William F. Smith: “Mr. Chairman, H.R. 2578 extends the visa waiver pilot program. The visa waiver program allows business visitors and…”

“Mr. Chairman, H.R. 2578 extends the visa waiver pilot program. The visa waiver program allows business visitors and tourists to enter the United States without obtaining a visa. Currently, 26 nations have qualified as visa waiver countries. Normally, a consular officer conducts a face-to-face interview with a visa applicant to check for fraudulent documents and to weed out individuals who do not plan to leave the United States before their visas expire. Since the visa waiver program removes the ordinary visa requirement, there is very legitimate concern that those intending to violate our immigration laws, and perhaps more serious crimes inside the United States, could very well abuse it. The security of the program currently rests on two standards. First, to become eligible, a nation must have a visa refusal rate of less than 2 percent. Second, to remain in the program, a nation must have a visa overstay rate of less than 2 percent. The INS has been unable to calculate specific visa overstay rates for close to 5 years, so there is no reliable way to determine if a country should, in fact, remain in the program.”