[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.

                                  
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