Border Security: Improvements Needed to Reduce Time Taken to Adjudicate Visas for Science Students and Scholars
Published: 2004-02-25T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: Each year thousands of international science students and scholars apply for visas to enter the United States to participate in education and exchange programs. They offer our country diversity and intellectual knowledge and are an economic resource. At the same time, the United States has important national security interests in screening these individuals when they apply for a visa. At a House Committee on Science hearing in March 2003, witnesses raised concern about the length of time it takes for science students and scholars to obtain a visa and about losing top international students to other countries due to visa delays. GAO reviewed 1) how long it takes a science student or scholar from another country to obtain a visa and the factors contributing to the length of time, and 2) what measures are under way to improve the process and decrease the number of pending cases.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: State Department (State) cannot readily identify the time it takes for a science student or scholar to obtain a visa. State has not set specific criteria or time frames for how long the visa process should take, but its goal is to adjudicate visas as quickly as possible, consistent with immigration laws and homeland security objectives. GAO found that the time it takes to adjudicate a visa depends largely on whether an applicant must undergo an interagency security check known as Visas Mantis, which is designed to protect against sensitive technology transfers. Based on a random sample of Visas Mantis cases for science students and scholars sent from posts between April and June 2003, GAO found it took an average of 67 days for the security check to be processed and for State to notify the post. In addition, GAO's visits to posts in China, India, and Russia in September 2003 showed that many Visas Mantis cases had been pending 60 days or more. GAO also found that the way in which Visas Mantis information was disseminated at headquarters level made it difficult to resolve some of these cases expeditiously. Furthermore, consular staff at posts GAO visited said they were unsure whether they were contributing to lengthy waits because they lacked clear guidance on when to apply Visas Mantis checks and did not receive feedback on whether they were providing enough information in their Visas Mantis requests. Another factor that may affect the time taken to adjudicate visas for science students and scholars is the wait for an interview. While State and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials acknowledged there have been lengthy waits for visas, they report having measures under way that they believe will improve the process and that they are collaborating to identify and resolve outstanding Visas Mantis cases. In addition, State officials told GAO they have invested about $1 million to upgrade the technology for sending Visas Mantis requests. According to State officials, the new system will help to reduce the time it takes to process Visas Mantis cases.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: I am pleased to be here to discuss the report we are issuing today on the  need for improvements to the visa process to reduce the time it takes to  adjudicate visas for science students and scholars. Citizens of other  countries seeking to enter the United States temporarily for study,  exchanges, business, tourism, and other reasons generally must apply for  and obtain a U.S. travel document, called a nonimmigrant visa, at U.S.  embassies or consulates abroad before arriving at U.S. ports of entry.  Since September 11, 2001, visa operations have played an increasingly  important role in ensuring our country’s national security. In deciding who  should and should not receive a visa, consular officers must balance the  need to facilitate legitimate travel with the need to protect the United  States against persons whose entry could be harmful to U.S. national  interests. For example, consular officers need to delicately balance U.S.  national security interests with other interests such as promoting U.S.  education and cultural exchanges, business, tourism, and the overall  health of our economy. As part of the visa application process, many  applicants with a science background, including students and scholars,  must undergo an interagency security check, known as Visas Mantis,  before being issued or denied a visa. A Visas Mantis check is required by  the State Department (State), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),  and other interested Washington agencies when there are potential  concerns that the visa applicant may engage in the illegal transfer of  sensitive technology, which could undermine U. S. national security.
At a hearing held by the House Committee on Science on March 26, 2003,  witnesses raised concern about the length of time it takes for science  students and scholars to obtain a visa and about losing top international  students to other countries due to visa delays. You asked us to review 1)  how long it takes a science student or scholar from another country to  obtain a visa and the factors contributing to the length of time, and 2) what  measures are under way to improve the process and decrease the number  of pending cases.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: Visa applicants, including science students and scholars, generally begin  the visa process by scheduling an interview at a consular post. On the day  of the appointment, a consular officer reviews the application, interviews  the applicant, and checks the applicant’s name in the Consular Lookout  and Support System (CLASS). The consular officer then decides if the  applicant will need a Security Advisory Opinion, which provides an  opinion or clearance from Washington on whether to issue a visa to the  applicant and may include a Visas Mantis check. In deciding if a Visas  Mantis check is needed, the consular officer determines whether the  applicant’s background or proposed activity in the United States could  involve exposure to technologies on the Technology Alert List, which lists  science and technology-related fields where, if knowledge gained from  work in these fields were used against the United States, it could be  potentially harmful.
