US embassy cable - 04AMMAN4981

UNCLAS AMMAN 004981 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CVIS, AMGT, CMGT, JO, IZ 
SUBJECT:  Special Visa Procedures for Official Travelers from 
Iraq  in Jordan 
 
1. (U) Summary: Several recent groups of travelers from Iraq have 
arrived at Embassy Amman with requests for visas with little or no 
advance notice.  Regardless of the circumstances, post will do 
everything in its power to facilitate official business involving 
Iraqi travelers.  However, the lack of advance notice causes 
unnecessary disruptions and inconvenience for the travelers and 
can impede official travel.  This cable summarizes the required 
procedures for facilitating travel by USG- or CPA-funded official 
travel through Embassy Amman.  We are fully committed to 
supporting Iraq-related official travel and understand its 
importance to U.S. foreign policy goals.  To succeed, we need to 
have all participants abide by these relatively simple procedures. 
End Summary. 
 
 
2. (U) The US Consul's office in Baghdad and the consular section 
in Amman have jointly developed procedures to facilitate the 
travel of Iraqis traveling to the U.S. in an official capacity. In th 
cases, the Consul in Baghdad sends a completed Non-Immigrant 
Visa application and photograph to Amman for data-entry and 
security clearance processing. Amman notifies the Consul when 
the applicant has been cleared. The applicant arranges for travel to 
Amman and schedules to appear at the consular section in Amman 
for fingerprinting and interview. Applicants should be in direct 
communication with the Consul in Baghdad and the Iraq Support 
Unit at Embassy Amman; the Iraq Support Unit in Embassy 
Amman will arrange the appointment at the consular section in 
Amman. 
 
 
3.  (U)  In addition, all USG visitors to Jordan must submit a 
country clearance request by cable.  This helps ensure that the 
Embassy is aware of the visitors and can prepare the necessary 
arrangements for their visit, even if the visit is only for transit f 
visa issuance.  Two recent groups did not follow these procedures: 
 
 
4. (U) In the first case, a recent group of Ministry of Defense 
employees submitted their final visa applications on 31 May, only 
three days before the anticipated date of travel.  Despite being 
directly and repeatedly advised by both the Iraq Support Unit and 
the consular section in Amman, this group arrived in Amman 
Saturday 5 June.  Their clearances from Washington, required for 
visa issuance, had not been received by the Embassy.  The visitors 
were not able to interview for their visas until 10 June when their 
clearances began arriving from Washington. During their time in 
Amman, they stayed at in a hotel in Amman at USG expense. Post 
has also learned that during this period, the group's hotel rooms in 
Washington were also being held for them.  In the end, the visitors 
did not depart until 12, 13, and 14 June, after the clearances had 
been received and the visas could be issued. 
 
 
5. (U) On Thursday 10 June, a group of Iraqi bankers arrived with 
no prior communication via the ISU or the Consul in Baghdad. 
There were no clearances for nine of the visitors and they were not 
issued visas.  For those with clearances, consular staff in Amman 
worked throughout much of the weekend to process these cases 
which could have been handled within the normal workflow, had 
the section been advised of their plans in advance.  In addition, the 
CPA escort had not submitted a country clearance request, a step 
which would have alerted post about the upcoming visit of the 
group. 
 
 
6. (U) These are only the two latest examples in which a failure to 
follow procedures disrupted Iraqis' official travel.  These 
procedures are in place to allow the Visa Office in Washington 
adequate time to process the security clearances, to allow the 
consular section in Amman to manage workload, to ensure that 
USG resources are used responsibly, and to facilitate these 
important, officially-sponsored trips. In the situations described 
above, the Visa Office in Washington stopped working on other 
clearances to process these groups, possibly delaying travel for 
other Iraqis and Jordanians.  Post realizes that urgent 
circumstances arise on occasion but following these clearly-stated 
procedures will save a considerable amount of USG resources and 
enable post to continue to support our efforts in Iraq. 
 
GNEHM