Consul general of US embassy in Dhaka Jamie Fouss speaks at the launching ceremony of business visa programme by the US embassy in Dhaka to reduce the visa processing time for the members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh in a city hotel on Tuesday. — New Age photo

The US embassy in Dhaka on Tuesday launched business visa programme to reduce the visa processing time for the members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh.
Under the programme a subset of AmCham members would get a visa interview call within two days of application.
‘This pilot project will make the visa application process more predictable and convenient for business travellers associated with AmCham,’ Jamie Fouss, consul general of US embassy in Dhaka, said while launching the programme in a city hotel.
He said that after the successful completion of the project the US embassy would look forward to expanding the programme.
‘But, the programme would only expedite the appointment system, not guarantee the visa issuance,’ he said.
‘Earlier US visa was very easy to get but after 9/11 the scenario has changed,’ AmCham president Aftab Ul Islam said.
He said that the move was appreciating and would facilitate the bilateral economic relations.
In the meeting the AmCham members raised several issues regarding the visa application procedure of the embassy.
They drew attention of the consul general with issues like time consuming and heavy application form and lack of accommodation facilities during the interview.
‘The form requires a very large volume of information which is time consuming,’ said Aftab.
‘Along with the business visa programme the embassy should also introduce some system to expedite the student visa,’ said AmCham member ASM Mainuddin Monem.
The US consul general, however, replied that the application form standard would remain as like it was now. 
‘But, we have expedite visa processing system for the students,’ he added.
In the last year there were more than 12 million non-immigrant visa applicants from Bangladesh to the US.