Biography: Andrew Simkin

Ask the State Department: "Keeping the Bad Guys Out" -- Visa and Passport Fraud Prevention

Andrew Simkin joined the Foreign Service in 1987. He adjudicated non-immigrant and immigrant visas and performed services for American citizens during junior officer assignments in Ciudad Juarez, 1987-89, and Abu Dhabi, 1989-91. In Madrid, 1991-92, Mr. Simkin served as Staff Assistant to the Ambassador. He headed the American Citizens Services unit in Guadalajara, 1992-94, and was Deputy Chief of the Consular Section at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, 1994-97. In Washington, Mr. Simkin served as the Department's desk officer for Ecuador from 1997-99, then as Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services, 1999-2000. After an assignment as Consular Section Chief in Kuwait, 2000-02, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, 2002-04, then as Director of Consular Training at the Foreign Service Institute, 2004-06. He began work as Director of the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs in August 2006.

Mr. Simkin has received the Department's Meritorious Honor Award five times, and the Superior Honor Award three times.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Simkin earned an undergraduate degree in History, with honors, at Earlham College, and a law degree, with honors, at the University of Dayton. He is an inactive member of the bar in Ohio and the District of Columbia.