Foreign Maritime Workers with B-1 Visas May Now Apply for Transportation Worker Identification Credentials

On February 9, 2011, after an intensive 2+ year effort by maritime industry representatives, the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") and the Department of State ("DOS") announced the creation of an annotated version of the B-1 visa—issued to a foreign citizen visiting the United States for business purposes—that will allow a foreign maritime worker to apply for a Transportation Worker Identification Credential ("TWIC"). A TWIC is a biometric identification card that a maritime worker must obtain in order to gain unescorted access to secure areas of facilities subject to the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 ("MTSA"). The announcement is an important step in ensuring that foreign maritime workers can obtain the necessary credentials to do their jobs when ships they are responsible for are in U.S. ports. This new process was necessary because the Transportation Security Administration's ("TSA") TWIC final rule, published on January 25, 2007, did not