[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2946 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2946
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for certain
additional means of qualification for the Visa Waiver Program, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 23, 2019
Mr. Lipinski (for himself and Mr. Smith of New Jersey) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for certain
additional means of qualification for the Visa Waiver Program, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Allied Nations Travel Modernization
Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In 2016, 23 million people entered the United States
under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Visitors through VWP
constituted roughly \1/3\ of all temporary visitors. According
to the Department of Commerce, VWP travelers in fiscal year
2014 spent approximately $84 billion on goods and services.
(2) Due to the VWP, the U.S. Government saved from $1.9
billion to $3.2 billion for the cost of interviewing visitors
in 2010.
(3) All VWP countries are required to enter into
information-sharing agreements with the United States on
whether the citizens or nationals of that country traveling to
the United States represent a security or criminal threat to
the United States.
(4) VWP countries have provided the United States with
information on more than 6,000 known or suspected terrorists as
a result of VWP information sharing arrangements.
(5) VWP countries have provided nearly 70 percent of the
records in INTERPOL's Stolen and Lost Travel Document Database,
which DHS utilizes in its daily vetting of ESTA applications
and Advance Passenger Information/Passenger Name Record data.
(6) According to a Department of State FY 2018 annual
report, the United States issued over 120,000 nonimmigrant
visas to Polish nationals and over 50,000 nonimmigrant visas to
Romanian nationals.
(7) A Fiscal Year 2017 Report by the Department of Homeland
Security found that the suspected in-country overstay rate was
1.17 percent for Poland and 1.19 percent for Romania.
(8) Poland has taken a serious stance against terrorism in
recent years. This has included withdrawing from a refugee
relocation plan by the EU after the 2015 Paris terror attacks.
(9) Romania deployed approximately 730 troops to
Afghanistan and Iraq and has signed all twelve of the
international protocols and conventions pertaining to
terrorism.
(10) Congress should continue to promote the economy and
provide government agencies with the necessary resources
through the VWP. The inclusion of Poland and Romania in the VWP
program would contribute to program goals.
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF PROGRAM COUNTRIES.
Section 217(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1187(c)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2)(A)--
(A) in the heading for the subparagraph, by
inserting after ``Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate''
the following: ``; low visa overstay rate'';
(B) in clause (i), by striking ``or'' at the end;
(C) in clause (ii), by striking the period and
inserting ``; or''; and
(D) by adding at the end the following:
``(iii) in the case of any other country--
``(I) the visa overstay rate (as
such term is defined in paragraph (8))
for that country was not more than 2
percent during the previous 2 fiscal
years;
``(II) the country is a signatory
to and has committed, during the
previous two fiscal years, sufficient
resources to support its obligations
under the Wales Summit Declaration,
issued at the meeting of the North
Atlantic Council in Wales on September
5, 2014; and
``(III) the Department of State has
not, in the previous fiscal year,
issued a travel advisory other than
`exercise normal precautions' for
travel to the country.''; and
(2) in paragraph (3), to read as follows:
``(3) Continuing and subsequent qualifications.--For each
fiscal year after the initial period--
``(A) Continuing qualification.--In the case of a
country which was a program country in the previous
fiscal year, a country may not be designated as a
program country unless--
``(i) the sum of--
``(I) the total of the number of
nationals of that country who were
denied admission at the time of arrival
or withdrew their application for
admission during such previous fiscal
year as a nonimmigrant visitor, and
``(II) the total number of
nationals of that country who were
admitted as nonimmigrant visitors
during such previous fiscal year and
who violated the terms of such
admission,
was less than 2 percent of the total number of
nationals of that country who applied for
admission as nonimmigrant visitors during such
previous fiscal year; or
``(ii) in the case of that country--
``(I) the visa overstay rate (as
such term is defined in paragraph (8))
for that country was not more than 2
percent during the previous 2 fiscal
years;
``(II) the country is a signatory
to and has committed, during the
previous two fiscal years, sufficient
resources to support its obligations
under the Wales Summit Declaration,
issued at the meeting of the North
Atlantic Council in Wales on September
5, 2014; and
``(III) the Department of State has
not, in the previous fiscal year,
issued a travel advisory other than
`exercise normal precautions' for
travel to the country.
``(B) New countries.--In the case of another
country, the country may not be designated as a program
country unless one of the following requirements under
clause (i) or (ii) is met:
``(i) Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate.--
The average number of refusals of nonimmigrant
visitor visas for nationals of that country--
``(I) during the two previous full
fiscal years was less than 2 percent of
the total number of nonimmigrant
visitor visas for nationals of that
country which were granted or refused
during those years; and
``(II) during either of such two
previous full fiscal years was less
than 2.5 percent of the total number of
nonimmigrant visitor visas for
nationals of that country which were
granted or refused during that year.
``(ii) Low visa overstay rate.--In the case
of that country--
``(I) the visa overstay rate (as
such term is defined in paragraph (8))
for that country was not more than 2
percent during the previous 2 fiscal
years;
``(II) the country is a signatory
to and has committed, during the
previous two fiscal years, sufficient
resources to support its obligations
under the Wales Summit Declaration,
issued at the meeting of the North
Atlantic Council in Wales on September
5, 2014; and
``(III) the Department of State has
not, in the previous fiscal year,
issued a travel advisory other than
`exercise normal precautions' for
travel to the country.''.
SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act may be
construed to require or direct the termination of the designation of a
country as a program country under section 217 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187).
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