Visa Restrictions for Landscape Architects

The Washington Post recently reported on the United States?EUR??,,????'??? new rules of granting visas to foreigners and the struggle to implement the stringent procedures since Sept. 11, 2001.

While the system, which bogged down in 2002, become more streamlined in 2003, the government now has a list of 200 scientific and technical specialties that require FBI name checks for work visas. You many be surprised to know that landscape architecture, geography, community development, housing and urban design are among these specialties.

Face-to-face interviews are now required for hundreds of thousands of visa seekers, which is causing the withholding of many visas until the FBI runs name checks.

The Department of Homeland Security now controls most visa rule-making, previously the purview of the state department. The Washington Post article noted that ?EUR??,,????'??even British citizens working for American companies overseas are facing waits of a month or two to obtain longer-term work visas for transfers to the United States, a process that once took less than two weeks.?EUR??,,????'??