Newsletter

March 29, 2013 - Bill Would Mandate Shorter Waits for ‘Shopping’ Visas

The Obama Administration says it has considerably reduced the amount of time it takes foreign visitors from key countries to obtain visas needed to come to the United States and shop in U.S. stores. But two lawmakers have reintroduced legislation intended to guarantee that the wait times are kept reasonable.

“The average international traveler to the United States spends approximately $4,300 per trip,” Representatives Joe Heck, R-Nev., and Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said in a letter seeking support for the bill. “It goes without saying that facilitating increased travel to the U.S. will support job creation and higher revenues.”

Heck last week introduced H.R. 1354, the Jobs Originated through Launching Travel Act, or JOLT Act, with Quigley as the lead cosponsor. Similar legislation was introduced last year but did not see action before the 2012 session of Congress ended.

The legislation would require the State Department to conduct visa interviews within 10 days of receiving an application, and to offer “premium processing” for those willing to pay extra.

The measure is aimed at rapidly growing economies in countries such as China, India and Brazil, where increasingly affluent citizens are ready to travel and spend but wait times for visas to visit the U.S. could be four months or longer until recently.

President Obama signed an executive order in January 2012 requiring the State Department to add staff and speed up visa processing. Officials say the wait time has been cut to two days in Beijing and Rio de Janeiro, and seven days in Mumbai. But Heck and others have said reductions have not been universal, that some applicants still face long waits, and that the improved staffing is subject to budget issues if times are not set by law.

NRF has led the retail industry’s fight to shorten the waits because visitors often spend lavishly while in the United States and are highly valued as customers by U.S. retailers.

© 2013 National Retail Federation