Establishing Visa and Foreign Visitor Processing Goals and the Task Force On Travel and Competitiveness

2012-01-24Executive Order 13597
Signed by: Barack Obama
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Headline: Directs Faster Visa Processing and Strategy for Foreign Visitors

What it does: Agencies must speed and expand visa and visitor processing and produce a national travel strategy to increase tourism.

Real World Impact:
  • Raises visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent.
  • Requires most nonimmigrant visa applicants be interviewed within three weeks.
  • Creates a task force and strategy to boost tourism and jobs.
Topics: visa processing, travel and tourism, economic growth, national security, government data

Summary

This order sets goals to speed visa and visitor processing and to promote travel to the United States to create jobs and economic growth while protecting national security.

It directs State and Homeland Security to boost visa capacity in China and Brazil, ensure most visa interviews within three weeks, expand visa-free and expedited entry programs, and report progress. Commerce must publish a public website with travel metrics. A Task Force must deliver a National Travel and Tourism Strategy within 90 days to increase U.S. market share and promote visits to public lands and rural communities.

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