08 Dec 2022
Michael White and the Future of the Visa Application Process
"The December 2022 Foreign Service Journal includes an article titled “Michael White: Improving Visa Adjudication, Protecting Workers’ Rights.” The article congratulates Foreign Service Officer (FSO) White for receiving the annual Constructive Dissent Award by an Entry-Level Foreign Service Officer. In addition to its well-deserved praise of FSO White, the article provides a candid account of what can go wrong when the integrity of the visa process is harmed by consular managers who shirk their responsibility for good internal controls. ... In what the Foreign Service Journal called an act of “integrity and courage,” White decided to reach out to top-level leadership in Washington through the Department’s Dissent Channel. We do not know what transpired between Consular Affairs and Mission Mexico, but are informed that as a result of White’s persistence, the Mission is now consolidating TN visa adjudications to just 3 consular posts in order to limit inconsistencies and facilitate subject matter expertise. ... Consular Affairs has doubled its hiring of U.S. Foreign Service personnel. The new recruits will presumably be utilized not just to lower visa wait times, but to also address the soft spot in our first line of defense in border security reported by the Foreign Service Journal. Certainly, If CA succeeds in attracting more Michael Whites to its ranks, we can all be assured that the future integrity of the visa application process is in good hands."