VISA WAIVER UPDATE: August, 2007
From Cristian Gaginsky, Minister-Counselor
Embassy of Romania (USA)
202-232.4747 ext. 106
Dear Friends,
As August is almost over and we gear up for a busy second half of the year, I thought it useful and timely to give you an update on our efforts to secure new legislation that would allow Romania and the other Central and East European countries to join the Visa Waiver program (VWP). As you know, at the beginning of this year we formed a coalition in Washington that comprised seven countries (Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic). The scope of the coalition was to lobby the entire Washington establishment (Administration and Congress) to use the momentum created by President Bush’s vision of an improved and expanded VWP, as articulated in his speech in Talinn (Estonia) on November 28, 2006. Shortly after this speech, the Department of Homeland Security came up with a legislative plan that would create new conditions for admission of our countries into the VWP while enhancing the security safeguards of the entire program. The plan was seen as a win-win solution for a long overdue problem. It would address the current vulnerabilities of the VWP and it would expand the program thus creating a larger and more secure transatlantic space. It would create a shift from an immigration-oriented to a post 9/11 security-oriented approach to international travel.
At the beginning of 2007, the legislative plan was taken over by a number of senators and it was brought up in Congress as a legislative amendment to the Implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s Recommendations Act of 2007 (S4). Sponsors of this amendment were senators Voinovich, Mikulski, Stevens and Akaka. The amendment was incorporated in the larger act by decision of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, under the leadership of senators Lieberman and Collins. Unfortunately though, the amendment was altered through a proposal made by senator Feinstein that would limit the Administration’s discretion to waive some of the hardest and most unfair admission conditions. Hence, the legislation still maintains the visa refusal rate as a determinative condition for aspirant countries. There are however two compromises: (1) the visa refusal rate has increased from 3% to 10% - a measure that does not benefit but a couple of countries, and those two still uncertain; and (2) it creates an alternative condition which is the overstay rate (the rate of those nationals coming on non-immigrant visas who do not leave the United States by the end of their authorized stay limits). The overstay rate is not known at this time, for any country, because there is no such a measurable system in the US yet. The legislation provides that the assessment of any country’s admission into the program will take place only after the US Administration certifies to Congress, among others, that an exit system to measure overstays has been put in place. DHS estimates that the implementation of this required exit system can take about a year. After the system is put in place, they will need another year to collect data and only then will be able to measure the rates and decide which of the countries qualify.
In the House of Representatives the debate was even more heated. There is a significant number of members who oppose the VWP altogether and continue to be concerned with the immigration threat. We responded with numbers, showing that the number of visitors coming each year from the existing VWP member countries is of about 13 million, while the number of visitors from all our seven countries is less than half a million per year. We suggested that the security concerns should be greater than this perceived “immigration threat” and insisted on the commitment of our countries to participate in the new security programs. The House held one hearing and one briefing on the matter, where officials from both DHS and State Department, as well as think tank analysts, explicitly certified that delaying expansion of the VWP would prolong the security risks for the United States and Europe.
After committee and floor debate concluded in the House and Senate, members held a conference committee to unify the provisions for a single Implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s Recommendations Act of 2007. We were very active in the pre-conference and conference discussions, running to more than 30 Hill meetings, sending letters to all conference members, having other members send dear colleague letters to the conferees, and generating press articles to advocate our goals. Despite all of our efforts, the final report of the conference and the final text of the legislation remained as it had been agreed upon in the Senate. This means expansion of the VWP is now possible to include our countries, but it takes time (about two years) until decisions are made.
I stop here for a moment to just say how proud and thankful we are and have been to have you all actively involved on our side. Every one of the seven countries which form the coalition has worked in solid partnership with their respective ethnic communities. Members of the communities were very helpful to address the VWP issue at the state or district constituency level to many of the relevant senators or representatives. They wrote letters, they made phone calls, they helped arrange meetings with the congressmen. All these efforts were hugely important because every member of Congress became aware that this issue is an issue of direct interest to his or her constituency. We’ve made a good name as the Romanian American community by reaching out effectively to important Congress members. The letters that each of you had sent were timely and expressive. The phone calls generated reactions at the senators’ offices in Washington.
We have built quite a strong support and sympathy in Congress for our cause. The passage of the 9/11 Act may have been just a step towards achieving our goal. The Act allows for VWP expansion, but the expansion will not be immediate. While we appreciate this step, we feel this is not the end of our efforts. We are committed to try to make expansion happen more rapidly and in a way that truly reflects the level of trust and friendship between Romania (and all the Central European countries) and the United States. Continuous reliance on the outdated and arbitrary visa refusal rates, and even the overstay rate, just doesn’t fit into the present equation of security partnership between our countries and of closeness and friendship between our communities. This vision is entirely shared by the US Administration and by an increasing number of members of Congress.
So what’s next? We have taken the time of August and September to make a realistic assessment of our possible next steps. We contemplate a further legislative change to speed up the VWP expansion process and to make it less dependant on bureaucratic barriers. We think the change is still possible in this congressional term and we want to identify the best ways and means to induce a more flexible approach by the Congress. We plan to go ahead with full speed and force and as usual we count on your substantial support. We will keep you updated on our assessment and plan to present you with a strategy that will adequately involve all of our efforts.
I do hope you will find this update useful and express once again our thanks for everything you have done so far. We are confident that our voice has been heard and has had a great impact. We have every reason to continue to build on what we’ve accomplished thus far.
Thank you for your time to read through this message. I look forward to continuing our work together.
With warm regards,
Cristian Gaginsky