Ankara: VALIDATION STUDY OF IRANIAN APPLICANTS

UNCLAS ANKARA 000449 DEPT FOR CA/FPP; DEPT ALSO PASS TO KCC; POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC KFRD TU SUBJECT: Ankara: VALIDATION STUDY OF IRANIAN APPLICANTS ¶1. Summary: Embassy Ankara recently conducted a validation study of Iranian applicants who had been issued B-1/B-2 visas in Ankara during calendar year 2008. The purpose of the study was to determine the overstay rate of Iranian nonimmigrant visa recipients and to better inform Post's adjudication practices. Post reviewed 50 percent of all applicants from the study period. Bio data of the 256 individuals who made up the study population were checked against entry and exit records from the Arrival Departure Information System (ADIS) database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) US-VISIT Program. The overstay rate among this population, based on those records, is 11.3 percent. Post will incorporate lessons learned from its analysis of subjects who overstayed for future adjudications. End Summary. -------------- BACKGROUND: -------------- ¶2. Ankara is a designated Iranian-processing post and handles the majority of the Iranian cases in Turkey, which includes Iranian nonimmigrant (NIV) and all Iranian immigrant visa (IV) applications. Normally, Iranian interviews are limited to no more than twenty per day, four days a week. During 2008, Post processed 1,036 Iranian applicants which included 513 B1/B2 visas. Due to continuing demand from Iranian NIV applicants, Istanbul processes a small number of Iranian NIV applicants with the aid of Farsi interpretation from Post's Political and Economic Section. ConGen Istanbul conducted a similar validation study of all their Iranian B class applicants in ¶2007. Methodology of Embassy Ankara's study closely mirrors that of the 2007 validation study. ¶3. When adjudicating Iranian visa applications, consular officers in Ankara rely primarily on the interview, and secondarily look to documents to check for conformities and inconsistencies. Adjudication decisions are based largely on age, family ties to Iran or the U.S., travel history, and financial status determined during interviews. Among the population sample of issued Iranian B visa applicants, the median age of approved Iranian applicants during the survey period was above 55 years. Eighty percent were married and 73% had immediate family in the United States. Over 50.9% were employed as professionals, business owners, farmers, workers, academics, or government employees. Retirees made up about 21% while 
housewives accounted for about 24% of the applicant sample. Student B class visa applicants made up about 3%. Ankara's caseload of Iranian F-1 students, which made up about 18% of the total issuances, was not included in this study. According to applications, 45% of our target group had prior travel to the U.S. and another 45.9% had traveled to Europe. -------------- METHODOLOGY: -------------- ¶4. Following Consular Affairs Fraud Prevention Office (CA/FCC) guidance, post limited its study group to only visitor visa (B-1/B-2) applicants. During the period between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008 post printed 513 B class visas. Post selected an entire year for its study period to eliminate possible seasonal variations and conducted the study with a 50% sample of applicants resulting in an initial sample of 256 applicants. As 33 applicants were found to be in current status in the U.S. and an additional 3 applicants could not be verified due to lack of records in ADIS the resulting study was ultimately based on 220 applicants. ¶5. In order to validate the entry and exit of applicants, post utilized access to DHS ADIS database which stores traveler arrival and departure information. Post was successful in getting entry and exit data for over 98% of the study group with only 3 applicants not found in the database. -------------- RESULTS: -------------- ¶6. Of the 256 subjects in the initial sample, 25 (9.7%) overstayed their visas while 195 (76.1%) traveled to the U.S. and returned within six months. Three subjects either did not travel, or traveled to the U.S. and were not entered into the US-VISIT databases. Another 33 (12.8%) were still in status in the U.S. Adjusting for the 36 applicants that could not be verified at this time the total overstay rate for Ankara for 2008 based on an adjusted sample of 220 applicants was 11.3%. -------------- ANALYSIS: -------------- ¶7. In an effort to improve adjudication practices, Post analyzed DS-156 visa applications forms, information from the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD),and adjudicator case notes of all validation study subjects to better understand the 25 subjects who overstayed their visas. The analysis revealed the following findings. Previous Travel: Of the subjects who traveled and returned after an appropriate stay, over 43% had previously traveled to the United States. On the other hand only 4% of the subjects who overstayed had traveled previously to the United States. Similarly, 43% with previous travel to Western Europe and Canada had returned in 2008, however, applicants who overstayed that had previous Western Europe or Canadian travels were slightly higher at 7%. Prior refusals: About an equal percentage of those who were previously refused overstayed and returned. About 20% of the subjects who returned had prior refusals, while 19% of the subjects who overstayed had previously been refused a U.S. visa. Age and Immediate Family: Out of the age group between 18 to 30 years old 27% were confirmed overstays. Between the ages of 31 to 59 the overstay rate dropped to 12%, and applicants over 60 had the lowest overstay rate by age at 9%. Family ties to the U.S. do not seem to strongly indicate likeliness to overstay. Of the applicants that returned, 89% had immediate family in the U.S. Marital Status: Marital status appears to be a good determinate based on the sample group. Over 73% of married applicants returned while only 50% of those who were single returned. Divorced and widowed applicant return rates were 22% and 21% respectively. Occupation: Overstay rates for the unemployed and employed were roughly equal at 11% and 10% respectively. Iranian business owners, medical professionals, farmers, dentists, and businesspersons had a perfect return record. Out of 14 academics there was 1 overstay making their return rate 93%. Engineers had an overstay rate of 25% while students overstayed at a rate of about 14%. Housewives had an overstay rate of 17% while only 7% of retirees overstayed. Although the sample was small with 3 applicants, carpet sellers had an overstay rate of 67%. All of the carpet sellers were relatively young. The only noticeable difference about the one carpet seller that returned was that he was married. Fraud was confirmed as both study overstays submitted similar documents that resembled those of refusals in recent months. Purpose of Travel: The purpose of travel of the 25 applicants that overstayed, with the exception of the carpet salesmen, do not seem to indicate anything helpful in detecting likeliness to overstay. Purposes resembled typical reasons for travel such as going to a wedding, visiting relatives and friends, or witnessing the birth of a child. All of these were also typical reasons for those applicants that returned. ¶8. Comment: We will use the lessons learned from the analysis of this validation study to improve adjudication practices and train incoming consular officers. Particular attention will be given to younger age ranges, singles, and applicants without solid professional or academic ties. Given that this is the first validation study conducted on Iranian B-1/B-2 applicants for Embassy Ankara, Post looks forward to conducting a follow-up studies to see the effects of changes in adjudication practices. In addition to Istanbul's 2007 validation study, we hope the results of this study can enhance the adjudication of Iranian NIV applicants at all Iran NIV processing posts. End Comment. JEFFREY