no adver24 sarial effects to the United States, the Secretary may 

25 modify or enter into agreements with certain countries on 


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1 a non-reciprocal basis to allow for longer visa validity peri2 ods than the periods with such countries that are in exist3 ence as of the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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