MALAYSIANS NEED TO UNDERSTAND US VISA REQUIREMENTS COMPLEXITIES

BY MANIK MEHTA

NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- The latest brouhaha over Bollywood mega star
Shah Rukh Khan, who was given a "secondary inspection", after he went through a
preliminary review by an immigration officer, at Newark airport in New Jersey,
has turned attention to the visa problems faced by thousands of visitors from
around the world, including Malaysians, arriving at a United States (US) port of
entry.

While Shah Rukh Khan was vocal about what he alleged was racial profiling
by immigration authorities because of his religion -- the name Khan is generally
associated with South Asian Muslims -- the US authorities have denied the
charge and stated that Shah Rukh Khan was "routinely" asked questions that are
addressed to most visitors.

His luggage had not arrived and he was asked to wait along with other
visitors for about an hour and not, as he alleged, for over two hours, the US
authorities claim.

Many Malaysians in the US complain that they are sometimes subjected to
hardship and inconvenience because their names sounded similar or identical to
some wanted persons involved in seditious or other unlawful activities.

There is a standard procedure laid out for clearing incoming passengers at a
US port of entry.

"Upon arrival at any port of entry, the customs and border patrol
(CBP) officials examine the passenger's passport and other required documents to
determine whether the arriving passenger should be allowed to enter US.

This is done at a primary inspection station where foreign nationals
are questioned to determine their identity and nationality," says one New York
based immigration lawyer.

If the passenger is admitted, the CBP official also decides on the length
of the stay of the passenger in the US and the status in which he has been
admitted.

The CBP officials review passports, visas and other supporting documents of
each and every foreign national arriving at a port of entry, and also compare
fingerprint records and check databases for any alerts against the individual
concerned, and ask questions about the foreign national's eligibility for the
visas they have.

The CBP officials are trained to get information about the visitor's true
intent, and have the necessary experience to determine if a foreign national has
any pre-conceived intent behind his trip to the United States, if the foreign
national will be in the US for the stated reason and not for any purpose.

If not satisfied, the official can demand further information or
documentation before allowing the arrival to enter the US.

It must be said that CBP officials at the entry point are vested with
extensive powers, and they have the discretion to judge whether or not a foreign
national is eligible to enter the US as a bonafide visitor.

Along with the "admitted" stamp in the foreign national's passport, the CBP
will also stamp the I-94 form which also indicates the visa type and the
duration of time for which the foreign national is allowed to stay in the US.

If a CBP official is not satisfied with the foreign national's "preliminary
inspection" and feels there is need for additional information to ascertain the
arrival's eligibility for entry in the United States, the official may refer the
passenger for a "secondary inspection", which was what Shah Rukh Khan went
through at Newark airport.

The secondary inspection, which is more detailed and extensive, can last
anywhere from one to several hours to complete.

In the second inspection, CBP officials are more pointed in their line of
questioning, according to US based immigration lawyers.

The foreign nationals may be asked details about their travel plans in the
United States or required to produce additional identification and other
documentation in order to determine their actual intent behind their visit to
the United States.

The review may even include a physical search of the belongings of the
foreign national and getting a full set of fingerprints.

The security checks at US entry points can be humiliating for any foreign
national but then these are also applied in the case of prominent US
personalities whose names may be similar to those of wanted terrorists or
criminals.

Incredible as it may seem, even the highly respected Senator Edward
Kennedy, an American political icon, has been subjected to extra review along
with other prominent figures because they have the same names as people wanted
for a variety of crimes and other offenses.

The wanted list referred to by the CBS officials has steadily inflated and
has been growing faster than ever before.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is responsible for
security at US entry points, says that it is aware of the hardships caused to
foreign nationals arriving in the United States when they are wrongly
identified.

The wanted register contains more than 700,000 names.

But the TSA says that such travellers, wrongly identified, can lodge a
complaint with the agency which will then try to resolve the case as quickly as
possible.

Nonetheless, the complaint register is already bulging, with some 2,000
complaints received by the agency each month.

It takes about 40 days to process such a clearance.

But there are even those who are not on the wanted list and yet are
subjected to a full-fledged secondary examination because many airlines operate
with obsolete data.

The TSA is working on a more modern version of its register to obviate
searches of foreign nationals because of the names. The new upgraded system
will have additional information such as a person's birthdate, thus reducing
their reliance on names alone.
-- BERNAMA