While backers of a bipartisan bill that would modify the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) say the changes could help prevent terrorists from entering the U.S., industry leaders argue they could hurt inbound tourism without making the country safer.
The VWP, which allows citizens of 38 member countries to remain in the U.S. without a visa for up to 90 days, has been under intense scrutiny since the Paris attacks on Nov. 13 because most of the terrorists involved were citizens of France or Belgium, both of which are VWP countries.
As of last week, a bipartisan group of 13 senators had cosponsored the Visa Waiver Program Security Enhancement Act. Introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), it would require all VWP travelers to submit biometric information, including fingerprints, and photographs before traveling to the U.S. It would also require VWP countries to deploy electronic passports and require anyone from a VWP country who has traveled to Syria or Iraq in the previous five years to apply for a traditional tourist visa.
The bill also calls for increased intelligence sharing between VWP countries and the U.S.
“The Paris terror attacks were committed by French and Belgian nationals,” Feinstein said in a statement, “which means it would have been possible for them to board a plane to this country using the [VWP].”
To pay for the extra security measures, Feinstein and Flake called for an unspecified increase in the VWP application fee, with is currently $14. Travelers from countries not in the Visa Waiver Program pay $160 for a visa application.
The scrutiny also revived a bill that had been introduced in June by Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) and was approved by a House committee but until last week was not scheduled to go to a House vote. The House is expected to vote on the bill this week, which requires screening all travelers against Interpol databases; electronic passports with biometric information; and more frequent threat assessments of VWP countries. It also allows for a country’s suspension from the VWP for not continuously sharing terrorism and foreign traveler data with the U.S.
The Feinstein-Flake bill was introduced days after the Obama administration said it had unilaterally made changes to the VWP, including enhanced tracking of past travel to countries considered terrorist safe havens by the State Department, including Syria and Iraq as well as Egypt and Colombia. The administration’s rule changes also offer VWP countries assistance with vetting and screening travelers as well as help identifying new programs to facilitate better sharing of information with VWP countries, specifically of biometric data.
The White House also ordered a review of the program within two months to assess the level of intelligence cooperation and information sharing between each VWP country and the U.S. and said it would ask Congress to increase fines for airlines that fail to verify a traveler’s passport data.
Industry eyes changes warily
Tourism leaders from around the country expressed concern about the potential fallout of some of the proposed changes.
In terms of expediting tourism and economic benefit, the VWP has been a huge success. According to the U.S. Travel Association, in 2014 20.4 million travelers, or 59% of all overseas visitors to the U.S., arrived through the VWP, generating $190 billion in economic output.
U.S. Travel found that in 2012, four years after being admitted to the VWP, South Korea’s visitors to the U.S. had increased by nearly two-thirds.
The Visa Waiver Program was created under the Reagan administration. In 2012, President Obama made expansion of the program part of his job-creation strategy and issued an executive order to ease U.S. visa policies and expand the number of countries in the VWP to nations such as Taiwan, which joined that year.
U.S. Travel voiced support for the White House’s VWP changes and the Miller bill but expressed concerns about the Feinstein-Flake legislation. The group said it supported “sensible security enhancements” to the VWP but not steps that “ultimately dismantle the program and set back America’s economy and our efforts to protect the homeland.”
U.S. Travel said the bill’s requirement of a system to collect biometric data before visitor arrivals would be very costly and difficult to implement and that it was redundant because fingerprints and photographs are already collected from VWP travelers upon arrival in the U.S.
U.S. Travel CEO Roger Dow also cautioned that increasing fees could suppress travel from VWP countries.
“The travel community is all in favor of a good-faith congressional debate about enhancements to the VWP, but if the Feinstein-Flake bill imposes redundant, costly, inefficient protocols, it could ultimately do more harm than good,” Dow said.
Tourism officials seek balance
Local tourism officials were also concerned about losing a significant revenue stream, since international visitors typically stay longer and spend more money than domestic tourists.
Christopher Heywood, spokesman for NYC & Company, New York City’s destination marketing organization, noted that New York received 37% of European visitors to the U.S. in 2014, or about 4.8 million visitors, the biggest share of travelers from VWP countries.
“We favor striking a balance between keeping our borders secure and at the same time welcoming international visitors to our city,” Heywood said.
On the opposite coast, Barb Newton, the president of the California Travel Association, said she and other state tourism leaders met with Feinstein’s office to share their concerns about the bill, and that she was also working with U.S. Travel to ensure that the provisions being discussed would not have a detrimental impact on international tourism to the U.S., without justification.
“Safety for Americans and international travelers is the No. 1 priority, but we want to make sure that decisions are not made rashly,” she said.
In 2014, California received 16.5 million international visitors, about 80% of whom came from VWP countries. Like many others in the travel industry, she lamented the program’s title.
“Visa Waiver Program is an unfortunate name and often misunderstood,” she said. “Countries in the [VWP] cooperate with the U.S. to share intelligence and the program enhances security in international travel.”
A name change might come. A measure in the JOLT Act currently advancing in the House and Senate would rename VWP to the Secure Travel Partnership Program, U.S. Travel said. Whether that could lead to a change in public perception remains to be determined.