[House Document 106-78]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
106th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 106-78
A REPORT TO THE CONGRESS CONCERNING THE EXTENSION OF WAIVER AUTHORITY
FOR VIETNAM
__________
COMMUNICATION
from
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
transmitting
NOTIFICATION OF HIS DETERMINATION THAT CONTINUATION OF THE WAIVER
CURRENTLY IN EFFECT FOR VIETNAM WILL SUBSTANTIALLY PROMOTE THE
OBJECTIVES OF SECTION 402 OF THE TRADE ACT OF 1974, PURSUANT TO 19
U.S.C. 2432 (c) AND (d)
June 7, 1999.--Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means and ordered
to be printed
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
69-011 WASHINGTON : 1999
The White House,
Washington, June 3, 1999.
Hon. J. Dennis Hastert,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Speaker: I hereby transmit the document referred
to in subsection 402(d)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (the
``Act''), as amended, with respect to the continuation of a
waiver of the application of subsections (a) and (b) of section
402 of the Act to Vietnam. This document constitutes my
recommendation to continue in effect this waiver for a further
12-month period and includes my determination that continuation
of the waiver currently in effect for Vietnam will
substantially promote the objectives of section 402 of the Act,
and my reasons for such determination.
Sincerely,
William J. Clinton.
Report to the Congress Concerning the Extension of Waiver Authority for
Vietnam
Pursuant to subsection 402(d)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974
(hereinafter ``the Act''), as amended, having determined that
further extension of the waiver authority granted by subsection
402(c) of the Act for 12 months will substantially promote the
objectives of section 402, I have today determined that
continuation of the waiver currently applicable to Vietnam will
also substantially promote the objectives of section 402 of the
Act. My determination is attached and incorporated herein.
Freedom of Emigration Determination
Overall, Vietnam's emigration policy has liberalized
considerably in the last decade and a half. Vietnam has a solid
record of cooperation with the United States in permitting
Vietnamese to emigrate. Over 500,000 Vietnamese have emigrated
as refugees or immigrants to the United States under the
Orderly Departure Program (ODP), and only a small number of
refugee applicants remain to be processed.
The Government of Vietnam (GVN) cooperates with the U.S.
Government to clear for interview applicants under ODP and the
Resettlement Opportunities for Vietnamese Returnees (ROVR)
program. The GVN issues passports and exit permits to
Vietnamese approved for admission to the United States and, in
the case of ROVR applicants, expedites the departure clearance
process. Based on progress made on refugee processing to date,
it is our aim to complete processing of nearly all of the
current ODP caseload before the end of FY 1999. Moreover, the
GVN recently stated its commitment to take all steps necessary
to assist us in meeting this goal for all refugee programs,
including ROVR and Montagnard cases.
After a slow start, processing of eligible cases under the
ROVR program accelerated dramatically in 1998 and is now near
completion. As of June 1, 1999, the GVN had cleared for
interview 19,975 individuals, or 96 percent of the ROVR
applicants. By contrast, at this time last year, the GVN had
cleared 78 percent of applicants. Once cleared for interview by
the GVN, applicants must gather the documents necessary to
support their applications and be scheduled for interview with
ODP, which will determine their qualification for subsequent
interview by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
The INS has approved 15,833 for admission to the United States,
14,715 of which have departed for the United States. An
additional 463 await INS interview. The difference between the
number of individuals cleared by the GVN and the number
approved by the INS or awaiting interview is the result of
determinations made by ODP and INS. ODP has determined 8
percent of ROVR applicants (1,668 people) not to be qualified
for an INS interview according to U.S. ROVR guidelines. INS has
determined that 11 percent (1,996 people) are not admissible to
the United States as refugees.
In contrast to May 1998, when the GVN had not yet responded
on 1,353 ROVR cases representing 2,718 people, the GVN reduced
the number of cases on which no action had been taken, as of
June 1, 1999, to 79 cases involving 166 individuals. Likewise,
progress has also been made on cases in which the GVN initially
denied clearance for interview. As of May 11, 1998, 776 cases
were listed as having been denied clearance. However, the GVN
authorities reported that, in a significant number of cases,
they had been unable to provide clearance to applicants because
of address problems or because the applicants had declined to
attend a clearance interview. ODP has worked to provide the GVN
with updated information on such cases in order to permit it to
reverse its denial of clearance in as many cases as possible.
As a result of this cooperation, the number of cases denied
clearance has been reduced to 422 cases, representing 628
individuals.
