Allied Nations Travel Modernization Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2946 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for certain addi- tional 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Allied Nations Travel 4 Modernization Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 (1) In 2016, 23 million people entered the 8 United States under the Visa Waiver Program 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2946.IH H2946 lotter on DSKFW84QD2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2946 IH (VWP). Visitors through VWP constituted roughly 1 1⁄3 of all temporary visitors. According to the De- 2 partment of Commerce, VWP travelers in fiscal year 3 2014 spent approximately $84 billion on goods and 4 services. 5 (2) Due to the VWP, the U.S. Government 6 saved from $1.9 billion to $3.2 billion for the cost 7 of interviewing visitors in 2010. 8 (3) All VWP countries are required to enter 9 into information-sharing agreements with the United 10 States on whether the citizens or nationals of that 11 country traveling to the United States represent a 12 security or criminal threat to the United States. 13 (4) VWP countries have provided the United 14 States with information on more than 6,000 known 15 or suspected terrorists as a result of VWP informa- 16 tion sharing arrangements. 17 (5) VWP countries have provided nearly 70 per- 18 cent of the records in INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost 19 Travel Document Database, which DHS utilizes in 20 its daily vetting of ESTA applications and Advance 21 Passenger Information/Passenger Name Record 22 data. 23 (6) According to a Department of State FY 24 2018 annual report, the United States issued over 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2946.IH H2946 lotter on DSKFW84QD2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2946 IH 120,000 nonimmigrant visas to Polish nationals and 1 over 50,000 nonimmigrant visas to Romanian na- 2 tionals. 3 (7) A Fiscal Year 2017 Report by the Depart- 4 ment of Homeland Security found that the suspected 5 in-country overstay rate was 1.17 percent for Poland 6 and 1.19 percent for Romania. 7 (8) Poland has taken a serious stance against 8 terrorism in recent years. This has included with- 9 drawing from a refugee relocation plan by the EU 10 after the 2015 Paris terror attacks. 11 (9) Romania deployed approximately 730 troops 12 to Afghanistan and Iraq and has signed all twelve 13 of the international protocols and conventions per- 14 taining to terrorism. 15 (10) Congress should continue to promote the 16 economy and provide government agencies with the 17 necessary resources through the VWP. The inclusion 18 of Poland and Romania in the VWP program would 19 contribute to program goals. 20 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF PROGRAM COUNTRIES. 21 Section 217(c) of the Immigration and Nationality 22 Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)) is amended— 23 (1) in paragraph (2)(A)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2946.IH H2946 lotter on DSKFW84QD2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2946 IH (A) in the heading for the subparagraph, 1 by inserting after ‘‘LOW NONIMMIGRANT VISA 2 REFUSAL RATE’’ the following: ‘‘; LOW VISA 3 OVERSTAY RATE’’; 4 (B) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 5 end; 6 (C) in clause (ii), by striking the period 7 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 8 (D) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(iii) in the case of any other coun- 10 try— 11 ‘‘(I) the visa overstay rate (as 12 such term is defined in paragraph (8)) 13 for that country was not more than 2 14 percent during the previous 2 fiscal 15 years; 16 ‘‘(II) the country is a signatory 17 to and has committed, during the pre- 18 vious two fiscal years, sufficient re- 19 sources to support its obligations 20 under the Wales Summit Declaration, 21 issued at the meeting of the North At- 22 lantic Council in Wales on September 23 5, 2014; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2946.IH H2946 lotter on DSKFW84QD2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2946 IH ‘‘(III) the Department of State 1 has not, in the previous fiscal year, 2 issued a travel advisory other than 3 ‘exercise normal precautions’ for trav- 4 el to the country.’’; and 5 (2) in paragraph (3), to read as follows: 6 ‘‘(3) CONTINUING AND SUBSEQUENT QUALI- 7 FICATIONS.—For each fiscal year after the initial pe- 8 riod— 9 ‘‘(A) CONTINUING QUALIFICATION.—In 10 the case of a country which was a program 11 country in the previous fiscal year, a country 12 may not be designated as a program country 13 unless— 14 ‘‘(i) the sum of— 15 ‘‘(I) the total of the number of 16 nationals of that country who were de- 17 nied admission at the time of arrival 18 or withdrew their application for ad- 19 mission during such previous fiscal 20 year as a nonimmigrant visitor, and 21 ‘‘(II) the total number of nation- 22 als of that country who were admitted 23 as nonimmigrant visitors during such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2946.IH H2946 lotter on DSKFW84QD2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2946 IH previous fiscal year and who violated 1 the terms of such admission, 2 was less than 2 percent of the total num- 3 ber of nationals of that country who ap- 4 plied for admission as nonimmigrant visi- 5 tors during such previous fiscal year; or 6 ‘‘(ii) in the case of that country— 7 ‘‘(I) the visa overstay rate (as 8 such term is defined in paragraph (8)) 9 for that country was not more than 2 10 percent during the previous 2 fiscal 11 years; 12 ‘‘(II) the country is a signatory 13 to and has committed, during the pre- 14 vious two fiscal years, sufficient re- 15 sources to support its obligations 16 under the Wales Summit Declaration, 17 issued at the meeting of the North At- 18 lantic Council in Wales on September 19 5, 2014; and 20 ‘‘(III) the Department of State 21 has not, in the previous fiscal year, 22 issued a travel advisory other than 23 ‘exercise normal precautions’ for trav- 24 el to the country. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2946.IH H2946 lotter on DSKFW84QD2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2946 IH ‘‘(B) NEW COUNTRIES.—In the case of an- 1 other country, the country may not be des- 2 ignated as a program country unless one of the 3 following requirements under clause (i) or (ii) is 4 met: 5 ‘‘(i) LOW NONIMMIGRANT VISA RE- 6 FUSAL RATE.—The average number of re- 7 fusals of nonimmigrant visitor visas for na- 8 tionals of that country— 9 ‘‘(I) during the two previous full 10 fiscal years was less than 2 percent of 11 the total number of nonimmigrant vis- 12 itor visas for nationals of that country 13 which were granted or refused during 14 those years; and 15 ‘‘(II) during either of such two 16 previous full fiscal years was less than 17 2.5 percent of the total number of 18 nonimmigrant visitor visas for nation- 19 als of that country which were grant- 20 ed or refused during that year. 21 ‘‘(ii) LOW VISA OVERSTAY RATE.—In 22 the case of that country— 23 ‘‘(I) the visa overstay rate (as 24 such term is defined in paragraph (8)) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2946.IH H2946 lotter on DSKFW84QD2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2946 IH for that country was not more than 2 1 percent during the previous 2 fiscal 2 years; 3 ‘‘(II) the country is a signatory 4 to and has committed, during the pre- 5 vious two fiscal years, sufficient re- 6 sources to support its obligations 7 under the Wales Summit Declaration, 8 issued at the meeting of the North At- 9 lantic Council in Wales on September 10 5, 2014; and 11 ‘‘(III) the Department of State 12 has not, in the previous fiscal year, 13 issued a travel advisory other than 14 ‘exercise normal precautions’ for trav- 15 el to the country.’’. 16 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 17 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 18 Act may be construed to require or direct the termination 19 of the designation of a country as a program country 20 under section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 21 (8 U.S.C. 1187). 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2946.IH H2946 lotter on DSKFW84QD2PROD with BILLS