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A 2008-2013 case study: US visa applicant security screening wait time analysis

  • Marie Catalano
  • , Elizabeth Newell
  • , Ali Pala
  • , John Coles
  • , Jun Zhuang
  • SUNY Buffalo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Security screening reduces risk in several situations such as airport security, employee selection and visa application processes; however, it can create delays that deter normal applicants and thus, decrease the welfare of the approver (authority, manager, and screener). This research studies trends in two data sets including US visa applicant profiles from 2008 to 2013. One data set contains over 9,500 data points of information such as visa type, academic major and waiting time that we use to understand the visa application process more thoroughly. The second data set is the US government travel website with statistics of visa issuances, by year, visa type and region. We compare the two data sets to provide insight into the visa screening process. We show that the number of applicants increases at the beginning of each academic semester, visa type generally does affect wait time, wait times for most academic majors depends on the number of data points observed, and the probability of waiting greater than 60 days for a visa notification decreases as the number of applicants increases.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIIE Annual Conference and Expo 2015
PublisherInstitute of Industrial Engineers
Pages2864-2871
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9780983762447
StatePublished - 2015
EventIIE Annual Conference and Expo 2015 - Nashville, United States
Duration: May 30 2015Jun 2 2015

Publication series

NameIIE Annual Conference and Expo 2015

Conference

ConferenceIIE Annual Conference and Expo 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNashville
Period05/30/1506/2/15

Keywords

  • Data analysis
  • Security screening
  • US visa application

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