[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 40 (Wednesday, April 1, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S3019]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         VISA WAIVER PILOT PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1998

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a 
message from the House of Representatives on the bill (S. 1178) to 
amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to extend the visa waiver 
pilot program, and for other purposes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message 
from the House of Representatives:

       Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 1178) entitled 
     ``An Act to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to 
     extend the visa waiver pilot program, and for other 
     purposes'', do pass with the following amendments:
       Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

     SECTION 1. EXTENSION OF VISA WAIVER PILOT PROGRAM.

       Section 217(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is 
     amended by striking ``1998.'' and inserting ``2000.''.

     SEC. 2. DATA ON NONIMMIGRANT OVERSTAY RATES.

       (a) Collection of Data.--Not later than the date that is 
     180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
     Attorney General shall implement a program to collect data, 
     for each fiscal year, regarding the total number of aliens 
     within each of the classes of nonimmigrant aliens described 
     in section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
     (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) whose authorized period of stay in the 
     United States terminated during the previous fiscal year, but 
     who remained in the United States notwithstanding such 
     termination.
       (b) Annual Report.--Not later than June 30, 1999, and not 
     later than June 30 of each year thereafter, the Attorney 
     General shall submit an annual report to the Congress 
     providing numerical estimates, for each country for the 
     preceding fiscal year, of the number of aliens from the 
     country who are described in subsection (a).

     SEC. 3. QUALIFICATIONS FOR DESIGNATION AS PILOT PROGRAM 
                   COUNTRY.

       Section 217(c)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1187(c)(2)), is amended to read as follows:
       ``(2) Qualifications.--Except as provided in subsection 
     (g), a country may not be designated as a pilot program 
     country unless the following requirements are met:
       ``(A) Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate.--Either--
       ``(i) the average number of refusals of nonimmigrant 
     visitor visas for nationals of that country during--

       ``(I) the two previous full fiscal years was less than 2.0 
     percent of the total number of nonimmigrant visitor visas for 
     nationals of that country which were granted or refused 
     during those years; and
       ``(II) either of such two previous full fiscal years was 
     less than 2.5 percent of the total number of nonimmigrant 
     visitor visas for nationals of that country which were 
     granted or refused during that year; or

       ``(ii) such refusal rate for nationals of that country 
     during the previous full fiscal year was less than 3.0 
     percent.
       ``(B) Machine readable passport program.--The government of 
     the country certifies that it has or is in the process of 
     developing a program to issue machine-readable passports to 
     its citizens.
       ``(C) Law enforcement interests.--The Attorney General 
     determines that the United States law enforcement interests 
     would not be compromised by the designation of the 
     country.''.

         Amend the title so as to read ``An Act to amend the 
     Immigration and Nationality Act to modify and extend the visa 
     waiver pilot program, and to provide for the collection of 
     data with respect to the number of nonimmigrants who remain 
     in the United States after the expiration of the period of 
     stay authorized by the Attorney General.''.

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
concur in the amendments of the House.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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