Travel crackdown hits visitors to OTC
Foreign guests endure stricter air security rules
Fahed Alameri invented a mechanical stabilizer that his employer, the stateowned oil company of the United Arab Emirates, is showing off at the Offshore Technology Conference this week.
But Alameri, a drilling manager, couldn’t work on his laptop to prepare his OTC presentation during the 17-hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Houston; he could only use his 6-inch mobile phone. “My eyes went crazy with tears,” said Alameri, describing how he had to squint to read and write on the small screen.
Alameri was among the international visitors to OTC affected by the new security procedures imposed by President Donald Trump on travelers from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa. The rule, put in place in March after tighter restrictions were
blocked by courts, is making the long trips even more uncomfortable for business travelers like Alameri, who among other hassles, are prohibited from using laptops in the cabin.
About 20 percent of the attendees at OTC come from outside the United States and Houston typically rolls out the red carpet for them, setting aside special immigration lanes at Bush Intercontinental Airport to speed them through. But this year, while no problems entering the country were reported to OTC organizers, international visitors said they still worried about visa and other hassles that might detain them in the airport or get them sent back home.
Torstein Bringa, chief executive officer of Future Production A/S of Norway, which delivers equipment to drilling rigs, said he headed to OTC with an incident involving one of his countrymen on his mind. He recalled how former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik was detained at Dulles Airport for about an hour in January because his passport had a stamp from Iran, where he had attended a 2014 human rights conference.
“Everyone was wondering, what’s going on?” said Bringa, who had no similar stamps in his passport and no problems in Houston. “What is happening in that country?” Quantifying ban’s effect
Whether travel restrictions and tighter immigration policies have affected OTC attendance is difficult to gauge because organizers won’t release figures until Thursday afternoon. It is also difficult to separate such effects on attendance from the tough oil price environment.
The Department of Homeland Security in March banned carryon laptops and tablets on direct flights leaving Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, following an attempt in January by the Trump administration to impose a travel ban on citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
That action, which Trump said aimed to keep terrorists from entering the country, was blocked by the courts. A revised ban in March, which excluded Iraqi citizens, was also halted by federal courts.
In a statement Wednesday, the Customs and Border Protection said it recognizes the importance of the travel industry to the U.S. economy and remains committed to facilitating lawful travel to the United States. Border officers admitted 548,930 citizens from Middle Eastern countries between October 2016 through March, a 10 percent dip from the same period one year earlier, according to the agency.
At OTC, however, the Trump administration’s first attempt at a travel ban was still fresh in the minds of international visitors, who recalled stories of foreign visitors turned away or detained for hours at airports while their documents were scrutinized.
One international visitor, Rita Hausken Barkhodaee, the sales director of “Up-stream,” a weekly oil and gas journal published in Norway, said she was asked to provide passwords to her social media accounts when applying for a visa. She said she declined the voluntary request. Stories foster worries
Stories about the travel problems affect the ability of a city like Houston to attract international travelers for conferences on energy, health care, science and other industries, said M.J. Khan, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, the largest Muslim religious group in North America. “People don’t want to go through that,” said Khan.
And it’s not just visitors from the Middle East who are anxious.
Ewan Lloyd-Baker, chief executive officer of the Haywood Tyler Group, a 202-year-old British company that makes specialty motor pumps and steam turbines, said he worried as he flew across the Atlantic that he’d encounter tougher scrutiny when arriving in Houston. Acquaintances had told him about foreign travelers sent back home from the U.S. when their travel documents were not in order.
“When you hear stories of peoples’ visa problems, you worry yourself,” said Baker, who cleared customs without incident.
Nabeel Hodi came to the OTC to find customers for his five U.S. clients that make pumps, compressors and boilers. On Monday, relaxing in the international lounge, Hodi said he was worried visa concerns would keep his customers — oil and gas companies from the Middle East and North Africa — at home. “Business people don’t want to be harassed or insulted,” he said.
Earlier this year, his customers from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, stayed away from the air conditioning, heating and refrigeration expo in Las Vegas in late January, which opened shortly after the first Trump travel ban was put into place, said Hodi, who lives in Chicago.
They made it to OTC, however, showing up on Tuesday and Wednesday.