VZCZCXRO9634
PP RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHMS #0437/01 1670232
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 150232Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9694
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000437 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR CA/VO/F/P LSANTA, CA/P KCABRAL, NEA/PPD DBENZE, 
NEA/ARP BMASILKO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO PGOV MU CVIS
SUBJECT: MISSION EFFORTS TO ENCOURAGE GREATER OMANI 
TRAVEL/STUDY IN THE U.S. SHOWING RESULTS 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  Over the past two years, Embassy Muscat's Public Affairs 
and Consular Sections, with strong and consistent Front Office 
guidance and broader Mission support, have collaborated on a 
range of efforts aimed at demystifying the consular process, 
dispelling myths about U.S. visas, and reducing still- 
substantial concerns among the Omani public about travel to 
the United States.  A prime focus of this work has been 
student visas, but across the board there are clear signs that 
our work is now bearing fruit.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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STARTING FROM SCRATCH 
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¶2.  As with the rest of the region, Omani attitudes toward 
U.S. travel changed dramatically in the wake of 9/11 and the 
subsequent necessary consular and security innovations. 
Beginning in 2006, we identified this lingering concern, much 
of it based on dated information and negative coverage in 
regional media, as an area of special concern.  Study in the 
U.S. had been especially badly affected, with the number of 
Omanis seeking F Visas dropping by two-thirds between 2000 and 
¶2003. In the words of one poster on a popular online forum in 
mid-2004, "Why should we go somewhere we are not wanted?  It's 
their own fault that so many foreigners are going to other 
places to study!"  In conversations, both formal and informal, 
with Omani contacts at all levels, any discussion of U.S. 
travel quickly turned to concerns about obtaining visas - with 
most considering the process opaque, daunting, and likely to 
be unsuccessful - and about the travel process itself, with 
strong anxiety commonly expressed about how travelers are 
treated at points of entry.  We resolved to address these 
issues, targeting both Omanis and the third-country nationals 
who make up a significant portion (52% in 2007) of our 
consular customers. 
 
¶3.  Messaging of any kind in Oman presents special challenges: 
the media is extremely limited, both in scale and in capacity. 
As a result, we decided to combine media, programming, and 
directly consular strategies, with specific areas targeted for 
special attention: 
 
- Virtually every public appearance by the Ambassador, DCM, or 
other Embassy officer includes at least a mention of consular 
"good news," whether it is the priority given to student-visa 
applications, the extremely low overall refusal rate for visas 
(that Oman is on par with Lichtenstein in this regard has been 
an especially effective talking point), or the very few 
incidents of difficulty on arrival reported by Omani 
travelers. 
 
- At least once a year we have held large-scale media outreach 
targeted specifically at consular issues, whether a full-scale 
press conference to address enhancements such as the 
appointment system introduced in 2007 or, as in 2008, an 
exclusive to one journalist that resulted in a three-page 
feature in a widely read weekly that successfully highlighted 
how "fast and easy" (in the words of one applicant) the U.S. 
visa process is. 
 
- Regular promotion of the advantages of study in the U.S. for 
Omani and third-country students alike.  The Ambassador has 
focused on this message on every interaction he has had with 
youth over the past two years, and we have worked closely with 
U.S. NGO AMIDEAST as it established an Oman country office and 
took over the Educational Advising program for the Sultanate. 
Highlights of these efforts include:  theming the Embassy's 
2006 National Day reception to celebrate U.S. education; 
ensuring a U.S. presence at local education fairs and 
exhibition; cooperating with visiting groups to hold our own 
college/university fairs; presenting digital video conferences 
with U.S. colleges and regular presentations at our six 
American Corners; offering pre-departure briefings to Omani 
government scholarship students prior to their travel to the 
U.S. on the do's and don't's of entering and studying in the 
U.S.; and hosting an April 2008 press/public event, the 
EducationUSA Showcase, which was essentially a catalogue show 
for over 120 U.S. colleges and universities. 
 
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STUDENT-FOCUSED VISA POLICIES 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4.  In addition to outreach efforts, Post has instituted 
policies to make the student-visa application process as 
 
MUSCAT 00000437  002 OF 002 
 
 
painless as possible.  In October 2007, Post instituted its 
first-ever appointment system for non-immigrant visa 
applicants.  Previously, visa interviews were held on a first- 
come, first-serve basis.   In order to help students avoid 
difficulties arising from late applications, Post has a 
blanket policy to grant F-1 applicants expedited appointments 
at any time.  This policy has allowed several students who 
would not otherwise have been able to do so to schedule their 
visa interview early enough to arrive in the United States in 
time for their studies. 
 
¶5.  Post also regularly advocates on behalf of student visa 
applicants who are required to undergo Security Advisory 
Opinions.  Through close cooperation with CA/VO/L/C, SAO 
processing rarely impacts a studentQs ability to begin his/her 
program of study. 
 
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CHANGING PERCEPTIONS, IMPROVING THE NUMBERS 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  There are solid signs, evident both from discussion with 
contacts and in looking at consular statistics, that this 
steady drumbeat is having positive effects.  In pre-departure 
orientations and other programming for Omani travelers, the 
overall level of anxiety about U.S. travel is markedly lower, 
despite occasional negative stories about travelers' 
experiences that continue to appear in regional media. 
Interest in education in the U.S. appears to be reviving.  For 
example, Oman's premier institution, Sultan Qaboos University, 
this spring requested presentations on U.S. educational 
opportunities for its scholarship recipients for the first 
time in four years. Interest in exchange programs is 
remarkably strong, with applications for the new NESA UGRAD 
college/university exchange program far exceeding both Post's 
and our Omani contacts' expectations. Audiences for public 
programming on education are strong, with over 700 attending a 
fall 2007 college/university fair and over 200 attending the 
April 2008 catalogue show.  Certainly, the lengthy, detailed, 
and strongly positive feature that we were able to place in 
Muscat's weekly "Hi!" magazine would have been unimaginable in 
¶2006. 
 
¶7.  Most dramatic, however, are the numbers.  28 Omani 
citizens applied for F-1 student visas in the first five 
months of 2008.  This represents a 25% increase over the same 
time period in 2007, and is the highest number since 2002. 
While rising tuition and more rigorous standards for admission 
will likely prevent the total number of Omanis issued an F 
visa from topping 2001's 338 for the foreseeable future, Post 
believes that our efforts have reversed the negative trend 
seen since 2002, one that threatened to significantly reduce 
the influence of American higher education (and therefore the 
U.S. more generally) on the next generation of Oman's best and 
brightest. 
 
¶8.  This increase in student visa numbers is not occurring in 
a vacuum.  Many of postQs efforts to encourage study in the 
United States have had the ancillary effect of encouraging 
other travel to the U.S. as well.  Post issued more non- 
immigrant visas of all kinds during the first five months of 
2008 than in any year since 2001.  The total number of visas 
issued during this period in 2008 is nearly 90% of the numbers 
for the same (pre-9/11) period in 2001, and more than twice 
the number issued at Post's lowest point, in 2003.  In short, 
after seven years and a great deal of concentrated, consistent 
outreach, Omani travel to the U.S. is on the brink of 
returning to pre-9/11 levels. 
 
GRAPPO