Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Saudis happy over easing of US security checks
Easing of security checks at US airports results in a huge increase in visa applications to the US
- By Abdul Nabi Shaheen, Correspondent
- Published: 13:18 June 15, 2011
Riyadh: A large number of Saudis are keen to cash in on the easing of security checks at US airports by planning their vacation to that country.
This has resulted in a huge increase in visa applications to the United States, Gulf News has learnt from the US embassy sources.
Many Saudis expressed their happiness over the new scenario. Saudis no longer need to wait for hours at US airports to complete the much criticised "security inspection ordeal."
The customs and immigration procedures would take about 20 minutes instead of four to five hours over the past years following the September 11 terror attacks.
A source at the Saudi embassy in Washington attributed this positive change to the lifting of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had announced earlier that special registration process was discontinued from April 28. Travellers who registered with NSEERS when they entered the US are not required to register when they depart, the announcement said.
Speaking to Gulf News, a source at the US embassy in Riyadh said the number of Saudis securing visas to visit the US was doubled during the last year. "Saudi Arabia ranks seventh among the list of countries which secured the highest number of visas.
The US missions in the Kingdom had issued more than 90,000 visas last year alone," he said, adding that this figure is a record. The source also noted that only six per cent of visa applications had been rejected in 2010, and the Kingdom remains at the bottom of countries with regard to the rejection of visa applications by the US missions around the world.
Meanwhile, the Saudi embassy in Washington has started closely monitoring the particulars of Saudi citizens coming to the United States, such as the number of Saudis carried by each aircraft from the Kingdom, their period of stay, departure and the like, according to a report in Al Watan newspaper.
The embassy source said that the information regarding the particulars of Saudi passengers coming to the US is available with the Saudi Arabian Airlines and various Saudi airports where from they set out their travel.
It is noteworthy that the US immigration authorities had earlier intensified security inspection checks of passengers coming from 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia.
Travellers from these countries have been subjected to mandatory extra screening before they can board a flight to the US. With these rules, only people who carry passports from, or are travelling from or through 14 listed countries, would automatically be subject to full-body pat-downs, extra luggage checks, and full-body scans and explosive detection sweeps.
These countries also include Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. After the failed bid to set off explosive on board a Detroit bound plane by a passenger in December 2009, the Obama administration had announced that security checks from these countries would remain tightened.
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