Controversial rule limiting visitor’s stay to 30 days is withdrawn by I.N.S.

Visitors to the United States can now heave a sigh of relief. A controversial rule which would have limited the time visitors may stay in the U.S. to only 30 days, had been withdrawn by the Bush Administration.

The withdrawal was in response to numerous concerns and complaints by the tourism and housing industries that the measure has slowed down the entry of tourists into the U.S. and the sale of vacation homes, particularly in South Florida, whose governor is President Bush’s brother, Jeb Bush.

The proposed plan would have resulted in most visitors being admitted for a period of only 30 days, instead of the usual six months, in response to the security needs of the United States following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Under current procedures, visitors are typically admitted for a period of six months. Visitors could apply for a six-month extensionof stay, enabling some visitors to stay up to one full year in the United States, without violating the terms of their stay.

The proposed rules governing visitor’s visas, on the other hand, would have, if enacted:

1. Eliminated the minimum 6-month admission period for B-2 non-immigrant visitors, and instead limit the admission period to "a period of time that is fair and reasonable for completion of the purpose of the visit," meaning the amount of time needed to accomplish the purpose of the trip (in many cases 30 days).

2. Required visitors to explain to the INS inspector the nature and purpose of their visit.

3. Reduced the maximum initial admission period for all B non-immigrant visitors from one year to six months.

4. Limited the conditions for which an extension of stay in B non-immigrant visa status can be granted, and reduce the maximum length of that extension. Extensions would have been granted only for "unexpected or compelling humanitarian reasons."

5. Prohibited non-immigrants admitted in B-visitor status from changing to student status unless they stated an intention to study at the time of admission, to the Immigration officer at the Port of Entry (airport).

Officials at the now-defunct INS were reportedly open to a tourism industry compromise of guaranteeing most holders of tourist visas to a 90-day stay – similar to what’s already offered to Western European and Japanese visitors, but that was vetoed by senior advisors to Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Tourists were complaining that they could not make concrete vacation plans in America because their stay was dependent on their ability to prove their case to an immigration official at the port of entry. South Florida developers, on the other hand, complained that sales of luxury vacation condominiums and townhouses have slowed down because Latin American buyers were not certain if they could stay more than 30 days in the U.S.

Let’s hope the Administration will continue in its movement towards having a more lenient attitude towards immigration and aliens, and instead target only terrorists. This proposed rule would have unfairly hurt "legal" and law-abiding aliens, in an ill-fated attempt to restrict terrorist activities. A terrorist will not cease his activities merely because he is given a 30-day stay.