On Thursday, when the visa officer told him that his name was on a terrorist watch list, he smiled knowingly, he said.

In a "Chinese walls" arrangement, the visa officer has no direct contact with the health professional involved.

If the Chinese are unhappy with high rejection rates, he said, they should not blame the visa officers, but the 50-year-old American immigration law.

He said the visa officer asked him outright, four times, to prove he would return.

Her husband was a spy who headed the MI6 station in Moscow but worked under the guise of a visa officer.

- Requires visa officers to provide a detailed list of reasons when rejecting a visitor visa application.

From 1960 to 1963, he was a visa officer and then an economic officer in Stockholm.

Whatever the effect on my looks, several visa officers have commended me for making spiritual progress.

"It's going to be the visa officer, the State Department."

Mr. Oberwetter is in Washington this week, and he said that one of his missions is to get approval for more visa officers.