105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1178

AN ACT

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to extend

the visa waiver pilot 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 ‘‘Visa Waiver Pilot Pro5 gram Reauthorization Act of 1997’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT OF THE IMMIGRATION AND NATION2 ALITY ACT.

3 (a) DESIGNATION OF PILOT PROGRAM COUN4 TRIES.—Section 217(c) of the Immigration and National5 ity Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)) is amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(c) DESIGNATION OF PILOT PROGRAM COUN7 TRIES.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in

9 consultation with the Attorney General, may des10 ignate any country as a pilot program country if it

11 meets the requirements of paragraph (2). In order

12 to remain a pilot program country in any subsequent

13 fiscal year, a country shall be redesignated as a pilot

14 program country by the Attorney General in accord15 ance with the requirements of paragraph (3).

16 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary of State

17 may not designate a country as a pilot program

18 country unless the following requirements are met:

19 ‘‘(A) LOW NONIMMIGRANT VISA REFUSAL

20 RATE FOR PREVIOUS 2-YEAR PERIOD.—The av21 erage number of refusals of nonimmigrant visi22 tor visas for nationals of that country during

23 the two previous full fiscal years was less than

24 3.0 percent of the total number of non25 immigrant visitor visas for nationals of that
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1 country which were granted or refused during

2 those years.

3 ‘‘(B) LOW NONIMMIGRANT VISA REFUSAL

4 RATE FOR EACH OF 2 PREVIOUS YEARS.—The

5 average number of refusals of nonimmigrant

6 visitor visas for nationals of that country during

7 either of such two previous full fiscal years was

8 less than 3.5 percent of the total number of

9 nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of that

10 country which were granted or refused during

11 that year.

12 ‘‘(C) MACHINE-READABLE PASSPORT PRO13 GRAM.—The government of the country certifies

14 to the Secretary of State’s and the Attorney

15 General’s satisfaction that it issues machine16 readable and highly fraud-resistant passports to

17 its citizens.

18 ‘‘(D) LAW ENFORCEMENT INTERESTS.—

19 The Attorney General determines that the Unit20 ed States’ law enforcement interests would not

21 be compromised by the designation of the coun22 try.

23 ‘‘(E) ILLEGAL OVERSTAY AND DISQUALI24 FICATION.—For any country with an average

25 nonimmigrant visa refusal rate during the pre-
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1 vious two fiscal years of greater than 2 and less

2 than 3 percent of the total number of non3 immigrant visitor visas for nationals of that

4 country which were granted or refused during

5 those years, and for any country with an aver6 age number of refusals during either such year

7 of greater than 2.5 and less than 3.5 percent,

8 the Attorney General shall certify to the Com9 mittees on the Judiciary of the Senate and the

10 House of Representatives that the sum of—

11 ‘‘(I) the total of the number of nation12 als of that country who were excluded from

13 admission or withdrew their application for

14 admission at a port of entry during such

15 previous fiscal year as a nonimmigrant vis16 itor, and

17 ‘‘(II) the total number of nationals for

18 that country who were admitted as non19 immigrant visitors during such previous

20 fiscal year and who violated the terms of

21 such admission,

22 is less than 2 percent of the total number of na23 tionals of that country who applied for admis24 sion as nonimmigrant visitors during such pre25 vious fiscal year.
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1 ‘‘(3) CONTINUING AND SUBSEQUENT QUALI2 FICATIONS.—The Attorney General, in consultation

3 with the Secretary of State, shall assess the continu4 ing and subsequent qualification of countries des5 ignated as pilot program countries and shall redesig6 nate countries as pilot program countries only if the

7 requirements specified in this subsection are met.

8 For each fiscal year (within the pilot program pe9 riod) after the initial period the following require10 ments shall apply:

11 ‘‘(A) COUNTRIES PREVIOUSLY DES12 IGNATED.—(i) Except as provided in subsection

13 (g) of this section, in the case of a country

14 which was a pilot program country in the pre15 vious fiscal year, the Attorney General may not

16 redesignate such country as a pilot program

17 country unless the sum of—

18 ‘‘(I) the total of the number of nation19 als of that country who were excluded from

20 admission or withdrew their application for

21 admission during such previous fiscal year

22 as a nonimmigrant visitor, and

23 ‘‘(II) the total number of nationals of

24 that country who were admitted as non25 immigrant visitors during such previous
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1 fiscal year and who violated the terms of

2 such admission,

3 was less than 2 percent of the total number of

4 nationals of that country who applied for ad5 mission as nonimmigrant visitors during such

6 previous fiscal year.

7 ‘‘(ii) In the case of a country which was a

8 pilot program country in the previous fiscal

9 year, the Attorney General may not redesignate

10 such country as a pilot program country unless

11 the Attorney General has made a precise nu12 merical estimate of the figures under clauses

13 (i)(I) and (i)(II) and reports those figures to

14 the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate

15 and the House of Representatives within 30

16 days after the end of the fiscal year. As of Sep17 tember 30, 1999, any such estimates shall be

18 based on data collected from the automated

19 entry-exit control system mandated by section

20 110 of Public Law 104–708.

