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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 203 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 203

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify the requirements 
  for participation in the visa waiver program and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 12, 2009

Mrs. Feinstein (for herself and Mr. Kyl) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify the requirements 
  for participation in the visa waiver program and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening the Visa Waiver 
Program to Secure America Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Program country.--The term ``program country'' means a 
        country designated as a program country under section 217(c)(1) 
        of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(1)).
            (2) Secretary.--Except as otherwise provided, the term 
        ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Homeland Security.
            (3) Visa waiver program.--The term ``visa waiver program'' 
        means the visa waiver program carried out under section 217 of 
        the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187).

SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF REQUIREMENT TO REPORT LOST OR STOLEN PASSPORTS.

    (a) Enforcement of Existing Requirement.--Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, each program country shall 
have in effect an agreement with the United States as required by 
section 217(c)(2)(D) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1187(c)(2)(D)).
    (b) Failure To Agree To Report.--
            (1) Suspension from the program.--If a program country does 
        not meet the requirements of subsection (a), the Secretary, in 
        consultation with the Secretary of State, shall immediately 
        suspend the program country's participation in the visa waiver 
        program.
            (2) Restoration to the program.--With respect to a country 
        that is suspended from participation in the visa waiver program 
        under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall restore the country's 
        participation on the date that the Secretary determines that 
        the country meets the requirements of paragraph (1).
    (c) Limitation on New Program Countries.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the Secretary may not designate a country as a 
program country until after the date that the Secretary certifies to 
Congress that the requirements of subsection (a) have been met.

SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF REQUIREMENT FOR PERIODIC EVALUATIONS OF PROGRAM 
              COUNTRIES.

    (a) Enforcement of Existing Requirement.--Not later than 1 year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in 
consultation with the Secretary of State, shall evaluate under section 
217(c)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1187(c)(5)(A)) each program country that was designated as a program 
country prior to January 1, 2009. Such evaluation shall include the 
visa overstay rate for each program country for the 1-year period 
ending on the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Visa Overstay Rate Defined.--In this section, the term ``visa 
overstay rate'' has the meaning given that term in section 217(c)(8)(C) 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(8)(C)), as 
amended by section 6.
    (c) Failure To Comply With Program Requirements.--
            (1) Suspension from the program.--If the periodic 
        evaluation prepared under subsection (a) shows that a program 
        country has a visa overstay rate that exceeds 2 percent, the 
        Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall 
        immediately suspend the program country's participation in the 
        visa waiver program.
            (2) Restoration to the program.--With respect to a country 
        that is suspended from participation in the visa waiver program 
        under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall restore the country's 
        participation on the date that the Secretary determines that 
        the country's visa overstay rate does not exceed 2 percent.
    (d) Limitation on New Program Countries.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the Secretary may not designate a country as a 
program country until after the date that the Secretary certifies to 
Congress that the requirements of subsection (a) have been met.

SEC. 5. ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE VERIFICATION.

    (a) Requirement for Verification.--
            (1) In general.--Subparagraph (A) of section 217(c)(8) of 
        the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(8)) is 
        amended--
                    (A) in clause (i)--
                            (i) by striking ``can verify'' and 
                        inserting ``verifies'';
                            (ii) by inserting ``arrival and'' before 
                        ``departure''; and
                            (iii) by inserting ``entry and'' before 
                        ``exit''; and
                    (B) in clause (ii) by inserting ``entry and'' 
                before ``exit''.
            (2) Conforming amendment.--Subparagraph (C) of such section 
        217(c)(8) is amended by inserting ``entry and'' before 
        ``exit''.
    (b) Limitation on New Program Countries.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the Secretary may not designate a country as a 
program country until after the date that the Secretary certifies to 
Congress that the requirements of clause (i) of subsection (c)(8)(A) of 
section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by 
subsection (a)(1), are met.
    (c) Audit.--
            (1) Requirement to conduct.--Not later than 180 days after 
        the date that the certification described in clause (i) of 
        subsection (c)(8)(A) of section 217 the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187), as amended by subsection 
        (a)(1), is submitted to Congress, the Comptroller of the United 
        States shall conduct an audit of the travel authorization 
        system described in subsection (h)(3) of that section and 
        submit a report on such audit to Congress.
            (2) Elements.--The report by paragraph (1) shall include--
                    (A) a description of the data collected by such 
                system;
                    (B) the number of individuals who were identified 
                by such system as being in violation of the immigration 
                laws, disaggregated by country; and
                    (C) an explanation of any problems in implementing 
                such system encountered during the early stages of 
                implementation to better identify high-risk travelers 
                and countries of origin of such travelers.

SEC. 6. VISA OVERSTAY RATES.

    Subparagraph (C) of section 217(c)(8) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(8)), as amended by section 5(a)(2), 
is further amended--
            (1) in clause (i), by striking the period at the end of the 
        first sentence and inserting ``, except that in no case may a 
        maximum visa overstay rate exceed 2 percent.'';
            (2) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (iv);
            (3) by inserting after clause (ii) the following:
                            ``(iii) Data compilation.--The Secretary of 
                        Homeland Security shall compile data from all 
                        appropriate databases to determine the visa 
                        overstay rate for each country. Such databases 
                        shall include--
                                    ``(I) the Advanced Passenger 
                                Information System (APIS);
                                    ``(II) the Automated Fingerprint 
                                Identification System (IDENT);
                                    ``(III) the Central Index System 
                                (CIS);
                                    ``(IV) the Computer Linked 
                                Application Information Management 
                                Systems (CLAIMS);
                                    ``(V) the Deportable Alien Control 
                                System (DACS);
                                    ``(VI) the Integrated Automated 
                                Fingerprint Identification System 
                                (IAFIS);
                                    ``(VII) the Nonimmigrant 
                                Information System (NIIS);
                                    ``(VIII) the Reengineered 
                                Naturalization Applications Casework 
                                Systems (RNACS); and
                                    ``(IX) the Refugees, Asylum, and 
                                Parole System (RAPS).''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(v) Annual report.--Not less frequently 
                        than once each fiscal year, the Secretary of 
                        Homeland Security shall submit to the Committee 
                        on Foreign Relations and the Committee on the 
                        Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on 
                        Foreign Affairs and the Committee on the 
                        Judiciary of the House of Representatives a 
                        report describing the visa overstay rate for 
                        the previous fiscal year of each country 
                        designated as a program country under paragraph 
                        (1).''.
                                 <all>
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