HANDICAPPED APPLICANT'S ESTA REJECTION HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STOCKHOLM 000581 SIPDIS STATE PLEASE PASS TO DHS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - CORRECTION OF PARA MARKINGS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CPAS CVIS CMGT PREL SW SUBJECT: HANDICAPPED APPLICANT'S ESTA REJECTION HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR BETTER INSTRUCTIONS STOCKHOLM 00000581 001.4 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: A physically handicapped applicant was required to apply for a tourist visa after having affirmatively answered to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) application question regarding physical disorders. Her case, which was covered by a national paper, highlights a weakness in the automatic nature of the ESTA application process and the verbatim use of language from the I94W landing card without readily available definitions or assistance. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- FOR SWEDES, MUSCLE DISEASE IS A PHYSICAL DISORDER -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On August 11, an applicant with a muscle disorder that confines her to a wheel chair appeared at the Embassy to apply for a tourist visa after having her ESTA application denied. A CLASS check confirmed her suspicion that her ESTA application was denied for having answered affirmatively to the question "Do you have a communicable disease; physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser or addict?" Fluent in English and accustomed to informing airlines and other service companies about her condition in order to receive assistance or appropriate seating, the applicant read the question as applicable to her condition and answered it accordingly. ¶3. It was only after being rejected that the applicant returned to the ESTA website and, after scrolling through a laundry list of instructions and definitions, discovered that the definition of "physical disorder" - a condition "that may pose or has posed a threat to [one's] property, safety or welfare or that of others" - probably did not apply to her physical handicap. Nevertheless, she was unable to simply try again. NOTE: Post is aware that applicants may reapply for an ESTA after ten days have past. END NOTE. -------------- INCIDENT TAILOR MADE FOR PRESS COVERAGE -------------- ¶4. Fortunately, the applicant was not scheduled to fly for another week, though because she was rejected on a Friday afternoon, she suffered a certain amount of anxiety until she contacted the Embassy the following Monday. Post then accommodated her with a special appointment, apologizing for her troubles and explaining the pilot ;nature of the program, while simultaneously dismantling the fingerprint scanner so that she could reach them from her wheel chair. Post also couriered her visa back to her hometown the next day to ensure she made her flight. ¶5. Unfortunately and completely inadvertently, the applicant's visa appointment coincided with Post's ESTA briefing for some 40 members of the Swedish travel industry. While clearing security at the Embassy entrance, these guests met the applicant in her wheel chair, and were primed to press our DHS guest speaker regarding the ESTA ineligibility questions. By the weekend, the applicant's experience had made its way to Sweden's national newspaper, Expressen. Post had been contacted by the paper to provide a response in advance and the paper did note that applicant felt she had received sympathetic and professional service, along with a promise from the Embassy to follow-up. ¶6. Nevertheless, the simple facts of the story along with a picture of the applicant in her wheel chair provided a stark contrast to our outreach efforts to characterize ESTA as a convenient and simple security measure. As the applicant, who lived 200 kilometers away, noted, what would have happened had she only 72 hours in advance and lived in the far north of Sweden? Will other handicapped applicants who answer similarly also be forced to spend money and time on travel to the Embassy and the visa interview? Do physical or mental disorders such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's (eventually terminal) qualify as threats to one's safety and welfare? -------------- -------------- DEFINITIONS SHOUD BE CLEARER AND READILY AVAILABLE -------------- -------------- ¶7. This incident is in many ways a worst case scenario and underscores an unavoidable weakness in such an automated system. Had the applicant answered the same question on her I94W on her flight to the United States, she most likely could have received guidance from the airline staff and in any case from the CBP officer at passport control, and would have entered the United States visa free. While Post recognizes that it would be impossible to implement a "live review" of every ESTA rejection to avoid similar situations, clearer instructions and/or definitions need to be made available for each ineligibility question. Verbatim translations of the I94 landing card questions can be much more daunting when there STOCKHOLM 00000581 002.4 OF 002 is no one around to ask for assistance. One solution would be to either provide expanded definitions of ineligibility terms on the same web page, perhaps via hyperlinks on phrases such as "communicable diseases, physical or mental disorders." Another option would be to open a new window upon any affirmative answer to an ineligibility question that would lead to a series of more detailed questions as to the nature of the disorder or ineligibility. ¶8. COMMENT: It is perhaps a truism to note that cultural contexts will always influence how questions are understood and answered. In Sweden, there is a tendency to speak directly, and to answer literally and honestly, as did this qualified applicant. She also accepted our explanation that ESTA was in its pilot stage and that problems such as this would only become apparent through some real life feedback, which is the purpose of this cable. We do not expect a long line of handicapped applicants to form outside of the Embassy once ESTA becomes mandatory. However, it takes very few instances such as this to create a similarly ugly perception, and thus hope these or similar recommendations will quickly be implemented. END COMMENT. SILVERMAN