A YOUNG Muslim fears his dream trip to America is threatened after US officials forced him to undergo extra security checks - because his name includes "Mohammed".

Umar Khan, 22, a student from Didsbury, was made to fork out é50 more than everyone else to have prints taken of all his fingers and checked with a terrorist database in Washington.

Umar - whose full name is Mohammed Umar Haleem Khan - is still waiting to hear if he will get his visa and fears he may now have to cancel his trip to work at a Camp America project in Pennsylvania.

The summer work experience camps have been running for decades as part of an international cultural exchange programme.

'Discriminated'

"I feel completely discriminated against," Umar said. "I was supposed to be going on June 20 but if I don't get the visa soon I will have to do something else."

Umar, a student at Manchester Metropolitan University, applied for the Camp America trip in September last year.

He was called to the American Embassy in London for a visa interview on March 8 and paid the standard é63 fee. Everyone going to the US to work has to go through the same process. But while Umar was having his interview he was told there was a problem.

"My paperwork was fine, but the official said that because one of my first names was `Mohammed' and my surname is `Khan', I had to have extra checks," he said. "The official said that the reason was that there were `a lot of bad people in the world with that name'.

"She said the extra checks would cost $80, which is about é50. I had to go to a cash machine in the pouring rain to get it right then because I only had a debit card.

Frustrated

"I have not heard anything from the embassy and feel completely frustrated."

Umar is the second man known to have fallen foul of the apparent policy. Earlier this month 67-year-old actor Mohammed Azami, who had been due to perform before the US Senate in an acclaimed play about Guantanamo Bay, had to pull out when he failed to get his visa in time. Mr Azami, who uses the stage name Badi Uzzaman, said he had been told his name was similar to scores of terrorist suspects.

An embassy spokesman did not deny the policy was in place but said he could not discuss the details of how visa applications were assessed.

"We do have expedited procedures for exchange visitors and students that should allow us to process the visa before the travel date," he said.

Advance

"In general, there are any number of reasons why one visa application may be different than another or take longer to process. The important point I must make is that if someone needs a visa, they should apply well in advance of the travel date."

While people visiting America on holiday have visa restrictions waived, professionals going for work cannot. The M.E.N. reported last month how the Halle Orchestra pulled out of a planned tour of America when they worked out it would cost é45,000 to get their visas, including transport to London for interviews.

The embassy is now looking at ways of using new technology to gather biometric data outside the capital.

DO you think it's fair for Mr Khan to have to pay extra to enter the US? Have your say.