Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Examines Visa Waiver Program

Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Examines Visa Waiver Program
On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security about problems implementing the new visa waiver requirements Congress adopted last year. In particular, GAO testimony revealed that Homeland Security's strategy to detect visa overstayers will likely fail. (GAO Testimony, Visa Waiver Program: Limitations with Department of Homeland Security's Plan to Verify Departure of Foreign Nationals, GAO-08-458T, February 28, 2008)

The Visa Waiver Program, established in 1986, permits foreign nationals from 27 countries to enter the U.S. for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa from a U.S. Embassy or consulate. Until recently, any country could be eligible to participate in the visa waiver program if on an annual basis less than 3 percent of nationals who applied for entry to the U.S. were denied. According to the 9/11 Commission, Mohammed Atta was able to enter the U.S. without a visa interview because he was considered a citizen of Germany, a visa waiver country, and remained in the U.S. to plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (9/11 Commission, Staff Monograph on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel, Chapter 2) Because of this weakness, some argued that Congress should have suspended the program last year when it passed H.R. 1, the Implementing of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-53).

Instead, H.R. 1 made it possible for Homeland Security to expand the visa waiver program to admit citizens of countries that have refusal rates between 3 and 10 percent. However, before the government may consider whether a country is eligible for the visa waiver program under these new, relaxed standards, Homeland Security must:

Certify that an electronic travel authorization system is fully in place that would require foreign nationals to provide the U.S. with biographic information before boarding a flight to the U.S.;
Implement a biometric exit system at U.S. airports utilizing fingerprints and other biometric identifiers to verify the departure of foreign nationals from the U.S.; and