II 

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. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening the Visa 

5 Waiver Program to Secure America Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) PROGRAM COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘program 

9 country’’ means a country designated as a program 


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1 country under section 217(c)(1) of the Immigration 

2 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(1)). 

3 (2) SECRETARY.—Except as otherwise provided, 

4 the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of Home5 land Security. 

6 (3) VISA WAIVER PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘visa 

7 waiver program’’ means the visa waiver program 

8 carried out under section 217 of the Immigration 

9 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187). 

10 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF REQUIREMENT TO REPORT 

11 LOST OR STOLEN PASSPORTS. 

12 (a) ENFORCEMENT OF EXISTING REQUIREMENT.— 

13 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

14 of this Act, each program country shall have in effect an 

15 agreement with the United States as required by section 

16 217(c)(2)(D) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

17 U.S.C. 1187(c)(2)(D)). 

18 (b) FAILURE TO AGREE TO REPORT.— 

19 (1) SUSPENSION FROM THE PROGRAM.—If a 

20 program country does not meet the requirements of 

21 subsection (a), the Secretary, in consultation with 

22 the Secretary of State, shall immediately suspend 

23 the program country’s participation in the visa waiv24 er program. 


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1 (2) RESTORATION TO THE PROGRAM.—With re2 spect to a country that is suspended from participa3 tion in the visa waiver program under paragraph 

4 (1), the Secretary shall restore the country’s partici5 pation on the date that the Secretary determines 

6 that the country meets the requirements of para7 graph (1). 

8 (c) LIMITATION ON NEW PROGRAM COUNTRIES.— 

9 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary 

10 may not designate a country as a program country until 

11 after the date that the Secretary certifies to Congress that 

12 the requirements of subsection (a) have been met. 

13 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF REQUIREMENT FOR PERIODIC 

14 EVALUATIONS OF PROGRAM COUNTRIES. 

15 (a) ENFORCEMENT OF EXISTING REQUIREMENT.— 

16 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

17 this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary 

18 of State, shall evaluate under section 217(c)(5)(A) of the 

19 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

20 1187(c)(5)(A)) each program country that was designated 

21 as a program country prior to January 1, 2009. Such eval22 uation shall include the visa overstay rate for each pro23 gram country for the 1-year period ending on the date of 

24 the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (b) VISA OVERSTAY RATE DEFINED.—In this sec2 tion, the term ‘‘visa overstay rate’’ has the meaning given 

3 that term in section 217(c)(8)(C) of the Immigration and 

4 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(8)(C)), as amended by 

5 section 6. 

6 (c) FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH PROGRAM REQUIRE7 MENTS.— 

8 (1) SUSPENSION FROM THE PROGRAM.—If the 

9 periodic evaluation prepared under subsection (a) 

10 shows that a program country has a visa overstay 

11 rate that exceeds 2 percent, the Secretary, in con12 sultation with the Secretary of State, shall imme13 diately suspend the program country’s participation 

14 in the visa waiver program. 

15 (2) RESTORATION TO THE PROGRAM.—With re16 spect to a country that is suspended from participa17 tion in the visa waiver program under paragraph 

18 (1), the Secretary shall restore the country’s partici19 pation on the date that the Secretary determines 

20 that the country’s visa overstay rate does not exceed 

21 2 percent. 

22 (d) LIMITATION ON NEW PROGRAM COUNTRIES.— 

23 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary 

24 may not designate a country as a program country until 


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1 after the date that the Secretary certifies to Congress that 

2 the requirements of subsection (a) have been met. 

3 SEC. 5. ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE VERIFICATION. 

4 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR VERIFICATION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

6 217(c)(8) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

7 U.S.C. 1187(c)(8)) is amended— 

8 (A) in clause (i)— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘can verify’’ and insert10 ing ‘‘verifies’’; 

11 (ii) by inserting ‘‘arrival and’’ before 

12 ‘‘departure’’; and 

13 (iii) by inserting ‘‘entry and’’ before 

14 ‘‘exit’’; and 

15 (B) in clause (ii) by inserting ‘‘entry and’’ 

16 before ‘‘exit’’. 

17 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subparagraph 

18 (C) of such section 217(c)(8) is amended by insert19 ing ‘‘entry and’’ before ‘‘exit’’. 

20 (b) LIMITATION ON NEW PROGRAM COUNTRIES.— 

21 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary 

22 may not designate a country as a program country until 

23 after the date that the Secretary certifies to Congress that 

24 the requirements of clause (i) of subsection (c)(8)(A) of 


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1 section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 

2 amended by subsection (a)(1), are met. 

3 (c) AUDIT.— 

4 (1) REQUIREMENT TO CONDUCT.—Not later 

5 than 180 days after the date that the certification 

6 described in clause (i) of subsection (c)(8)(A) of sec7 tion 217 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

8 U.S.C. 1187), as amended by subsection (a)(1), is 

9 submitted to Congress, the Comptroller of the 

10 United States shall conduct an audit of the travel 

11 authorization system described in subsection (h)(3) 

12 of that section and submit a report on such audit to 

13 Congress. 

14 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report by paragraph (1) 

15 shall include— 

16 (A) a description of the data collected by 

17 such system; 

18 (B) the number of individuals who were 

19 identified by such system as being in violation 

20 of the immigration laws, disaggregated by coun21 try; and 

22 (C) an explanation of any problems in im23 plementing such system encountered during the 

24 early stages of implementation to better identify 


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1 high-risk travelers and countries of origin of 

2 such travelers. 

3 SEC. 6. VISA OVERSTAY RATES. 

4 Subparagraph (C) of section 217(c)(8) of the Immi5 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(8)), as 

6 amended by section 5(a)(2), is further amended— 

7 (1) in clause (i), by striking the period at the 

8 end of the first sentence and inserting ‘‘, except that 

9 in no case may a maximum visa overstay rate exceed 

10 2 percent.’’; 

11 (2) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (iv); 

12 (3) by inserting after clause (ii) the following: 

13 ‘‘(iii) DATA COMPILATION.—The Sec14 retary of Homeland Security shall compile 

15 data from all appropriate databases to de16 termine the visa overstay rate for each 

17 country. Such databases shall include— 

18 ‘‘(I) the Advanced Passenger In19 formation System (APIS); 

20 ‘‘(II) the Automated Fingerprint 

21 Identification System (IDENT); 

22 ‘‘(III) the Central Index System 

23 (CIS); 


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1 ‘‘(IV) the Computer Linked Ap2 plication Information Management 

3 Systems (CLAIMS); 

4 ‘‘(V) the Deportable Alien Con5 trol System (DACS); 

6 ‘‘(VI) the Integrated Automated 

7 Fingerprint Identification System 

8 (IAFIS); 

9 ‘‘(VII) the Nonimmigrant Infor10 mation System (NIIS); 

11 ‘‘(VIII) the Reengineered Natu12 ralization Applications Casework Sys13 tems (RNACS); and 

14 ‘‘(IX) the Refugees, Asylum, and 

15 Parole System (RAPS).’’; and 

16 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(v) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not less fre18 quently than once each fiscal year, the Sec19 retary of Homeland Security shall submit 

20 to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

21 and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

22 Senate and the Committee on Foreign Af23 fairs and the Committee on the Judiciary 

24 of the House of Representatives a report 

25 describing the visa overstay rate for the 


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1 previous fiscal year of each country des2 ignated as a program country under para3 graph (1).’’. 

Æ 


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