Washington, Sept 30: The US State Department has agreed to cede much of its authority to issue visas to potential foreign visitors after a long battle with the Department of Homeland Security over decisions on who should be granted permission to visit the United States, officials said. Although US diplomats will retain the right to actually place a visa in an applicants` passport, applications will have to be first vetted by Homeland Security officials wielding broad powers over the process, they said yesterday.

The switch -- which follows Congressional mandates to tighten US immigration procedures after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington -- was outlined in an agreement signed by Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge. Under it, Homeland Security agents will review visa requests to determine whether the applicant is a potential threat to the United States and will decide on denial or rejection on those grounds, the officials said.

While consular officers will be able to appeal such determinations, some officials said it was unlikely that such diplomats, often at the beginning of their careers in the foreign service, would likely do so. Earlier, US consular officials were the sole adjudicators of visa applications and made such decisions based on existing terrorist watchlists, other types of blacklists and whether they believed the applicant was intending to illegally overstay his or her visa.

Bureau Report