[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 14 (Thursday, February 6, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MURKOWSKI (for himself, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Akaka, Mr. 
        Stevens, and Mr. Thomas):
  S. 290. A bill to establish a visa waiver pilot program for nationals 
of Korea who are traveling in tour groups to the United States; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.


            The Korea Visa Waiver Pilot Project Act of 1997

  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, today I, along with Senators Stevens, 
Inouye, Akaka and Thomas, am introducing the Korea Visa Waiver Pilot 
Project Bill of 1997.''
  This bill addresses the problem of the slow issuance of United States 
tourist visas to Korean citizens. Koreans typically wait up to 3 weeks 
to obtain tourist visas from the United States Embassy in Seoul. As a 
result, most of these spontaneous travelers decide to vacation in one 
of the other 48 nations that allow them to travel to their country 
without a visa, including both Canada and New Zealand.
  This legislation provides a carefully controlled pilot program of 
visa-free travel by small groups of Koreans to the United States. The 
program seeks to capture the Korean tourism market lost due to the 
cumbersome visa system. For example, New Zealand experienced a 2,400-
percent increase in tourism from Korea after easing its visa 
requirements in 1993.
  The pilot program is designed to allow visitors in a tour group from 
South Korea to travel to the United States without a visa for up to 15 
days. However, it does not compromise the security standards of the 
United States. The program would allow selected travel agencies in 
Korea to issue temporary travel permits based on applicants meeting the 
same preset standards used by the United States Embassy in Seoul. The 
travel permits could only be used by supervised tour groups.
  While the pilot project would allow small Korean tour groups to 
travel to the United States without visas, the project includes many 
restrictions. These are:

       The Attorney General and Secretary of State can terminate 
     the program if the overstay rates in the program are over 2 
     percent.
       The stay of the visitors is less than or equal to 15 days.
       The visitors must have a round-trip ticket and arrive by a 
     carrier that agrees to return them if they are deemed 
     inadmissible.
       The Secretary of State should institute a bonding and 
     licensing requirement that each participating travel agency 
     post a substantial performance bond and pay a financial 
     penalty if a tourist fails to return on schedule.
       The on-time return of each tourist in the group would be 
     certified after each tour.
       Security checks will be done to ensure that the visitor is 
     not a safety threat to the United States.

  This legislation's restrictions ensure that the pilot program will be 
a successful program, and one that I hope will entice more Korean 
tourists to visit the United States.
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