I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2526 

To designate Greece as a program country for purposes of the visa waiver 

program established under section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 24, 2007 

Mrs. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. SPACE, Mr. 

SARBANES, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. WATSON, 

Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Ms. ROSLEHTINEN, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, 

Ms. LEE, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, 

Mr. CLAY, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, 

Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. CROWLEY, and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To designate Greece as a program country for purposes 

of the visa waiver program established under section 

217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The Founding Fathers of the United States 

2 drew heavily on the political experience and philos3 ophy of ancient Greece in forming our representative 

4 democracy. 

5 (2) Greece played a major role in the World 

6 War II struggle to protect freedom and democracy 

7 through such bravery as was shown in the historic 

8 Battle of Crete, which provided the Axis land war 

9 with its first major setback, setting off a chain of 

10 events that significantly affected the outcome of 

11 World War II. 

12 (3) Throughout the 20th century Greece was 

13 one of three countries in the world, besides the 

14 former British Empire, that allied with the United 

15 States in every major international conflict. 

16 (4) Greece has been a reliable partner in the 

17 North Atlantic Treaty Organization since joining in 

18 1952. 

19 (5) In 1981, Greece became one of the 15 origi20 nal European Union member countries, and in Jan21 uary 2001, successfully acceded to the Eurozone. 

22 (6) Among all candidate countries for entry in 

23 the visa waiver program, Greece constitutes a sepa24 rate and unique case in that it is the only country, 


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1 among the candidates, that meets all technical re2 quirements for inclusion in the program. 

3 (7) Greece requires only a valid passport for 

4 American citizens visiting it and not a visa. 

5 (8) Greece has less than the maximum allow6 able 3 percent rate for refusals of U.S. non-immi7 grant visitor visa applications. 

8 (9) As of January 1, 2007, Greek passports 

9 issued prior to January 1, 2006, are no longer valid 

10 for travel. Therefore, Greek nationals are traveling 

11 with new, machine-readable passports that are pro12 duced using state-of-the-art technology (biometrics) 

13 to meet the highest possible security standards and 

14 specifications. 

15 (10) Greece is one of fifteen European nations 

16 accepted as a Schengen country which allows for 

17 travel through Europe as if you are traveling 

18 throughout the United States. Greece is the only 

19 Schengen country excluded from participating in the 

20 visa waiver program. 

21 (11) Countries included in the visa waiver pro22 gram with similar demographics and economic rela23 tions with the United States as Greece have 50 per24 cent more visitors to the United States due to their 

25 visa waiver status. 


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1 (12) More than 50,000 Greek citizens visit the 

2 United States each year. 

3 (13) There are 1.3 million American citizens of 

4 Greek ancestry residing in the United States. 

5 (14) The Secretary of Homeland Security and 

6 the Secretary of State administer the visa waiver 

7 program, which allows citizens from 27 countries, in8 cluding all of the original 15 European Union mem9 bers except Greece, to visit the United States as 

10 tourists without visas. 

11 SEC. 2. DESIGNATING GREECE A VISA WAIVER PROGRAM 

12 COUNTRY. 

13 Effective on the date of the enactment of this Act, 

14 and notwithstanding section 217(c) of the Immigration 

15 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)), Greece shall be 

16 deemed a designated program country for purposes of the 

17 visa waiver program established under section 217 of such 

18 Act. 

Æ 


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