US' new visa policy fuels boom in visitors

With the longer validity of visas, more Chinese are expected to visit Las Vegas to take part in its many trade fairs. Photo provided to China Daily

More Chinese are applying for a United States visa, pushing up the number of outbound tours to the US.

Last month, China and the US agreed to extend the validity of short-term tourist and business visas issued to each other's citizens from one to 10 years, and student and exchange visas from one to five years, to encourage more travel between the two countries.

The US embassy in Beijing currently processes several thousand visa applications each day, and over the last year the growth rate has been approximately 22 percent.

"Over the last several years the US Mission in China has taken many steps to make the visa application process more efficient and simpler," says Charles Bennett, minister-counselor for consular affairs at the embassy.

According to the US Department of Commerce, more than 1.8 million Chinese tourists traveled to the US in 2013, spending $21 billion and supporting more than 100,000 American jobs.

With the change in visa policy, it's expected that up to 7.3 million Chinese visitors will travel to the US by 2021, contributing about $85 billion per year to its economy and supporting as many as 440,000 jobs.

"We expect this growth to increase at an even faster rate and more Chinese citizens will consider visiting the US," Bennett says.

"As the validity is as long as 10 years, some people apply just in case they will visit the US sometime," he says.