“Modernizing the US Visa Waiver Programme will strengthen our national security and enhance international relationships with important allies like Poland, who have been denied visa-free travel because of an outdated regime,” said Representative Mike Quigley (Dem) who introduced The Visa Waiver Enhanced Security and Reform Act to Congress yesterday.
Quigley had been working on the draft legislation with senators Barbara Mikulski (Dem) and Mark Kirk (Rep) who introduced the project to the Senate the same day.
President Barack Obama had endorsed new legislation in May 2011, having already promised to drop visa requirements for Poles when Polish president Bronislaw Komorowski visited America in December 2010.
Senator Kirk and Representative Quigley were in Poland earlier this month, where they discussed the project with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
“Poland is a strong ally of the United States, plays a critical role in NATO military operations in Europe and the Middle East and its citizens should be afforded the right of visa-free travel to this country,” a spokesperson for Senator Kirk said yesterday.
“A grandmother from Gdansk shouldn’t need a visa to visit her grand-kids in Baltimore,” Senator Mikulski added.
The new bill maintains the stipulation that countries with over a three percent rate of rejections in visa applications will remain off the visa-waiver programme.
However, it allows the US Director for Homeland Security to loosen this rate to ten percent, provided that the country meets “US security standards.”
Poland, which currently has a 10.2 percent rejection rate, is expecting to make this second bracket in the coming year.
A further proviso is that countries must not have exceeded a 3 percent rate of overstay on their visas to date.
Sources told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that Poles are not currently exceeding this level.
By dropping visa requirements for Poles, President Barack Obama could be hoping for a boost in popularity among Polish Americans, with the forthcoming presidential election in November.
There are 9 to 10 million Americans of Polish descent. (nh/pg)