[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4707 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4707

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make permanent the visa 
    waiver program and to authorize, under certain conditions, the 
  designation of certain member states of the European Union as visa 
                       waiver program countries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 30, 1994

 Mr. Machtley introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make permanent the visa 
    waiver program and to authorize, under certain conditions, the 
  designation of certain member states of the European Union as visa 
                       waiver program countries.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PERMANENT VISA WAIVER PROGRAM.

    Section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187) 
is amended--
            (1) by amending the section heading to read as follows:

             ``visa waiver program for certain visitors'';

            (2) in the heading of subsection (a), (a)(2), and (c) by 
        striking ``Pilot'' and ``pilot'' each place either appears and 
        inserting ``Visa Waiver'' and ``visa waiver'', respectively;
            (3) in subsection (a)(1) by striking ``during the pilot 
        program period (as defined in subsection (e)),'';
            (4) in subsection (c)(3) by striking ``(within the pilot 
        program period) after the initial period'';
            (5) in subsection (c) by striking paragraph (4);
            (6) in subsection (e)(1)(A) by striking ``(a)(1)(A)'' and 
        inserting ``(a)(1)'';
            (7) by striking ``pilot'' each place it appears and 
        inserting ``visa waiver''; and
            (8) by striking subsection (f).

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN MEMBER STATES OF EUROPEAN UNION UNDER THE 
              VISA WAIVER PROGRAM.

    Section 217(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1187(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Designation of certain member states of european 
        union.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A country that is, and has been 
                since January 1, 1994, a member state of the European 
                Union may be designated as a visa waiver program 
                country if it meets the requirements of this paragraph 
                and subparagraphs (C) and (D) of paragraph (2).
                    ``(B) Qualifications.--A member state of the 
                European Union may not be designated as a visa waiver 
                program country unless the following requirements are 
                met:
                            ``(i) Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate 
                        for eligible member states for previous 2-year 
                        period.--The average number of refusals of 
                        nonimmigrant visitor visas for all nationals of 
                        member states of the European Union eligible 
                        for designation under subparagraph (A) during 
                        the two previous full fiscal years was less 
                        than 2.0 percent of the total number of 
                        nonimmigrant visitor visas for all nationals of 
                        such member states of the European Union which 
                        were granted or refused during that year.
                            ``(ii) Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate 
                        for eligible member states for each of 2 
                        previous years.--The average number of refusals 
                        of nonimmigrant visitor visas for all nationals 
                        of member states of the European Union eligible 
                        for designation under subparagraph (A) during 
                        either of such two previous full fiscal years 
                        was less than 2.5 percent of the total number 
                        of nonimmigrant visitor visas for all nationals 
                        of such member states of the European Union 
                        which were granted or refused during that year.
                            ``(iii) Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate 
                        for that member state for each of 2 previous 
                        years.--The average number of refusals of 
                        nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of 
                        that member state during either of such two 
                        previous full fiscal years was less than 5 
                        percent of the total number of nonimmigrant 
                        visitor visas for nationals of that member 
                        state which were granted or refused during that 
                        year.
                    ``(C) Data.--In applying subparagraph (B), data on 
                visas granted or refused to nationals of a member state 
                of the European Union which has previously been 
                designated shall be the data used for purposes of the 
                first designation of that member state under this 
                subsection.''.
                                 <all>