中国赴美签证之痛

Tougher visa procedures since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have cost the U.S. an estimated $606 billion in spending from visitors from China and elsewhere, according to the U.S. Travel Assn. Had growth in international travel to the U.S. kept pace with the rest of the world over that period, the country would have received 78 million additional visitors, the group said.

赴美签证在“911”事件后变得更加难以申请，据美国旅游协会统计，恐怖袭击使美国在赴美游客身上花费了约6.06亿美元。这一时期，世界其他国家赴美旅游人数也在增长，美国将接待额外的7800万游客。

The pain isn't being felt only by airlines and hotels, but by department stores, restaurants and outlet malls that would have gladly welcomed foreign spenders. A bipartisan bill being proposed in Washington would provide more resources to consulates around the world to cut wait times to just under two weeks.

最开心的除了航空公司和旅馆，像百货公司，餐饮店和折扣直销店也很欢迎外国消费者的到来。在议会上提议了一项两党提案，为全世界的美国领事馆提供更多的资源来缩减签证等待时间，要求等待时间在两周之内。

Though Brazilian demand for U.S. visas is growing at a faster rate, China's sheer size poses a unique set of challenges for America's consular corps. The embassy and consulates in China are processing twice as many non-immigrant visas than they were only three years ago — recently hitting the 1-million yearly mark for the first time, a number that had previously been reached only in Mexico.

尽管巴西的赴美签证需求量在飞速增长，但中国大规模的签证申请给美国领事团提出了严峻挑战。美国驻中大使馆和领事馆处理的非移民签证数量是三年前的两倍，首次达到每年1百万，这个数字之前只有墨西哥达到过。

Yet there are only about 100 visa adjudicators in China, creating a crushing backlog during the summer when tourists and students travel the most.

目前在中国只有约100名签证官，在夏季，旅游者和学生申请高峰期时会显得捉襟见肘。

"It's not easy work," Charles Bennett, minister-counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said of his staff. "You're making, in some cases, life-changing decisions many times a day, and that can cause fatigue."

美国驻北京使馆领事事务参赞，查尔斯巴内特（Charles Bennett）说：“这不是个轻松的工作，你一天要做出很多决定，这些决定有时会改变别人的一生，这会导致身心疲惫。”

To adapt, U.S. consular services expanded their hours, took on about a dozen additional staff and hope to have another 20 officers by spring. Several facilities are also being expanded.

为了适用这种情况，美国领事服务延长了签证时间，新增加了12名工作人员，预计明年春天会再增加20名，还会增添一些设备。