Wall Street Journal
By Miriam Jordan
January 21, 2016
In
the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks in California and Paris, the
Obama administration announced Thursday that it has begun implementing
changes to a program that
has allowed nationals from dozens of countries, primarily in Europe, to
enter the U.S. on tourism or business without a visa.
According
to a joint statement by the State Department and the Department of
Homeland Security, nationals of countries that participate in the
“visa-waiver program” who
are also citizens of Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria will no longer be
eligible to gain automatic admission to the U.S.
Those
who don’t hold dual nationality but have visited those countries on or
after March 2011 will also no longer be eligible for visa-free entry,
the statement said.
Individuals
in both categories will have to “apply for a visa using the regular
immigration process at our embassies or consulates,” the statement said.
That means they
will undergo vetting that requires an interview with a U.S. consular
official overseas.
Nationals
of visa-waiver program countries must file an electronic form—with
biographic, citizenship, travel and other information—to determine
eligibility to travel to
the U.S. and whether such travel poses any law-enforcement or security
risk.
The
announcement follows a law passed by Congress in December to tighten
the visa-waiver program, which was aimed at preventing Europeans who
have joined Islamic State
and other terrorist groups from entering the U.S.
About
20 million people annually enter the U.S. visa-free from 38 countries
through expedited electronic processing. Most countries in the
visa-waiver program are in Europe,
including France, Belgium and Germany. But the program also includes
Japan, South Korea and Singapore. The statement said “the great majority
of visa-waiver program travelers will not be affected by the
legislation.”
The visa-waiver program came under scrutiny after the Paris attacks in November.
Carl
Shusterman, a Los Angeles immigration attorney who was formerly an
immigration official, said the changes based on nationality address only
part of the problem. For
example, he said, “someone born in France who had never set foot in the
Middle East could be involved in terrorist activities and would not be
covered by the new restrictions.”
“It’s more complex than just changing the visa-waiver program,” he said.
The
Homeland Security secretary has the right to waive the new restrictions
“if he determines that such a waiver is in the law enforcement or
national security interests
of the United States,” the statement said. Such waivers will be granted
on a case-by-case basis, it added.
Some
GOP leaders said they opposed the administration’s plan to consider
waiving the new requirements for those who had traveled for certain
government, humanitarian or
journalistic purposes, or to Iran or Iraq on business.
House
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) and
Rep. Candice Miller (R., Mich.) said in a statement that “these
exemptions were not included
in the legislation, which passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 409
to 21, yet the administration now claims they can apply such waivers.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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