[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 44 (Monday, November 6, 2000)]
[Pages 2689-2690]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Visa Waiver Permanent Program Act

October 30, 2000

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 3767, the Visa Waiver Permanent 
Program Act. This Act will, among other things, make permanent a highly 
successful pilot program that for the past twelve years has permitted 
nationals of many countries to enter the United States for business and 
tourism without the necessity of first obtaining a U.S. visa, so long as 
U.S. citizens are granted similar privileges in their countries. By 
facilitating travel to the United States in this manner, the Visa Waiver 
Program is helping to generate billions of dollars in tourist and 
business revenues for U.S. companies. At the same time, it is fostering 
good will for the United States and an understanding of who we are as a 
people by giving to millions of citizens from participating countries an 
increased opportunity to visit our many natural wonders as well as the 
places that are vital to our national heritage.
    The Visa Waiver Program is good for government, too. Because 
visitors from participating countries do not have to obtain visas, the 
Department of State is able to reallocate scarce resources from issuing 
routine visas in low-risk waiver countries to doing more for American 
citizens and combating fraud in high-risk countries. Further, the 
legislation contains a provision that removes a potential roadblock to 
continued participation in the program of many countries by recognizing, 
for purposes of reciprocity, common border areas composed of several 
states.
    H.R. 3767 establishes new requirements that will strengthen the 
existing Visa Waiver Program. For example, it contains provisions to 
enhance our security by requiring that within specified time frames all 
foreign nationals entering the United States under the program have 
machine-readable passports. Those passports are less susceptible to 
fraud and can more readily assist the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service to track the entry and timely departure of foreign nationals. 
Further, H.R. 3767 requires the Attorney General, in consultation with 
the Secretary of State, prior to admitting a new country into the Visa 
Waiver Program, to consider the effect of the country's admission on the 
law enforcement and security interests of the United States. It also 
will require continual monitoring of those considerations with respect 
to all countries in the program. Finally, H.R. 3767 provides an 
emergency procedure for termination of a country's participation. This 
occurs when the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of 
State, determines that because of events in that country, such as a 
severe breakdown of law and order or economic collapse, the continued 
participation of that country would pose a threat to our law enforcement 
or security interests.
    In addition to these provisions of the Visa Waiver Program, this Act 
also includes immigration-related provisions that will further the 
Administration's objective of promoting the rapid and pro-competitive 
privatization of the International Telecommunications Satellite 
Organization (INTELSAT), a goal widely shared by INTELSAT member 
countries. By ensuring that the immigrant status of the current 
employees of this intergovernmental entity will not be adversely 
affected, the United States is affirming its commitment to a smooth 
privatization and expressing its desire to welcome a pro-competitively 
privatized INTELSAT as a valued U.S. corporate citizen.
    In its pilot state, the Visa Waiver Program has been a great 
success. Now, as a result of this legislation, it not only will be a 
better program, but it will become a permanent part of our Nation's 
immigration system.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 October 30, 2000.

[[Page 2690]]

Note: H.R. 3767, approved October 30, was assigned Public Law No. 106-
396.