I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2261 

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 5, 2009 

Mrs. MALONEY (for herself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. MCMAHON, Mr. SARBANES, 

Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

SPACE, and Ms. TITUS) 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: 

5 (1) The Founding Fathers of the United States 

6 drew heavily on the political experience and philos7 ophy of ancient Greece in forming our representative 

8 democracy. 


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

2 War II struggle to protect freedom and democracy 

3 through such bravery as was shown in the historic 

4 Battle of Crete, which provided the Axis land war 

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

6 events that significantly affected the outcome of 

7 World War II. 

8 (3) Throughout the 20th century Greece was 

9 one of three countries in the world, besides the 

10 former British Empire, that allied with the United 

11 States in every major international conflict. 

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

13 North Atlantic Treaty Organization since joining in 

14 1952. 

15 (5) In 1981, Greece became one of the 15 origi16 nal European Union member countries and, in Jan17 uary 2001, successfully acceded to the Eurozone. 

18 (6) Among all candidate countries for entry in 

19 the visa waiver program, Greece constitutes a sepa20 rate and unique case in that it is the only country, 

21 among the candidates, that meets all technical re22 quirements for inclusion in the program. 

23 (7) Greece requires only a valid passport for 

24 visiting United States citizens and not a visa. 


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1 (8) According to a September 2008 Government 

2 Accountability Office report, Greece has a 1.6 per3 cent visa refusal rate, which is well below the max4 imum allowable 3 percent rate for refusals of U.S. 

5 non-immigrant visitor visa applications. 

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

7 issued prior to January 1, 2006, are no longer valid 

8 for travel. Therefore, Greek nationals are traveling 

9 with new, machine-readable passports that are pro10 duced using state-of-the-art technology (biometrics) 

11 to meet the highest possible security standards and 

12 specifications. 

13 (10) Greece is one of fifteen European nations 

14 accepted as a Schengen country which allows for 

15 travel through Europe as if you are traveling 

16 throughout the United States. Greece is the only 

17 Schengen country excluded from participating in the 

18 visa waiver program. 

19 (11) Countries included in the visa waiver pro20 gram with similar demographics and economic rela21 tions with the United States as Greece have 50 per22 cent more visitors to the United States due to their 

23 visa waiver status. 

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

25 United States each year. 


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1 (13) There are 3 million American citizens of 

2 Greek ancestry residing in the United States. 

3 (14) The Secretary of Homeland Security and 

4 the Secretary of State administer the visa waiver 

5 program, which allows citizens from 35 countries, in6 cluding all of the original 15 European Union mem7 bers except Greece, to visit the United States as 

8 tourists without visas. 

9 (15) In September 2007, Greece was the only 

10 country formally nominated as a candidate country 

11 for the Visa Waiver Program by the U.S. Depart12 ment of State yet was not included when the visa 

13 waiver program expanded to include 8 new countries 

14 in 2008. 

15 SEC. 2. DESIGNATING GREECE A VISA WAIVER PROGRAM 

16 COUNTRY. 

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

18 and notwithstanding section 217(c) of the Immigration 

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

20 deemed a designated program country for purposes of the 

21 visa waiver program established under section 217 of such 

22 Act. 

Æ 


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