FRANKFURT'S IRANIAN VISA APPLICANT VALIDATION STUDY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 FRANKFURT 001722 SIPDIS DEPT FOR CA/FPP; DEPT PASS TO KCC; POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC KFRD IR GM SUBJECT: FRANKFURT'S IRANIAN VISA APPLICANT VALIDATION STUDY REF: ANKARA 449 STOCKHOLM 224 ¶1. SUMMARY: Consulate General Frankfurt conducted a validation study of Frankfurt's 2007 Iranian B-1/B-2 travelers. Of the 288 applicants who traveled to the United States, 19 (6.6%) claimed asylum, adjusted status or overstayed. For the vast majority who returned from the United States without incident, standard indicators such as age, family ties and marital status were largely accurate predictors of good travel. Two categories of higher overstay risk emerged - travelers over the age of 60 with immediate family in the United States and travelers under the age of 35 with promising professional career potential. Post will use the results of this study to make better-informed adjudications of this growing population of visa applicants in the future. END SUMMARY. BACKGROUND -------------- ¶2. The Iranian expatriate population living in Germany totals more than 54,000, with almost 30,000 residing in Frankfurt's consular district. This is down from the more than 107,000 Iranian passport holders who lived in Germany in 2000. Much of this decline can be explained by the more than 65,000 Iranians who have become naturalized German citizens over that same period. In addition to the large local expatriate population, Germany is a popular travel destination for Iranians who travel here to visit their family and friends and to apply for visas for onward travel to U.S. at Frankfurt, a designated Iranian-processing post. In short, Frankfurt sees a large number of Iranian visa applicants. ¶3. To assess Iranian visa applicants' compliance with U.S. visa regulations and to inform consular officers' adjudications, Consulate General Frankfurt performed a validation study of Iranian applicants issued B-1/B-2 visas during the calendar year 2007. Working with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Visa Security Unit here and using DHS's Arrival Departure Information System (ADIS) database, Frankfurt reviewed all 2007 Iranian B-1/B-2 travel records. For those for whom no departure record could be found, post used the contact information provided in the DS-156 to contact each individual. RESULTS -------------- ¶4. Frankfurt processed a total of 965 Iranian visa applicants in ¶2007. Officers approved 318 B-1/B-2 visas within the calendar year, with an adjusted refusal rate of 46.1%. (NOTE: The adjusted refusal rate excludes cases originally refused for Security Advisory Opinions (SAOs) but later issued after receiving clearance. END NOTE) Of the 318 B-1/B-2 visa issuances, 30 applicants (9.4%) did not travel to the United States. Post then examined the travel history of the remaining 288 Iranian travelers. ¶5. Of the 288 applicants reviewed, 269 (93.4%) complied with the terms of their visa and registered timely departures from the United States. The remaining 19 (6.6%) either claimed asylum after arriving in the United States(five applicants),adjusted to another nonimmigrant visa category or to legal permanent resident (LPR) status (eight applicants),overstayed their permitted duration of stay (five cases) or, in one case, were arrested and detained for legal prosecution on charges of child pornography. ANALYSIS -------------- ¶6. To understand better the travel patterns and tendencies of the 19 applicants who did not comply with their visa issuances, post closely reviewed each case. Following is a brief summary of the lessons and trends from this analysis. PRIOR TRAVEL - A high proportion (47%) of these 19 applicants had prior good travel to the United States. In several cases, the applicants had frequent (up to one time per year) travel over a multi-year period. AGE MATTERS - The median age of the 288 Iranian B-1/B-2 travelers in 2007 was 59.4 years old, which substantiates officers' anecdotal observations that many Iranian visa applicants here are retirees with immediate family or close relatives living in the United States. In contrast, the median age of the five applicants who claimed asylum was 44.8 years old. This was much lower than the median age of applicants who adjusted status (57.9 years old) or who FRANKFURT 00001722 002 OF 002 overstayed (62.2 years old). Excepting one 76-year old applicant who claimed asylum, the other four applicants claiming asylum were between 21 and 50 years old. Conversely, only one of the five applicants who overstayed was under the age of 50. Of the eight applicants who adjusted status, two were young doctors (NOTE: both are now listed on the Internet as practicing medicine in the U.S. END NOTE),while the other six were all over the age of 56. PRIOR REFUSALS - Five of the 19 applicants were previously refused under section 214(b). In three of these cases, however, at least one visa was issued after the refusal but before their 2007 travel. MARITAL STATUS - Three of the 19 applicants had spouses whom they either left behind or abandoned. Two of the three claimed asylum and the third has never registered a departure from the United States. FAMILY IN IRAN OR GERMANY - While strong family ties in Iran and/or Germany led to the return of most of the 288 Iranian travelers, this did not appear to be a compelling tie for the 19 travelers who did not register a timely departure. Only two of the 19 listed no immediate family members (i.e., spouse, children or parents) living in Iran or Germany. Most, in fact, had a significantly higher proportion of immediate family members living outside the United States than inside the United States. COMMENT -------------- ¶7. The 93.4% compliance rate among Frankfurt's 2007 Iranian B-1/B-2 travelers tracks closely with the results of recent similar validation studies by Embassies Stockholm and Ankara (reftels). The study underscores that in the preponderance of cases, standard factors of evaluation (prior good travel, strong social ties outside of the United States and prior refusals in Frankfurt or another post, among others) remain reliable indicators for good travel. As the 19 overstay/aslyee/adjustment of status cases indicate, however, these are not foolproof. Two primary profiles of travelers with higher overstay risk emerged in the study: -- (1) Travelers over the age of 60 with immediate family members living in the United States; and, -- (2) Applicants under the age of 35 with promising professional career potential in fields such as medicine. ¶8. As the overall median age of 59.4 would indicate, many of the Iranian travelers in 2007 fell into the over 60 former category, making this outcome somewhat predictable. More striking, however, is the indication that younger, highly-educated applicants also present a significant overstay risk. Frankfurt will use the results of this outcome to better inform our future adjudications of Iranian visa travelers. In particular, consular officers will more closely scrutinize younger travelers and their educational background. POWELL