This week, The General Accounting Office (GAO) released a follow-up report about the visa revocation process of the Departments of State and Homeland Security.  The original report was conducted in 2003 and found that the visa revocation process needed to be strengthened in order to be effective as an antiterrorism tool.  The goal of the follow-up investigation was to determine if the weaknesses reported in the original study have been addressed.

The findings of the follow-up report of a random sample of just 35 cases are:

·         Delays exist in matching names of suspected terrorists with current visa holders.  In at least 3 cases, it took State six months or longer to revoke visas after receiving notification.

·         In 3 of the 35 cases, after revoking visas, it took State a week or longer to notify DHS.

·         DHS took several months or failed to notify immigration investigators about 10 cases of individuals still in this country with revoked visas.  Also, the immigration investigators did not request field investigations for more than two months on these same individuals.

The beginning of this follow-up investigation by the GAO in January 2004 prompted the DHS and State to take action to improve the visa revocation process.  In March, DHS developed new written procedures and took steps to ensure that immigration investigators knew of individuals who may be in the country on revoked visas. In April and May, State modified the procedures and the tracking system for visa revocation cases.

However, the GAO found that disturbing flaws still remain in the visa revocation process. The GAO report cited lack of procedure and performance standards, outstanding policy and legal issues, and lack of coordination between the DHS and State are some of the areas that continue to be deficient.

The GAO recommends that the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State jointly (a) develop a government policy that defines roles and responsibilities as well as sets performance standards and (b) address outstanding legal and policy issues in the visa revocation process area.

DHS concurred with the report, and State agreed to consult with DHS regarding the recommendations of the GAO.