After a consular officer decides that a Visas Mantis security check is  necessary for an applicant, several steps are taken to resolve the process.  The consular officer prepares a Visas Mantis cable, which contains  information on the applicant, and then transmits the information to  Washington for an interagency security check. The State Department’s  Bureau of Nonproliferation, the FBI, and other agencies review the  information contained in the cable and then provide a response on the  applicant to the Consular Affairs section of State headquarters. The  Bureau of Nonproliferation and other agencies are given 15 working days  to respond to State with any objections. However, State has agreed to wait  for a response from the FBI before proceeding with each Visas Mantis  case.
Once State headquarters receives all the information pertaining to an  applicant, Consular Affairs summarizes the information and transmits a  response to the consular post. A consular official at post reviews the  response and decides, based on the information from Washington,  whether to issue the visa to the applicant.
section_title: Security Check Is Major Contributing Factor to Length of Time It Takes to Adjudicate Visas
paragraphs: State cannot readily identify the total length of time it takes for a science  student or scholar to obtain a visa. However, in discussions with State  officials, we learned that a key factor that contributes to the length of time  is whether an applicant must undergo a Visas Mantis.
To obtain visa data on science students and scholars, and to determine  how long the visa process takes, we reviewed all Visas Mantis cables  received from posts between April and June 2003, which totaled  approximately 5,000. Of these cases, 2,888 pertained to science students  and scholars, of which approximately 58 percent were sent from China,  about 20 percent from Russia, and less than 2 percent from India.
We drew a random sample of 71 cases from the 2,888 science student and  scholar visa applications to measure the length of time taken at various  points in the visa process. The sample of 71 cases is a probability sample,  and results from the data in this sample project to the universe of the 2,888  science visa applications. We found that visas for science students and  scholars took on average 67 days from the date the Visas Mantis cable was  submitted from post to the date State sent a response to the post. This is  slightly longer than 2 months per application, on average. In the sample, 67  of the visa applications completed processing and approval by December  3, 2003. In addition, 3 of the 67 completed applications had processing  times in excess of 180 days. Four of the cases in our sample of 71  remained pending as of December 3, 2003. Of the 4 cases pending, 3 had  been pending for more than 150 days and 1 for more than 240 days.
In addition to our sample of 71 cases, State provided us with data on two  samples it had taken of Visas Mantis case processing times. Data on the  first sample included 40 visa cases taken from August to October 2003;  data on the second sample included 50 Visas Mantis cases taken from  November and December 2003. State indicated that both samples show  improvements in processing times compared with earlier periods in 2003.  However, based on the documentation of how these cases were selected,  we were unable to determine whether these were scientifically valid  samples and therefore we could not validate that processing times have  improved. For the first sample, the data show that 58 percent of the cases  were completed within 30 days; for the second sample, the data show that  52 percent were completed within this time frame. In addition, the data for  both samples show that lengthy waits remain in some cases. For example,  9 of the 40 cases had been outstanding for more than 60 days as of  December 3, 2003, including 3 cases that had been pending for more than  120 days. Also, 9 of the 50 cases were still pending as of February 13, 2004,  including 6 that had been outstanding for more than 60 days. State officials  commented that most of the outstanding cases from both samples were  still being reviewed by the agencies.
During our fieldwork at posts in China, India, and Russia in September  2003, we also obtained data indicating that 410 Visas Mantis cases  submitted in fiscal year 2003 were still outstanding more than 60 days at  the end of the fiscal year. In addition, we found numerous cases— involving 27 students and scholars from Shanghai—that were pending  more than 120 days as of October 16, 2003.
