Security Advisory Opinion

As a result, United States Government Accountability Office found in a report dated February 2004 that "students and scholars with science backgrounds might decide not to come to the United States, and technological advancements that serve U.S. and global interests could be jeopardized" as a result.

As of August 2006, these included: There are also other types of SAOs used for notifying the Department of State about visa issuance and that the applicant will be traveling to the United States, including: The validity of the clearance (which specifies a deadline for the time a visa could be issued) is based on its type, and ranges between three and 48 months.

The Department of State claims that 80% of SAOs are cleared within two weeks, but the general expected time for a clearance is unknown.

[12] On February 11, 2005, the Department of State mentioned that it "has been able to decrease the average time to obtain Visas Mantis clearance to less than 14 days".

[8] A presentation attributed to the Department of State dated November 6, 2008, says that the average time the Visas Mantis clearances take as 6 to 8 weeks.