President Obama vows to speed up visa process

Speedier visa processing has been promised by President Barack Obama as he unveiled plans to stimulate overseas tourism to the US.

Obama’s strategy, outlined at Walt Disney World in Florida, aims to boost non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40% this year.

The visa waiver programme that allows travellers from countries such as the UK to travel to the US for stays of 90 days or less without a visa is to be expanded and a new group of chief executives is to be appointed to the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.

A task force will also develop recommendations for a national travel and tourism strategy, including promoting national parks and other sites.

The White House says the travel and tourism industry represents 2.7% of gross domestic product and 7.5 million jobs in 2010.