subsections: section_title: Several Factors Contribute to the Length of Time It Takes to Resolve Visas Mantis Cases
paragraphs: We found that several factors, including interoperability problems among  the systems that State and FBI use, contribute to the time it takes to  process a Visas Mantis case. Because many different agencies, bureaus,  posts, and field offices are involved in processing Visas Mantis security  checks, and each has different databases and systems, we found that Visas  Mantis cases can get delayed or lost at different points in the process. We  found that in fiscal year 2003, some Visas Mantis cases did not always  reach their intended recipient and as a result, some of the security checks  were delayed. For example, we followed up with the FBI on 14  outstanding cases from some of the posts we visited in China in September  2003 to see if it had received and processed the cases. FBI officials  provided information indicating that they had no record of receiving three  of the cases, they had responded to State on eight cases, and they were  still reviewing three cases. FBI officials stated that the most likely reason  why they did not have a record of the three cases from State were due to  cable formatting errors. State did not comment on the status of the 14  cases we provided to the FBI for review. However, a Consular Affairs  official told us that in fall 2003, there were about 700 Visas Mantis cases  sent from Beijing that did not reach the FBI for the security check. The  official did not know how the cases got lost but told us that it took  Consular Affairs about a month to identify this problem and provide the  FBI with the cases. As a result, several hundred visa applications were  delayed for another month.
Figure 1 illustrates some of the time-consuming factors in the Visas Mantis  process for our sample of 71 cases. While the FBI received most of the  cases from State within a day, seven cases took a month or more, most  likely because they had been improperly formatted and thus were rejected  by the FBI’s system. In more than half of the cases, the FBI was able to  complete the clearance process the same day, but some cases took more  than 100 days. These cases may have taken longer because (1) the FBI had  to investigate the case or request additional information from State; (2) the  FBI had to locate files in field offices, because not all of its files are an  electronic format; or (3) the case was a duplicate, which the FBI’s name  check system also rejects. In most of the cases, the FBI was able to send a  response—which it generally does in batches of name checks, not by  individual case—to State within a week. The FBI provides the results of  name checks for Visas Mantis cases to State on computer compact disks  (CDs), a step that could cause delays. In December 2003, a FBI official told  us that these CDs were provided to State twice a week. However, in the  past, the CDs were provided to State on a less frequent basis. In addition,  it takes time for data to be entered in State’s systems once State receives  the information. In the majority of our sample cases, it took State 2 weeks  or longer to inform a post that it could issue a visa. State officials were  unable to explain why it took State this long to respond to post. Officials  told us that the time frame could be due to a lack of resources at  headquarters or because State was waiting for a response from agencies  other than the FBI. However, the data show that only 5 of the 71 cases  were pending information from agencies other than the FBI.
section_title: Post Officials Seek Clearer Guidance and More Feedback
paragraphs: During our visits to posts in September 2003, officials told us they were  unsure whether they were adding to the wait time because they did not  have clear guidance on when to apply the Visas Mantis process and were  not receiving feedback on the amount of information they provided in  their Visas Mantis requests. According to the officials, additional  information and feedback from Washington agencies regarding these  issues could help expedite Visas Mantis cases. Consular officers told us  that they would like the guidance to be simplified—for example, by  expressing some scientific terms in more easily understood language.  Several consular officers also told us they had only a limited  understanding of the Visas Mantis process, including how long the process  takes. They told us they would like to have better information on how long  a Visas Mantis check is taking so that they can more accurately inform the  applicant of the expected wait.
Consular officers at most of the posts we visited told us they would like  more feedback from State on whether the Visas Mantis cases they are  sending to Washington are appropriate, particularly whether they are  sending too many or too few Visas Mantis requests. They said they would  like to know if including more information in the security check request  would reduce the time to process an application in Washington. Moreover,  consular officers indicated they would like additional information on some  of the outstanding Visas Mantis cases, such as where the case is in the  process. State confirmed that it has not always responded to posts’  requests for feedback or information on outstanding cases.
section_title: Wait for an Interview Can Also Add Significant Time
paragraphs: Aside from the time it takes to process Visas Mantis checks, an applicant  also has to wait for an interview. State does not have data or criteria for  the length of time applicants at its overseas posts wait for an interview,  but at the posts we visited in September 2003, we found that it generally  took 2 to 3 weeks. Furthermore, post officials in Chennai, India, told us  that the interview wait time was as long as 12 weeks during the summer of  2003 when the demand for visas was greater than the resources available  at post to adjudicate a visa. Officials at some of the posts we visited  indicated they did not have enough space and staffing resources to handle  interview demands and the new visa requirement that went into effect on  August 1, 2003. That requirement states that, with a few exceptions, all  foreign individuals seeking to visit the United States need to be  interviewed prior to receiving a visa. Factors such as the time of year an  applicant applies for a visa, the appointment requirements, and the staffing  situation at posts generally affect how long an applicant will have to wait  for an interview.
section_title: Agency Officials Cite Improvements
paragraphs: State and FBI officials acknowledged that visa waits have been a problem  but said they are implementing improvements to the process and working  to decrease the number of pending Visas Mantis cases. For example,    State and FBI officials told us that the validity of Visas Mantis checks for  students and scholars has been extended to 12 months for applicants who  are returning to a program or activity and will perform the same functions  at the same facility or organization that was the basis for the original Visas  Mantis check.
