Riyadh Embassy Cable Praising Its Own Visa Express Program

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R 191345Z AUG-&1FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5676 AMCONSUL JEDDAH DIR FSINFATC WASHDC INFO GCC COLLECTIVE UNCLAS RIYADH 002326 DEPT FOR CA/EX. CA/VO. CA/FPP. NEA/EX. NEA/ARP NFATC FOR M/FSI/SPS/CONS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CMGT. CVIS. KFRD. AFSI. ASEC. SA SUBJECT: U.S. VISA EXPRESS PROGRAM TRANSFORMS NIV SCENE IN SAUDI ARABIA

1. (U) Summary. Embassy Riyadh, in coordination with Consulates General in Jeddah and Dhahran. has launched a new, mandatory service for processing nonimmigrant visas. Naming the new program "U.S. Visa Express". Embassy Riyadh established the service to eliminate the long lines of NIV applicants at the Embassy and Consulate General in Jeddah and to reduce the number of public visitors entering the posts. The program draws on CA best practices - travel agencies as NIV reception agents, remote data entry, and interview by exception. As a result, the workload on the Consular Sections' staff has been reduced and made manageable, customer service to NIV applicants has improved, and general post security has improved. The program has transformed the U.S. consular scene throughout Saudi Arabia. End Summary. An Outline of the Program

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2. (U) Using CA "best practices" as its basis, the U.S. Visa Express program employs selected travel agencies and their nationwide networks as NIV application reception points. These firms review the applications for completeness, enter the data on diskettes using CA's Remote Data Service (RDS) software installed -at each client company, receive the MRV and issuance fees, and deliver the applications, diskettes, and fees daily to Embassy Riyadh and Consulate General Jeddah for processing. The following working day. the agencies collect the passports of those applicants whose visas were issued without interview, drop off new applications, and return the visa-ed passports to their offices for applicants to collect at their convenience. 3. (U) Initially, the program, which was started in early May and was officially launched with countrywide media coverage the fcy:st of June, was mandatory only for Saudi applicants and for qualified non-Saudi resident TCNs. (Qualified resident TCNs were defined as persons who had traveled to the U.S. on a multiple entry NIV within the previous two years). In late June, however, given the program's success and the heightened terrorist threat in the region, the Embassy expanded it overnight to make it mandatory for all applicants in Saudi Arabia. A consular officer reviews all applications. The passports of those applicants whose submissions do not demonstrate clear visa eligibility are returned to the agencies with a form letter indicating that the applicant must come to the Embassy or Consulate General for interview any work day from 8:00 to 10:00 AM and/or what additional documentation should be submitted. These applications are adjudicated in the NIV application as pending (INA Section 221g). Applicants who come for interview have already paid the MRV application fee and have proven to be manageable in numbers. After an initial trial of having the TCNs pay the extra issuance fees to the travel companies, Embassy Riyadh discontinued the collection of issuance fees from the agencies for resident TCN applicants on submission of their applications to the post. Instead, the agencies pay the issuance fees at the time of passport collection for resident TCN applicants issued without interview. Resident TCN applicants issued after interview pay on their own. Steps in Setting Up the Program 4. (U) Setting up the new NIV service in a country the size of Saudi Arabia, where 90,966 NIV applications were processed in FY-2000. and using ten travel agencies companies, was a large-scale operation. It required that one conoff act as project's director and coordinate the establishment of the program in constant communication with all the other conoffs in-country. In addition, the project manager had to keep the Embassy Front Office, the Consuls General, other agencies, and Section Chiefs informed of our UNCLASSIFIED 2