The greatest problem for ROVR processing at this time is
the failure of some cleared applicants to appear at the ODP
office in Ho Chi Minh City for their INS interview. This
problem may hamper our efforts to wrap up the ROVR program by
the end of FY 1999.
ODP has also given particular attention to completion of
the Former Re-education Camp Detainees program, known popularly
as the ``HO'' program. Under this program, eligible applicants
must have been detained for at least three years in a re-
education camp because of their association with the United
States or the former South Vietnamese government. As of May 24,
1999, there were only 287 HO cases comprising 1,480 persons who
had not been interviewed by INS. Of these, the GVN had not
cleared for interview 244 cases involving 1,320 persons;
however, it should be noted that the individuals in many of
those cases are uncleared because they have not applied to the
GVN for exit permission. Officials at the Department of State
and our diplomatic posts in Vietnam continue to press the GVN
at every level to authorize interviews of the remaining cases
for thosewho wish to depart. The U.S. Government will not
consider the HO program to be completed until the last applicant has
had the opportunity to be interviewed by ODP or we have an acceptable
accounting for each case.
A sub-group of the HO program consists of applicants
covered by the ``McCain Amendment.'' These are persons over the
age of 21 who are the sons and daughters of former re-education
camp detainees who were approved for admission as refugees
after April 1, 1995. Under worldwide U.S. refugee processing
criteria, only the minor, unmarried children of a principal
applicant can be included in a case. Under the McCain
Amendment, however, the sons and daughters over the age of 21
can be included in HO cases as long as they are single. This is
retroactive to persons interviewed after April 1, 1995, with
the proviso that sons and daughters who married after their
parent was approved are still eligible for processing if they
were single at the time of their parent's refugee interview.
The provision was expanded last year to include sons and
daughters of widows of detainees who died in a re-education
camp or as a result of that detention, and those persons who
were eligible for admission as refugees but who instead were
admitted on immigrant visas.
As of May 24, 1999, there were 558 cases which remained
eligible for consideration under the McCain Amendment, although
many of these do not appear interested in pursuing
applications. The GVN cooperates with us fully in implementing
the McCain Amendment. We expect to complete processing of all
interested cases before the provision expires at the end of the
fiscal year.
Regarding GVN cooperation on the emigration of refugee
cases involving Montagnards, progress has been made since the
Jackson-Vanik waiver for Vietnam was extended in 1998. The GVN
cleared 220 individuals (32 cases) for interview, of which 118
(18 cases) have been approved for resettlement in the United
States by the INS. In addition, the GVN has provided
information regarding their inability to clear for interview
265 individuals (36 cases). The most common reasons include
address problems and failure to meet the requirement of three
years in re-education. As with all other residual refugee
cases, ODP and other USG officials will continue to press the
GVN to expedite processing.
GVN progress on freedom of emigration in 1998 and the early
part of 1999 has permitted us to near completion of various ODP
refugee admissions programs in Vietnam. U.S. Government
officals both in Washington and in Vietnam will continue to
press the Vietnamese at all levels to take all necessary steps
to expeditiously complete processing under these programs and
ensure that all interested applicants have the opportunity to
interview and, if qualified, depart for the United States.
Completion of ODP ad ROVR programs will not mean the end of
U.S. refugee processing in Vietnam. We are designing a new, in-
country program to address the rescue needs of individuals who
have suffered recent persecution or who have a well-founded
fear of future persecution on account of race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or
political option. The U.S. Government is also committed to
interview those individuals eligible for the ODP sub-program
for former U.S. Government employees who did not receive
interviews because of the 1996 suspension of the program by the
United States. The GVN has formally agreed to cooperate with us
in implementing this program.
The GVN's cooperation in permitting the timely processing
of most other current non-refugee immigrant visa cases has also
continued to be good. In 1998, 9,742 immigrant visas were
issued to Vietnamese under ODP. The Department of State expects
that over 25,000 Vietnamese will apply for immigrant visas
under the regular immigration program in FY 1999. As of April
30, 1999, 8,303 immigrant visas had been issued to Vietnamese.
We expect the number of applications to rise to 30,000 in FY
2000.
We expect that efforts by U.S. officials to impress on the
GVN the importance of Vietnam's continued cooperation on
immigration together with the extension of the Jackson-Vanik
waiver will encourage the Vietnamese to further liberalize
their emigration policy and resolve specific problems that face
our refugee and immigration programs.