FBI officials said that to address delays stemming from problems with lost  case files or systems that are not interoperable, the FBI is working on  automating its files and setting up a common database between the field  offices and headquarters. They also told us they have set up a tracking  system within the FBI for all Security Advisory Opinions, including Visas  Mantis cases.
Consular Affairs officials told us that State has invested about $1 million  on a new information management system that it said would reduce the  time it takes to process Visas Mantis cases. They described the new  system as a mechanism that would help strengthen the accountability of  Visas Mantis clearance requests and responses, establish consistency in  data collection, and improve data exchange between State and other  agencies involved in the clearance process. In addition, officials said the  system would allow them to improve overall visa statistical reporting  capabilities and data integrity for Mantis cases. The new system will be  paperless, which means that the current system of requesting Visas Mantis  clearances by cable will be eliminated. State officials told us that the  system is on schedule for release early this year and that the portion  relating to Security Advisory Opinions will be operational sometime later  this year. However, challenges remain. FBI officials told us that the name  check component of the FBI’s system would not immediately be  interoperable with State’s new system but that they are actively working  with State to seek solutions to this problem. Nonetheless, FBI and State  have not determined how the information will be transmitted in the  meantime. We were not able to assess the new system since it was not yet  functioning at the time of our review.
Officials from Consular Affairs and the FBI told us they are coordinating  efforts to identify and resolve outstanding Visas Mantis cases. For  example, they have been working together on a case-by-case basis to make  sure that cases outstanding for several months to a year are completed.  However, State officials said they do not have a target date for completion  of all the outstanding cases, which they estimated at 1,000 in November  2003.
In addition to improvements to the Visas Mantis process, State officials  told us that they are monitoring post resource needs and adding staff as  needed. These officials also told us that State added 66 new officers in  2003 and plans to add an additional 80 in 2004.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, agency officials recognize that the process  for issuing a visa to a science student or scholar can be an important tool  to control the transfer of sensitive technology that could put the United  States at risk. They also acknowledge that if the process is lengthy,  students and scholars with science backgrounds might decide not to come  to the United States, and technological advancements that serve U.S. and  global interests could be jeopardized. Our analysis of a sample of Visas  Mantis cases from April to June 2003 show that some applicants faced  lengthy waits. While the State Department and the FBI report  improvements in Visas Mantis processing times, our analysis of data from  the posts we visited in September 2003 and our contact with post officials  in January 2004 show that there are still some instances of lengthy waits.  State’s and FBI’s implementation of the Visas Mantis process still has gaps  that are causing wait times for visas. State’s new information management  system could improve the Visas Mantis process. Nevertheless, it is unclear  whether the new system will address all the current issues with the  process.
To help improve the process and reduce the length of time it takes for a  science student or scholar to obtain a visa, we are recommending that the  Secretary of State, in coordination with the Director of the FBI and the  Secretary of Homeland Security, develop and implement a plan to improve  the Visas Mantis process. In developing this plan, the Secretary should  consider actions to    establish milestones to reduce the current number of pending Visas Mantis    develop performance goals and measurements for processing Visas Mantis    provide additional information through training or other means to  consular posts that clarifies guidance on the overall operation of the Visas  Mantis program, when Mantis clearances are required, what information  consular posts should submit to enable the clearance process to proceed  as efficiently as possible, and how long the process takes; and   work to achieve interoperable systems and expedite transmittal of data  between agencies.
In commenting on our draft report, State said it had taken some actions to  improve the Visas Mantis process and it would study our recommendation  to make further improvements.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to  answer any questions you or other members of the committee may have.
section_title: Contact and Acknowledgments
paragraphs: For future contacts regarding this testimony, please call Jess Ford or John  Brummet at (202) 512-4128. Individuals making key contributions to this  testimony included Jeanette Espinola, Heather Barker, Janey Cohen, and  Andrea Miller.
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