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plan and Us implementation schedule. From the initial stage, when conoff began meeting with various companies to explore the possibilities and conferring with the Department to learn what legal options were available until launch date, establishing the program took place over a period of seven months. Having gone through the entire process and knowing the pitfalls, the project director conoff believes it is possible to establish a Visa Express program in a much shorter period of time and certainly in much less time in a smaller country. 5. (U) The project director conoff began by conducting a top-to-bottom review of how consular personnel process NIV applications at post. At the same time, conoffs met with leading travel agents to discuss the idea of such a visa service and to learn their suggestions. Some of them were already taki-n^t-in visa applications and submitting them to Embassy Riyadh, but they were not doing data entry, which meant they would need to transform and expand their U.S. NIV operation. Embassy Riyadh Consul General and conoff met with the Embassy Country Team, post GSO. post Department of Commerce PCS. and post PAD staff to introduce the concept and to get feedback from a broad range of in-house sources months before the program was publicly launched. The Embassy Riyadh Consul General and the project director conoff traveled to the Consulate General in both Jeddah and Dhahran to introduce the concept to the consular staffs there. 6. (U) The Embassy Riyadh Consul General and the project director conoff made presentations to the representatives of the travel agencies at meetings conducted at all three posts. They gave the agencies a three-week deadline for submitting proposals as to how they would handle the service. Conoff analyzed submissions from some twenty companies (later another twenty attempted to join on the bandwagon with even more proposals). She assessed the proposals according to a set of ten major criteria, including experience, computer capability, commitment to advertising, office security, geographic breadth of branch networks, and general reputation nationally or regionally. Based on conoffs evaluation of the various proposals and the companies' strengths, she and the Consul General selected ten companies to launch the program over a test period, with the idea that the number might eventually be cut. 7. (U) The Mission then signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the travel agencies that CA and L had provided to Embassy Riyadh. The MOU includes all the requirements the Embassy had stipulated in the initial presentations and had used to evaluate and select the companies. In addition, it sets a maximum fee which travel agencies can charge to be the agent for U.S. NIV UNCLASSIFIED 3

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applications. This fee is a ceiling but not a floor. Some participating travel agencies have opted not to charge customers for U.S. Visa Express service if they purchase their air tickets and vacation package/hotels through the travel agency. Following the selection and the signing, the project director conoff kept in constant communication by telephone and e-mail with all the companies to remind them of their commitments. 8. (U) During the subsequent three weeks, between the MOU signing and the official press conference/media launching, the Embassy and the Consulate General in Jeddah actually began to operate the new service informally as a way to test all the "systems" before "final launch". During this intense period, conoff organized installation and training programs all over the country for the travel agencies to learn the RDS software. Fortunately, a CA Orkand refresher team was in Dhahran and post was able to obtain Department approval for IT'team member to come to Riyadh to hold introductory training. Then conoffs and Consular NIV FSNs went on the road to the travel agencies' offices in Riyadh. Jeddah. and the Eastern Province cities of Al Khobar and Dammam to survey their Visa Express operations and to train their staffs. At the same time, companies were encouraged to begin their advertising and to begin bringing in visa applications in order to get the public used to the new service before the formal June 1 launching. 9. (U) Throughout this period, the project director conoff also worked with the Embassy Riyadh PAD staff to prepare a media event to launch the program on June 1. Together, they managed to get some stories placed in the local press in advance. The Embassy Riyadh Consul General formally launched the Visa Express program with a full-scale media event with representatives of all the travel companies also in attendance. He emphasized that the new service would be advantageous to the traveling public as well as the Mission. For days after the Consul General's press conference, the Saudi media ran a variety of stories in both the Arabic and English press. Comments, Implications, and The Future 10. (U) The Visa Express program directly advances several MPP goals. The achievement of Mission objectives under Travel and Migration is enhanced in that we can more effectively support the travel of those Saudis and resident TCNs who come to the U.S. for tourist, educational, and medical services. Effective nonimmigrant visa services also supports the exports of U.S. goods and services by facilitating business travel. By completely reorganizing how the Mission provides NIV services to the public, the key MPP goal of American Citizens is facilitated by freeing UNCLASSIFIED 4

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.consular officers' time from NIV services and allowing it to be reallocated to providing services to Amcits. Finally, the MPP goal of Diplomatic Readiness is advance by reducing the number of visitors to the Mission's posts, thus enhancing security and reducing the local guard force resources needed to screen and inspect visitors. 11. (U) In the Mission's experience, the Visa Express program has proven to be a winner all around. The Saudi public loves the convenience. The Saudi Government, which was initially hesitant, is now asking the British and French Embassies in Riyadh to implement the exact same system. The travel agencies have gained publicity and name recognition for their travel service. The consular NIV staff says the new system has vastly reduced stress on them. 12. (U) The U.S Visa Express program is the way of the future and Embassy Riyadh, whose Consul General serves as RCO for the- Arabian Peninsula, has already begun encouraging other Missions in the region to launch similar programs. Critical to its success, however, is that the program must be made mandatory; otherwise. NIV applicants will refuse to use it at first. Once in place and accepted by the traveling public, the Visa Express program will improve consular efficiency and enhance Mission security throughout the region. BRAYSHAW

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