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The United States has introduced a stricter screening requirement for non-immigrant visa applicants, asking them to explicitly state that they do not fear persecution in their home country. The directive, issued by the US State Department, applies across categories including tourist, student, and temporary work visas.
Consular officers must use such a declaration during visa interviews. This reflects a certain trend towards stricter measures being applied during the application process for entry into the country.
There would be two main issues they would ask candidates about during the interview: whether they had been subjected to any persecution or torture in their countries of origin and whether there were any threats to their deportation. A negative response to both these questions is likely to make the application process easier for them.
If either of these issues is answered in the affirmative, the applicant’s visa would be denied, and thus, such people will not even be able to enter the country through this procedure.
The administration of Donald Trump has framed the measure as an attempt to curb misuse of the visa system. Officials argue that some applicants enter on temporary visas and later seek asylum, bypassing stricter checks.
The revised rule aims to identify such cases earlier in the process and reduce what authorities describe as ‘asylum abuse’. This is also an indication of a policy trend in which the government seeks to tighten all immigration channels and avoid any loopholes through which immigrants can gain access to the US territory.
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Human rights organizations and immigration lawyers have identified several potential dangers in the new rule. It has been suggested that implementing the rule could discourage people from seeking asylum in US territory out of fear of denial.
Another concern has been raised about the rule's compatibility with international standards on asylum seekers, which grant individuals the right to apply for asylum irrespective of their mode of entry into the foreign state.
The new rule represents a radical change in how visa applications are screened for the risk of asylum. More stringent interviews and higher levels of rejection are anticipated.
