Enhanced U.S. screening for air passengers holding passports from a list of 14 countries could cause problems for foreign-born business travellers and potentially affect business, an Ottawa businessman worries.

"For me, ultimately what matters is how much extra time do I have to plan for and is there a chance I might not make it," said Michael Wakim, the Lebanese-born founder and CEO of Ottawa-based Fidus Systems, on Wednesday. The company has a branch in San Jose, Calif., and Wakim travels there every other week.

He has lived in Canada for 44 years, but has dual citizenship and passports from both Canada and Lebanon — one of the countries whose citizens are being targeted for extra U.S. screening under new rules announced Sunday. Four of those countries are listed as sponsors of terrorism and the other 10 are listed as countries of interest.

Passengers holding passports from those countries or those on flights that took off from or connected through those countries must undergo full-body pat downs and a thorough search of their carry-on baggage.

Immigrants without a Canadian passport will certainly be affected, but Wakim said it is not yet clear whether he personally must undergo the screening if he travels to the U.S. on his Canadian passport. He said he is concerned because he is frequently asked by border officials if he has a passport for another country, and U.S. authorities have his Lebanese passport status on file.

"If it ever meant I can't cross for some reason just because of being born in Lebanon … it probably would mean a decline in our business," said Wakim, adding that he has important customer relationships in the U.S.

As of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials at the U.S. Transportation Security Administration had not yet clarified whether dual citizens of the affected countries will be exempt from the extra screening if they use their Canadian passport.

Wakim travels with a Nexus card, which entitles low-risk travellers to speedy border clearance in the U.S. and Canada. To obtain the card, he underwent a thorough security check. Now, each time he visits the airport, all he has to do is verify his identity using a retinal scanner at a self-serve kiosk.

However, he has been told the new U.S. security measures will override his Nexus privileges.

He plans to show up extra early at the airport for his next trip on Sunday to allow time for the increased screening.

Move to U.S. possible

Wakim added that if air travel becomes too much of a hassle, he will consider moving to the U.S. for part of the year to avoid having to cross the border.

In the meantime, he said, companies are already adapting to the increasing inconvenience of air travel by boosting the use of videoconferences instead of travel and choosing flights carefully based on routings. For example, he said, flights with short connections through Toronto can be a problem due to the time it takes to get through security there.

However, he said, the security measures are unlikely to slash business travel dramatically.

"If it's something you have to do to run a company, you're not going to stop running a company because it takes more time to get across the border."

Mark Salter, a University of Ottawa political studies professor who studies airline and U.S.-Canada border security, said he sees country profiling as "really problematic." He argued Wednesday that if all terrorists were less than five-foot-four in height and left-handed, security measures would not target all people with those attributes.

"I would argue that country of origin is equally random as a reason for selecting people for extra screening."