"U.S. Visa Delays on the Rise, Scientists Abroad Report"

A news article in Science magazine reports:

Procedures instituted after the 11 September 2001 attacks require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CIA, FBI, and other agencies to vet most scientists from countries whose citizens must obtain visas to enter the United States. In 2003, visa delays prompted scientific societies to warn of an erosion of U.S. competitiveness if top foreign talent were to eschew travel to the United States. By last year, U.S. security agencies had managed to whittle average visa-processing time for scientists from 7 weeks to 3 weeks. It has since climbed back up to 8 weeks.......

Visa-processing delays are not the only complaint. U.S. managers say it is harder than ever to secure H-1B visas for foreign researchers they wish to employ in the United States. "It is nearly impossible to bring in the best people in the world and build a company without spending a huge amount of time and money to get these people to the States," says biomedical engineer and entrepreneur Jonathan Rothberg, who founded 454 Life Sciences and several other biotech start-ups. Reaching out to U.S. legislators has done little good, Rothberg says. "They see it as a zero-sum game, where we are hiring 'one less qualified American.' "

Comment: The Bush administration appears to be incompetent to maintain the improvements it had made! JAD