Senator Mark Kirk (R–IL) and Congressman Mike Quigley (R–IL) returned from a four-day trip to Poland this week. The bipartisan pair made the journey to discuss an important topic in U.S.–Polish relations: admitting Poland into the Visa Waiver Program.

Under the Visa Waiver Program, visitors from friendly member nations are able to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa. To ensure that dangerous individuals do not enter the United States through the program, a visitor must first submit information through the program’s online portal, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). Once vetted and cleared, a traveler is then pre-approved for visa-free travel for up to two years.

Since its inception in 1986, the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) has reduced the workload on U.S. consulate offices while encouraging travel to and tourism in the United States. The program also offers tremendous benefits in terms of economics, public diplomacy, and national security. In 2008 alone, nearly 17 million visitors entered the United States, spending more than $100 billion in U.S. restaurants, hotels, and shops. These visitors not only infuse much-needed money into the U.S. economy, but they also carry home with them their experiences and perceptions of American culture, helping to improve America’s image throughout the world. Likewise, security measures added since the program’s inception have made it an important counterterrorism tool.

In 2010, more than 152,000 non-immigrant visitors entered the United States from Poland. Yet despite that country’s longstanding interest in joining the Visa Waiver Program, these visitors were made to apply for visas before coming to the United States. Given the extensive benefits of the VWP and the long record of U.S.–Polish cooperation, Poland’s exclusion from the program doesn’t make sense.

Unfortunately, neither does the measure that is holding back Poland’s admittance. In 2007, Congress passed legislation granting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the ability to consider the admittance of nations with visa refusal rates between 3 percent and 10 percent that otherwise met the requirements of the program. The conditions of this authority, however, centered on the ability of DHS to meet a mandate of biometrically tracking the exits of all foreign visitors from U.S. airports by July 1, 2009. Despite the fact that biometric air exit has little to do with the VWP (only roughly 1 percent of VWP entrants are believed to overstay) and adds little in terms of national security, when DHS failed to meet the mandate, its ability to waive the 3 percent visa refusal rate expired.

Poland has signed all of the necessary security and travel agreements needed to gain admittance into the program. The only thing holding it back now is its 9.8 percent visa refusal rate. Instead of holding VWP expansion hostage to ridiculous mandates, Congress should decouple the biometric exit mandate from the program. Likewise, Congress and the Administration should move to use visa overstay rates, rather than visa refusal rates, as a metric for admittance into the program. With Poland’s overstay rate at around 2 percent in 2010 (incredibly low compared to the total visa overstay rate of approximately 40 percent), this change would advance the country’s admittance and would serve as a better overall metric for the program.

Representatives Kirk and Quigley’s visit to Poland should serve as a reminder to the rest of Congress that it is well past time to do better for our ally and admit Poland into the VWP.

The United States Department of State oversees the Visa program regarding people to the U.S. The majority of citizens of additional nations require a visa to get in the U.S. along with their valid along with existing passport. This can be a typical prerequisite by simply virtually all nations mainly because it ensures that site visitors meet up with the criteria set with that distinct region, as each are exclusive.

There’s, however, a modest list of nations that happen to be regarded as visa waiver nations, along with site visitors from these do not have to utilize the visa process. Initially developed within 1986, the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) detailed 35 nations which usually be eligible for a visa waiver.

The aim of this specific program ended up being to remove barriers to tourists from nations considered helpful to the U.S. and also to inspire company travelers.

You will discover in case your region is included within the list of 35 by simply starting at the web site created by the United States Department of State. The Department of State offers a number of tasks along with the site comes with data, however look for the “Visa” hyperlink to be taken to the proper area.

The top of the visa web page has a discover associated with a latest revisions, and as with this writing there were alterations to the program within 2009 talking over the fresh electronic us passports and just how these have an effect on visa waivers.

Furthermore, the list of accredited nations was been expanded to incorporate 8 a lot more nations. Some consist of the Republic of Korea, Hungary, along with the Czech Republic. The total listing is included about the Division of California’s site mentionened above previously therefore study to discover in case your region shows up.

Also these 43 nations may run directly into limits in the event that the particular person using offers certain issues that cause disqualification. Any type of criminal background is among these disqualifications much like certain severe, contagious ailments. Such limits usually are meant to guard US citizens as a whole or even shield the open public wellness.

Make sure to go through most the data posted about the visa area of the United States Department of State web site. The information is often kept existing and can support reply any additional questions you could have concerning visa waivers.