RL32221
Visa Waiver Program
September 23, 2008
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Summary
Since the events of September 11, 2001, concerns have been raised about the ability of terrorists to enter the United States under the visa waiver program (VWP), since the VWP bypasses the first step by which foreign visitors are screened for admissibility to enter the United States. Nonetheless, the inclusion of countries in the VWP may help foster positive relations between the United States and those countries, promote tourism and commerce, and eases consular office workloads abroad. The VWP allows nationals from certain countries to enter the United States as temporary visitors (nonimmigrants) for business or pleasure without first obtaining a visa from a U.S. consulate abroad. Temporary visitors for business or pleasure from non-VWP countries must obtain a visa from Department of State (DOS) officers at a consular post abroad before coming to the United States. In FY2007, 16 million visitors entered the United States under this program, constituting 49% of all overseas visitors. To qualify for the VWP, statute specifies that a country must: offer reciprocal privileges to U.S. citizens; have had a nonimmigrant refusal rate of less than 3% for the previous year or an average of no more than 2% over the past two fiscal years with neither year going above 2.5%; issue their nationals machine-readable passports that incorporate biometric identifiers; certify that it is developing a program to issue tamper-resident, machinereadable visa documents that incorporate biometric identifiers which are verifiable at the country's port of entry; and not compromise the law enforcement or security interests of the United States by its inclusion in the program. Countries can be terminated from the VWP if an emergency occurs that threatens the United States' security interests. P.L. 110-53 adds new requirements to participate in the VWP, and provides the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to waive the nonimmigrant refusal rate requirement. Certain statutory conditions must be met before the waiver to becomes available. All aliens entering under the VWP must present machine-readable passports. In addition, passports issued between October 26, 2005, and October 25, 2006, must have a digitized photo on the data page, while passports issued after October 25, 2006, must contained electronic data chips (e-passports). Under DHS regulations, travelers who seek to enter the United States through the VWP are subject to the biometric requirements of the US-VISIT program. Numerous countries (e.g., Poland, Estonia, Israel, South Korea) have expressed interest in being a part of the VWP. DHS and DOS have provided selected countries with "road maps" to help them meet the requirements of the program. However, some of the countries have complained that the "road maps" do not contain milestones or time tables. They note that since U.S. consular officers are the ones that approve or disapprove applications for visas, it is extremely difficult for countries to affect their visa refusal rates and meet the requirements of the program. In addition, DHS has signed Memorandums of Understanding with certain countries who are likely to meet the program requirements once the nonimmigrant refusal rate waiver is available to facilitate these countries entries to the VWP. This report will be updated if legislative action occurs.
