The federal government will begin applying stricter requirements Friday for granting U.S. travel visas, and business groups fear those changes will mean fewer international travelers visiting the USA. Because of security concerns, the State Department now requires consular officers to personally interview most visa applicants instead of granting as many waivers as in the past. Some offices will need to conduct at least twice as many interviews with no additional staff. It can take months in some countries to schedule an interview, government officials say. “Until now, each post had the discretion to establish its own waiver policy and, in the interest of security, we think it’s better that it be uniform,” says Stuart Patt, spokesman for the State Department’s Consular Affairs Bureau. Full Story
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