US government tightens controls

Admission As one measure of their war on terror, the US are planning to tighten admission controls at the US borders drastically. According to Attorney General John Ashcroft, travelers from countries with a connection to terrorism and people from certain risk groups are to be fingerprinted upon admission.

These fingerprints will be compared to other databases in order to filter out potential terrorists or other wanted criminals. Furthermore, the affected travelers will also be photographed to make sure they are not entering the country with fake documents. In addition, obligatory registration for stays of over 30 days and a departure control are in the planning, to keep risk groups from mingling with the population, as Ashcroft says.

Affected are all visitors from countries that, according to the US, support terrorism. However, according to Ashcroft there isn't one country where not at least some people will be subject to these tightened controls. And since terrorists of September 11 came from Germany, Germans will have to be prepared for these measures as well.

Foreign students Earlier, the New York Times had reported that the US was planning to even fingerprint visitors from Islamic countries who were already inside the US on a valid visa. This would affect more than 100,000 students, workers, employees, scientists and tourists. The State Department's concerns apparently were not taken into consideration. The fact that the terrorists entered the country as fake students now seriously affects all foreigners who are studying in the US.

Starting 2003 the INS will use the internet to continuously observe foreign students. Roughly 74,000 American educational institutions are to be linked with US consulates around the world and the INS to collect personal information before a visa is issued and to keep it constantly updated throughout the study program.

According to an announcement by Attorney General John Ashcroft last Friday, with this the American people will have the certainty that the people who come to the country as students are really who they say they are. Most of the terrorists of September 11 had entered the country on student visas. Several of them had never enrolled at the universities they stated. According to Ashcroft, roughly one million foreign students are studying in the US. Starting January 2003 the colleges, high schools, technical schools and universities must notify INS as soon as the students enroll. They must also inform INS about irregular class attendance and notify them immediately if a student should be expelled from school or university. The INS then has to make sure these people are immediately sent back to their home countries, says the attorney general. A new computer system is being set up for this, allowing the schools and universities to communicate directly with the INS.

(Editor's note: The INS already announced the same thing for the Exit/Entry Control System - still without any success years later.)

The flight school in Florida that some of the terrorists attended had received a letter from INS with the visas for the terrorists exactly six months after the attacks. The INS was sharply criticized for the several-months delay (we reported about this).

Visa fees raised at US consulates Unfortunately, fees at the US consulates around the world are being raised again. Starting June 1, the fees will be €78 instead of €54. These fees apply to all forms of non-immigration visas, e.g. tourist or student visas or work visas (e.g. L, H or E). According to the embassy, the money from the additional charges will be used for machine-readable visas and new security check systems.

The fees for immigration visas (including the lottery) will be raised slightly from $325 to $335.

If you any further questions about this, best use the contact form on our homepage.