Since September 11, what has happened to the number of applicants for US visas? Recently our journalist interviewed US Consul General David Hopper and Charles Bennett, director of the visa unit. Here are some of their replies:

　　Mr Hopper: "After the terrorists attacked America on September 11, the number of applications we received here and at other American embassies around world went down substantially. Here in China, I think, the decrease was about 30%. It took several months for the number of applications to return to previous levels. Since January or so, the number of applications coming in has been about the same as during the corresponding period last year. In May Beijing processed almost 18,000 applications, and if we include all of our offices in China's other four US consulates, we altogether processed about 40,000 applications. Actually, Chinese applications had been increasing by 10-15% a year, but this year we have not seen the increase. That may be related to September 11, or perhaps there are economic reasons. What I have said is true for the total number of applications.

　　"However, with regard to one very important segment of the applications, namely for student visas, we thought we might see fewer applications this year than last, whether because of the September 11 attack or the controversy in the US over student visas. But that's not happening. In fact so far this year the number of student applications we are getting and the number of student visas we are issuing are both up considerably from last year. In May of this year we issued 30% more student visas than in May of last year. So we are still very busy with student visa applications."

　　What the general consul said should be good news for those who want to study in the US. However, no matter how high the issue rate is, there are always some applications that are rejected. Can "connections" help in getting a visa? Not according to Mr Hopper:"There are operators out there who say 'Give me some money and I'll help you to get a visa.' We really do not think this is true. Our strict controls make it impossible for visas to be issued improperly. These days we use computers to issue visas. Although every employee has a computer on his or her desk, in Beijing I think there are only about ten of us who can actually approve applications. We alone have the password for entering the software to approve a visa application. No one else has access - not our Chinese employees, not our colleagues from other offices in the embassy, not even the ambassador himself."

　　Mr Bennett showed our reporter the computer system. When you enter a name, the applicant's visa history - issued or refused - can be seen at a glance. He put in our journalist's name and her recent visa record immediately appeared on the screen. Americans tend to be contemptuous of liars; if you were refused in the past, indicate that on the form honestly, since even if you don't divulge the facts, the computer will - and any discrepancies will be very harmful for your visa efforts.

　　What about mix-ups involving people with the same name? Can applicants be confused with one another? Mr Bennett entered the common name Yang Qing and data on a dozen Yang Qings appeared, but the individuals were readily distinguished by gender and birth date. The information on the screen was all local in origin. How about national or international data? Mr Bennett had the computer produce all the relevant information from the central database in Washington, and the reporter discovered someone from Shenyang with the same name. "The database is worldwide in scope, so it gives us anyone with your name of any nationality and with any date of birth. They could be from the mainland, Hongkong, Taiwan, Singapore or any Chinese community in the world. Therefore we can say with certainty that so far only two people with your name have ever applied for a US visa anywhere in the world," he said.

　　Suppose one enters the name Bin Laden? "The names of terrorists and people with criminal records in such areas as drug trafficking cause a big red number one to appear. Usually the data are not actually for a criminal, but the system warns us that this is somebody we need to check out. If we determine that we're not dealing with a criminal, then we'll issue the visa, but if it is the person being flagged, we have to follow up.

　　"Since all American embassies use the same computer system, if you're in London and your newspaper wants you to go to the US to cover a story on very short notice, and you go to our embassy in London to apply for a visa, officials in London would actually see the same thing on their screens as we do here." (to be continued)