SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) International travel to the United States 
generates more than $134 billion annually in exports 
and supports 1.8 million United States jobs. 
(2) Each overseas visitor spends an average of 
$4,000 at hotels, restaurants, and other United 
States businesses. 
(3) As an industry sector, travel and tourism 
creates one of the country’s only balance-of-trade 
surpluses, valued at $31.7 billion in 2010. 
(4) Global travel spending is expected to double 
over the next decade, reaching $2.1 trillion. 
(5) While world-wide long-haul international 
travel grew by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010, 
the United States market share of long-haul travel 
dropped from 17 percent in 2000 to 12 percent dur-
ing the same timeframe. 
(6) Over that decade, the United States lost the 
opportunity to welcome 78 million visitors and gen-
erate $606 billion in direct and downstream spend-
ing. 
(7) The volume of travel to the United States, 
as compared with other global destinations, is par-
ticularly uncompetitive from emerging markets with 
fast growing demand. 
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(8) Lagging overseas arrivals result in large 
part from a United States visa application process 
that is perceived by potential business and leisure 
travelers as inefficient, time consuming, and inacces-
sible. 
(9) The Government Accountability Office has 
reported that the Department of State’s efforts to 
address staffing, facilities, and other consular con-
straints are generally temporary, unsustainable, and 
insufficient to meet expected increases in demand 
for nonimmigrant visa applications. 
(10) Instituting new procedures to make the 
visa process more efficient without reducing security 
protocols and developing longer-term plans that ac-
curately meet increasing workload demand can sys-
temically address visa application backlogs and inef-
ficiencies. 
(11) By regaining 17 percent of the long-haul 
travel market in 2015 and sustaining it through 
2020, the United States can attract 98 million more 
visitors, create 1.3 million additional jobs, and gen-
erate $859 billion in United States economic output 
by 2020. 
(12) Increased international travel to the 
United States also achieves United States foreign 
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policy objectives by introducing foreign visitors the 
United States and to Americans, who are the United 
States best goodwill ambassadors. 
(13) The Department of State recently imple-
mented some reforms to accelerate visa application 
processing in China and Brazil, laying the founda-
tion to increase capacity, but still requires additional 
reforms to meet demand on a permanent, systemic 
basis. 
(14) Removing the self-imposed barriers in the 
visa application process that currently discourage in-
bound international travel to the United States 
would yield significant economic and public diplo-
macy benefits for the United States. 
SEC. 3. VISA PROCESSING. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec-
retary of State shall set a visa processing standard of 12 
or fewer calendar days at United States diplomatic and 
consular missions in China, Brazil, and India, and use ma-
chine readable nonimmigrant visa fees to hire a sufficient 
number of Foreign Service officers and limited non-career 
appointment consular officers to meet and maintain such 
standard throughout the year. 
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SEC. 4. VISA VIDEO-CONFERENCING. 
(a) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of State shall 
conduct a two-year pilot program for the processing of 
nonimmigrant visas using secure remote video-confer-
encing technology as a method for conducting visa inter-
views of applicants, and shall work with other Federal 
agencies that use such secure communications to help en-
sure security of the video-conferencing transmission and 
encryption. 
(b) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 
shall initiate a rulemaking process to establish the pilot 
program described in subsection (a), criteria for participa-
tion in such program, and the fee for such program in 
accordance with subsection (d). 
(c) PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary of State shall 
ensure that the pilot program described in subsection (a) 
includes as many visa applicants as practicable by— 
(1) establishing a reasonable cost of enrollment; 
(2) providing such applicants with clear and 
consistent eligibility guidelines; and 
(3) making program enrollment convenient and 
easily accessible. 
(d) FEES.—The Secretary of State may impose a fee 
for the pilot program described in subsection (a). Such 
fee may not exceed the aggregate costs associated with 
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such program and shall be credited to the Department of 
State for purposes of carrying out such program. Amounts 
so credited shall remain available until expended. 
(e) REPORT.—Not later than one year after initiating 
the pilot program described in subsection (a) and again 
not later than 90 days after the conclusion of the two- 
year period referred to in such subsection, the Secretary 
of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate a report on such pilot pro-
gram. Each such report shall assess the efficacy of using 
secure remote video-conferencing technology as a method 
for conducting visa interviews of applicants, including any 
effect such method may have on an interviewer’s ability 
to determine an applicant’s credibility and uncover fraud, 
and shall include recommendations on whether such pro-
gram should be continued, broadened, or modified. 
SEC. 5. DATA ON VISA INTERVIEW WAIT TIMES. 
The Secretary of State shall post on the Web site of 
the Department of State the following data relating to 
nonimmigrant visas for each United States diplomatic and 
consular mission: 
(1) The monthly median wait times measured 
in calendar days for the past 12 months for a non-
immigrant visa interview appointment. 
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(2) The monthly median wait times measured 
in calendar days for the past 12 months for a non-
immigrant visa to be processed. 
SEC. 6. VISA SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT. 
The Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a re-
port that includes the following: 
(1) An annual forecast of demand through 
2020 for nonimmigrant visas in the key high-growth 
markets of Brazil, China, and India. 
(2) A description of the methodology used to 
determine the annual demand forecasts in accord-
ance with paragraph (1) for nonimmigrant visas in 
Brazil, China, and India, including— 
(A) details on the internal and external 
studies utilized to prepare such forecasts; and 
(B) details on whether such methodology 
utilizes the Department of Commerce’s analysis 
of visitor arrival projections. 
(3) A comparison of the Department of State’s 
nonimmigrant visa demand projections and the De-
partment of Commerce’s yearly visitor arrival projec-
tions for Brazil, China, and India through 2020 and 
details on whether the Department of State’s work-
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load projections for each such country align with the 
Department of Commerce’s yearly visitor arrival 
projections. 
(4) A description of the practices and proce-
dures currently used by each United States diplo-
matic and consular mission in Brazil, China, and 
India to manage nonimmigrant visa workload. 
(5) Information on short- and long-term plans 
developed to meet the forecasted demand for non-
immigrant visas through 2020 in Brazil, China, and 
India, including facility expansion needs. 
(6) The total number of limited non-career ap-
pointment (LNA) consular officers the Department 
of State would need to hire annually through 2020 
to maintain a 12 or fewer calendar day non-
immigrant visa processing standard in Brazil, China, 
and India, in accordance with section 3. 
(7) Information on the strategies the Depart-
ment of State will use to maximize existing consular 
and embassy space to accommodate the new LNA 
personnel referred to in paragraph (6). 
SEC. 7. VISA VALIDITY PERIOD. 
If the Secretary of State can demonstrate no adver-
sarial effects to the United States, the Secretary may 
modify or enter into agreements with certain countries on 
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a non-reciprocal basis to allow for longer visa validity peri-
ods than the periods with such countries that are in exist-
ence as of the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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