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Cable Text:
UTE4681

UNCLASSIFIED UTE4681
ACTION CFPP-01

INFO LOG-00 MFA-00 NP-00 AMAD-00 CA-01 CIAE-00 INL-00

DS-00 EUR-00 OIGO-00 FBIE-00 UTED-00 FBO-00 TEDE-00
L-00 NEA-00 DCP-01 NSAE-00 CAEX-01 PPT-01 IRM-00
TEST-00 USIE-00 VO-03 ASDS-01 DSCC-00 NFAT-00 SAS-00
/009W
-- 13E285 191355Z 738
R 191345Z AUG-&1-
FM 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

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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

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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

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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

End Cable Text

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