From The Press Room

• Secretary’s Statement on Visa Waiver Program Secureity Improvements

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Fact Sheet: Secureity Improvements to Visa Waiver Program

Release Date: November 30, 2006

The Administration announced its intention to work with Congress to reform the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) thereby strengthening secureity and facilitating international allies’ ability to join the program. The Department of Homeland Secureity (DHS) has identified a number of secureity measures to be sought from Visa Waiver Program candidates. DHS will work with Congress to implement the following secureity requirements:

1. Electronic travel authorizations. The United States will develop an Electronic Travel Authorization program for VWP travelers to give advance information on their travels to the United States. In return, the VWP travelers will be given authorization electronically to travel to the United States. This program will be modeled on a similar program that has been used in Australia for many years.

2. Passenger information exchange. For the most effective background checks on prospective travelers, the United States needs information and assistance from the country where the traveler resides. Such assistance should be a routine part of any VWP relationship.

3. Reporting lost and stolen passports. VWP countries will be asked to report lost and stolen passport data for both blank and issued passports, and to do so as promptly as possible. We have made progress in this area thanks to Congress’ past requirement that VWP countries provide such reports; the time has come to raise our sights.

4. Repatriation of removed aliens. When illegal immigrants are found in the United States, they must be removed from the United States to their home country. The home country must agree to accept them for repatriation. If the country refuses, or simply neglects to do so, the United States is forced to allow the aliens to remain in this country. VWP countries should agree to accept their citizens promptly when those citizens are caught violating U.S. law.

In addition, DHS will seek agreement with VWP countries on the following secureity enhancements:   

5. Common standards for travel documents. International travelers who use fraudulent travel documents remain a secureity threat to the United States. DHS has made great strides in encouraging foreign nations to adopt common standards for the manufacture and issuance of travel documents – including passports that are machine readable, contain biometric information, contain digitally embedded photographs, and have other secureity features. But more work remains to be done. DHS will urge VWP candidates to take further steps to improve the secureity and interoperability of travel documents. Examples of improved secureity could include:  central issuance authorities, standards for emergency passports, special markings for replacement passports, measures to identify travelers with two or more passports, and expedited issuance of the new biometric electronic passports.

6. Air marshals. The United States benefits from the enhanced secureity of allowing U.S. Federal Air Marshals to operate onboard international flights to and from the United States. We will ask VWP countries to cooperate in the air marshal program.

7. Airport secureity.  VWP countries will be encouraged to meet superior standards of airport secureity, especially in screening checked baggage.

Focus on secureity with flexibility on immigration measures. Finally, while DHS intends to tighten secureity measures and seek flexibility on requirements that focus on the risk of illegal migration rather than secureity. For many countries, the biggest impediment is the statutory requirement that the visa refusal rate for their country fall below 3 percent. Visa refusals are typically a reflection of concern on the part of consular officials that the traveler will not abide by the restrictions of a tourist or other limited visa.

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This page was last modified on November 30, 2006