Czechs could travel visa-free to the U.S. within two years
BY
LISANUCH VENBRUX - Staff Writer
August, 2007
On July 27, U.S. Congress passed
a bill making sweeping changes
to the visa-waiver program. Once
signed by President George W. Bush,
the legislation will represent the most
concrete step yet toward visa-free
travel for Czechs.
The bill will likely be signed into
law within days. "Since this is a proposal
the administration favors, we
expect he will sign it soon," says
U.S. Embassy Consul General Stuart
Hatcher.
The news has been greeted with
optimismamong U.S. allies whose citizens must
face red tape and hefty fees to visit the
States. But there is much left to be done before
Czechs get the green light to enter the visa-waiver
program.
"After the bill becomes law,
the agencies responsible for enforcing
it must study the text and come up
with a strategy for implementing it"
Hatcher says.
The bill is part of broader legislation
aimed toward improving U.S.
national security and makes clear
visa-waiver changes are being made
in part to reward "partners in the war
on terrorism."
While the proposed laws will likeIy
allow many more visitors to travel
to the United States without visas
for stays of less than 90 days, countries
interested in visa waivers must
meet strict security criteria laid out
in the bill. The requirements include
biometric passports and information
exchange. Under the law, the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security
will also establish a system to monitor
the exits of aliens to ensure they
don't overstay.
"We expect it will be possible to
fulfill this criteria" within two years,
says Zuzana Opletalova, spokeswoman
for the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
While Opletalova maintains a cautious
optimism about the changes, she
takes issue with another requirement
- that no more than 10 percent of
visa applications can be rejected from
a given country before they're included
in the program.
'"We think it's not a criterion that
should be in this legislation," she
says. "It depends only on the U.S.
Embassy. It's a thing we cannot
influence."
Refusal rates have hovered around
9 percent in recent years, but "it can
change very quickly," Opletalova
stresses.
Hatcher, however, says that based
on this requirement alone the Czech
Republic has little to worry about.
The refusal-rate figure for 2007 will
not be available until next April, but "we expect that it will be lower than
the previous year."
Lisa Nuch Venbrux can be reached at
lvenbrux@praguepost.com
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