Bubble in melting pot

Professor Goverdhan Mehta has joined the list of those, from many countries, whose visa application has demonstrated the US bureaucracy8217;s post-9/11 tendency to sometimes shout five after adding two and two. Of course, bureaucratic paranoia is not an exclusive American trait. Our own country can claim a fine record. But America being America, and therefore special, its officials confusing a scientist who8217;s a biochemistry whiz with a bio-terrorist tends to aggravate the applicant and his compatriots somewhat more. And because America is America, there8217;s also a reflexive tendency to see in such bureaucratic snafus a demonstration of arrogance. But, surely, the world8217;s only hyperpower doesn8217;t need to show arrogance by rejecting visa applications?

Visas, and passports, probably allow a government official his most satisfying exercise of power: rejections can be brusque, questions can be mind bogglingly unanswerable, and presumptions can be as fanciful as the visa-giver wishes. The more a country is sought after as a destination, the more, inevitably if sadly, is the opportunity for arbitrariness 8212; and blunders. US policy for regulating entry deals with two fundamentals. First, and compared to Europe, its liberal immigration policy, a subset of which is entry permits for professionals the famous H1B visas. Second, its security fears and the understandable determination that another attack on home soil can8217;t be allowed. The intersection of these two often produces problems for foreigners as well as Americans 8212; US universities have complained that security procedures are putting off overseas applicants.

So, US bureaucracy needs to get smarter. It8217;s impossible to be so smart that every case is called correctly. But it8217;s possible to be smart enough that the CV of a widely travelled scientist doesn8217;t look like the career chart of a terrorist. But those of us who may be occasional victims must also remember 8212; thousands of us go there, many more want to go, and the melting pot continues to bubble 8212; no need, really, to overdo the letting off steam bit.