21 ‘‘(iii) In the case of a country which was

22 a pilot program country in the previous fiscal

23 year and which was first admitted to the visa

24 waiver pilot program prior to September 30,

25 1997, the Attorney General may not redesig-
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1 nate such country as a pilot program country

2 unless the country certifies that it has issued or

3 will issue as of a date certain machine-readable

4 and highly fraud-resistant passports and unless

5 the country subsequently complies with any

6 such certification commitments.

7 ‘‘(B) NEW COUNTRIES.—In the case of a

8 country to which the clauses of subparagraph

9 (A) do not apply, such country may not be des10 ignated as a pilot program country unless the

11 following requirements are met:

12 ‘‘(i) LOW NONIMMIGRANT VISA RE13 FUSAL RATE IN PREVIOUS 2-YEAR PE14 RIOD.—The average number of refusals of

15 nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of

16 that country during the two previous full

17 fiscal years was less than 3.0 percent of

18 the total number of nonimmigrant visitor

19 visas for nationals of that country which

20 were granted or refused during those

21 years.

22 ‘‘(ii) LOW NONIMMIGRANT VISA RE23 FUSAL RATE IN EACH OF THE 2 PREVIOUS

24 YEARS.—The average number of refusals

25 of nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals
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1 of that country during either of such two

2 previous full fiscal years was less than 3.5

3 percent of the total number of non4 immigrant visitor visas for nationals of

5 that country which were granted or refused

6 during that year.

7 ‘‘(iii) COMMENCEMENT OF AUTHOR8 IZED PERIOD FOR QUALIFYING COUN9 TRIES.—No country qualifying under the

10 criteria in clauses (i) and (ii) may be newly

11 designated as a pilot program country

12 prior to October 1, 1998.

13 ‘‘(C) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR

14 OTHER COUNTRIES.—For every country from

15 which nonimmigrants seek entry into the Unit16 ed States, the Attorney General shall make a

17 precise numerical estimate of the figures under

18 subparagraph (A)(i) (I) and (II) and report

19 those figures to the Committees on the Judici20 ary of the Senate and the House of Representa21 tives within 30 days after the end of the fiscal

22 year.

23 ‘‘(4) INITIAL PERIOD.—For purposes of para24 graph (3), the term ‘initial period’ means the period

25 beginning at the end of the 30-day period described
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1 in section 2(c)(1) of the Visa Waiver Pilot Program

2 Reauthorization Act of 1997 and ending on the last

3 day of the first fiscal year which begins after such

4 30-day period.’’.

5 (b) AUTHORIZED PILOT PROGRAM PERIOD.—Section

6 217(f) of that Act is amended by striking ‘‘September 30,

7 1997’’ and inserting ‘‘September 30, 2000’’.

8 (c) DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATED ENTRY CONTROL

9 SYSTEM.—(1) As of the date of enactment of this Act,

10 no country may be newly designated as a pilot program

11 country until the end of the 30-day period beginning on

12 the date that the Attorney General submits to the Com13 mittees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives

14 and the Senate a certification that the automated entry15 exit control system described in paragraph (2) is oper16 ational.

17 (2) The automated entry-exit control system is the

18 system mandated by section 110 of Public Law 104–208

19 as applied at all ports of entry excluding the land borders.

20 SEC. 3. REPORT ON AUTOMATED ENTRY-EXIT CONTROL

21 SYSTEM.

22 (a) Within six months after the date of enactment

23 of this Act, the Attorney General shall report to the Com24 mittees on the Judiciary of the Senate and the House of

25 Representatives on her plans for and the feasibility of de-
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1 veloping an automated entry-exit control system that

2 would operate at the land borders of the United States

3 and that would—

4 (1) collect a record of departure for every alien

5 departing the United States and match the records

6 of departure with the record of the alien’s arrival in

7 the United States; and

8 (2) enable the Attorney General to identify,

9 through on-line searching procedures, lawfully ad10 mitted nonimmigrants who remain in the United

11 States beyond the period authorized by the Attorney

12 General.

13 (b) Such report shall assess the costs and feasibility

14 of various means of operating such an automated entry15 exit control system; shall evaluate how such a system could

16 be implemented without increasing border traffic conges17 tion and border crossing delays and, if any such system

18 would increase border crossing delays, evaluate to what

19 extent such congestion or delays would increase; and shall

20 estimate the length of time that would be required for any
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1 such system to be developed and implemented at the land

2 borders.

Passed the Senate September 26, 1997.

Attest:

Secretary.
105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1178

AN ACT

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to

other purposes.extend the visa waiver pilot program, and for