[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 634 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 634

To designate Poland as a program country under the visa waiver program 
 established under section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 
                     subject to special conditions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 2005

 Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas (for herself, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. 
    Towns, and Ms. Kaptur) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To designate Poland as a program country under the visa waiver program 
 established under section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 
                     subject to special conditions.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Poland is one of the closest allies of the United 
        States in Europe and worldwide; the diplomatic, political, 
        military, and economic relationships between the two countries 
        have never been better in history, but personal contacts among 
        ordinary individuals are lagging behind. Over the medium and 
        long terms, this will start to affect the overall quality of 
        the strategic partnership between the United States and Poland.
            (2) Poland has actively participated in the global campaign 
        against terrorism led by the United States. There is an 
        indication that the threat of potential terrorist activities 
        generated in Poland is actually smaller than that in most of 
        the 27 countries currently participating in the visa waiver 
        program established under section 217 of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act. Polish citizens have not been involved in any 
        form of terrorist activities on the territory of the United 
        States or against the interests of the United States overseas.
            (3) Since joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 
        March 12, 1999, Poland has proven to be a reliable partner and 
        a capable guarantor of NATO security in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
            (4) From the first days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Poland 
        has been a staunch ally to the United States and has committed 
        its soldiers to help with ongoing stabilization efforts in 
        Iraq.
            (5) In recognition of the historic changes in our bilateral 
        relations and motivated by the sincere need to enhance contacts 
        between Polish and United States citizens, on April 15, 1991, 
        Poland unilaterally repealed its visa obligation for United 
        States citizens seeking to travel to Poland for a period of 90 
        days or less.
            (6) The Polish-American community of 9.3 million people 
        contributed significantly to the development of the United 
        States.
            (7) Since the movement known as ``Solidarity'' and the 
        turning point of 1989, Poland has undergone great political, 
        social, and economic changes. It has become a nation committed 
        to traditional values, rules of law, freedom, and democracy.
            (8) On May 1, 2004, Poland became a member state of the 
        vibrant European Union. Poland is a free market economy, and 
        Poland's integration within the European structures has had a 
        stabilizing effect on its economy.
            (9) More than 150,000 Polish citizens visited the United 
        States in 2003.
            (10) Poland's visa refusal rate has declined dramatically, 
        and it continues to decline. Nevertheless, the visa refusal 
        rate is an arbitrary standard that is not an objective 
        measurement because it does not reflect the propensity of 
        nationals from Poland to violate the terms of their admission 
        into the United States.
            (11) Poland participates in the work and travel program 
        that allows about 25,000 Polish students to visit the United 
        States each year.
            (12) Warsaw International Airport Okecie participates in 
        the pilot program of voluntary passenger screening for 
        passengers leaving Warsaw to fly to the United States.
            (13) If Poland is allowed to conditionally participate in 
        the visa waiver program, the Polish government will develop and 
        implement a campaign to prevent Polish citizens from remaining 
        in the United States beyond their authorized period of 
        admission or otherwise violating the terms of their admission 
        into the United States.
            (14) The Polish government is committed to becoming a 
        successful part of the visa waiver program.
            (15) Poland is ready to demonstrate that adequate 
        safeguards against fraudulent use of its passports are in 
        place, including proper storage of blank passports and 
        sufficient screening of passport applicants.
            (16) Poland is determined to fulfill its obligations and 
        introduce extremely safe passports for its citizens, including 
        two mandatory biometric identifiers. This is in addition to 
        satisfaction of the machine-readable requirements for passports 
        described in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
            (17) On February 23, 2004, and May 11, 2004, the assemblies 
        of New Jersey and Massachusetts, respectively, enacted 
        resolutions urging the President and the Congress to make 
        Poland eligible for the visa waiver program.

SEC. 2. TEMPORARY AND CONDITIONAL DESIGNATIONS OF POLAND FOR VISA 
              WAIVER PROGRAM.

    (a) Temporary Designation.--
            (1) In general.--Effective on the date of the enactment of 
        this Act, and notwithstanding section 217(c) of the Immigration 
        and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)), Poland temporarily 
        shall be designated a program country for purposes of the visa 
        waiver program established under section 217 of such Act.
            (2) Expiration.--The temporary designation described in 
        paragraph (1) shall expire on the date that is 18 months after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Review.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall determine the 
overstay rate for the portion of the period of temporary designation 
described in subsection (a) that has elapsed when the determination is 
made. Based on such calculation, the Secretary shall determine whether 
Poland permanently, but conditionally, shall be designated a program 
country for purposes of such visa waiver program.
    (c) Duration, Suspension, and Termination of Conditional 
Designation.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, if the Secretary determines under subsection (b) that 
        Poland permanently, but conditionally, shall be designated a 
        program country, Poland shall continue to be a program country 
        for purposes of the visa waiver program as long as the annual 
        overstay rate for each fiscal year remains below 3 percent.
            (2) Suspension.--If the overstay rate for a fiscal year 
        exceeds 3 percent, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
        suspend the designation of Poland as a program country for 
        purposes of the visa waiver program for a period of 1 year.
            (3) Termination.--If the annual overstay rate exceeds 3 
        percent for any two fiscal years (regardless of whether such 
        years are consecutive), the Secretary of Homeland Security 
        shall terminate the designation of Poland as a program country 
        for purposes of the visa waiver program.
            (4) Redesignation.--The Secretary of Homeland Security may 
        redesignate Poland as a program country without regard to any 
        other law when the Secretary determines that Poland has 
        established satisfactory new safeguards to ensure that the 
        overstay rate will remain acceptably low.
    (d) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term ``overstay 
rate'' means the percentage which--
            (1) the total number of nationals of Poland who were 
        admitted as nonimmigrant visitors during the applicable 
        measurement period and who violated the terms of such 
        admission; bears to
            (2) the total number of nationals of such country who 
        applied for admission as nonimmigrant visitors during such 
        period.
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