I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 627

To establish a visa waiver pilot program for nationals of Korea who are

traveling in tour groups to the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 6, 1997

Mr. ABERCROMBIE (for himself, Mr. KIM, and Mrs. MINK of Hawaii) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish a visa waiver pilot program for nationals of

Korea who are traveling in tour groups to the United States.

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

3 SECTION 1. KOREA VISA WAIVER PILOT PROGRAM.

4 (a) CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.—The Congress finds

5 that—

6 (1) travel and tourism play a major role in re7 ducing the United States unfavorable balance of

8 trade;
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1 (2) the characteristics of the Korean travel

2 market do not permit long-term planning for longer

3 trips;

4 (3) applications for United States visas cannot

5 now be processed in a reasonable period of time;

6 (4) the Secretary of State has attempted to

7 solve the problem by adding additional staff to the

8 consular section at the United States Embassy in

9 Seoul;

10 (5) unfortunately, these additions have not re11 sulted in any discernible improvement in reducing

12 visa processing delays;

13 (6) further, it is unlikely, given the current fis14 cal environment, to expect funding to be available

15 for further staff additions in sufficient numbers to

16 effect any significant improvement in the time re17 quired to process visa applications;

18 (7) most of the nations of the South Pacific,

19 Europe, and Canada do not currently require Kore20 ans entering their countries to have a visa, thus pro21 viding them with a serious competitive advantage in

22 the tourism industry;

23 (8) the United States territory of Guam has

24 been permitted by the United States Government to

25 eliminate visa requirements for Koreans visiting
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1 Guam, with resultant impressive increases in travel

2 and tourism from citizens of the Republic of Korea;

3 (9) any application under existing procedures to

4 add the Republic of Korea, or any other nation to

5 the group of favored nations exempted from United

6 States visa regulations, would require many years

7 during which time the United States could well lose

8 its competitive advantages in attracting travel and

9 tourism from the Republic of Korea;

10 (10) the Republic of Korea, as a gesture of

11 goodwill, has already unilaterally exempted United

12 States tourists who seek to enter the Republic of

13 Korea from the requirement of obtaining a visa; and

14 (11) growth in Korean travel to the United

15 States has not kept pace with growth in travel to

16 non-United States destinations, and cumbersome

17 and time-consuming visa processing procedures are

18 widely recognized as the cause of this loss of market

19 share and competitiveness with alternative destina20 tions.

21 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of State and

22 the Attorney General jointly shall establish a pilot project

23 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘pilot program’’) within

24 six months of the date of the enactment of this Act under
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1 which the requirement of paragraph (7)(B)(i)(II) of sec2 tion 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8

3 U.S.C. 1182(a)(7)(B)(i)(II)) is waived during the pilot

4 program period in the case of any alien who meets the

5 following requirements:

6 (1) NATIONAL OF PILOT PROGRAM COUNTRY.—

7 The alien is a national of, and presents a passport

8 issued by, the Republic of Korea. The Republic of

9 Korea is urged to provide machine readable pass10 ports to its citizens in the near future.

11 (2) SEEKING ENTRY AS TOURIST.—The alien is

12 applying for admission to the United States during

13 the pilot program period as a nonimmigrant visitor

14 for pleasure (as described in section 101(a)(15)(B)

15 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.

16 1101(a)(15)(B))), as part of a group tour to the

17 United States.

18 (3) PERIOD OF STAY.—The alien seeks to stay

19 in the United States for a period of not more than

20 15 days.

21 (4) EXECUTES IMMIGRATION FORMS.—The

22 alien before the time of such admission completes

23 such immigration form as the Attorney General shall

24 establish.
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1 (5) ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES.—If ar2 riving by sea or air, the alien arrives at the port of

3 entry into the United States on a carrier which has

4 entered into an agreement with the Immigration and

5 Naturalization Service to guarantee transport of the

6 alien out of the United States if the alien is found

7 inadmissible or deportable by an immigration officer.

8 (6) NOT A SAFETY THREAT.—The alien has

9 been determined not to represent a threat to the

10 welfare, health, safety, or security of the United

11 States.

12 (7) NO PREVIOUS VIOLATION.—If the alien pre13 viously was admitted without a visa under this sec14 tion, the alien must not have failed to comply with

15 the conditions of any previous admission as such a

16 nonimmigrant.

17 (8) ROUND-TRIP TICKET.—The alien is in pos18 session of a round-trip transportation ticket (unless

19 this requirement is waived by the Attorney General

20 under regulations).

21 (c) WAIVER OF RIGHTS.—An alien may not be pro22 vided a waiver under the pilot program unless the alien

23 has waived any right—
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1 (1) to review or appeal under this Act of an im2 migration officer’s determination as to the admissi3 bility of the alien at the port of entry into the Unit4 ed States, or

5 (2) to contest, other than on the basis of an ap6 plication for asylum, any action for deportation

7 against the alien.

8 (d) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding

9 any other provision of this section, the Attorney General

10 and the Secretary of State, acting jointly, may terminate

11 the pilot program under this section on or after a date

12 which is one year after the date of the establishment of

13 the pilot program if—

14 (1) during the preceding fiscal year, the over15 stay rate for nationals of the Republic of Korea en16 tering the United States under the pilot program ex17 ceeds the overstay rate of such nationals entering

18 the United States with valid visas; and

19 (2) the Attorney General and the Secretary of

20 State have jointly determined that the pilot program

21 is leading to a significant increase in the number of

22 overstays by such nationals.

23 (e) SPECIAL BOND AND NOTIFICATION REQUIRE24 MENTS FOR TOUR OPERATORS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nationals of the Republic of

2 Korea may not enter the United States under the

3 terms of this section unless they are accompanied

4 for the duration of their authorized admission period

5 by a tour operator who has fulfilled the following re6 quirements:

7 (A) The tour operator has posted a bond

8 of $200,000 with the Secretary of State.

9 (B) The Secretary of State, under such

10 regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, has

11 approved an application by the tour operator to

12 escort tour groups to the United States.

13 (C) The tour operator provides the name,

14 address, birthdate, passport number, and citi15 zenship of all prospective tour group members

16 to the Secretary of State no less than one busi17 ness day prior to the departure date of the

18 group, under such regulations as he may pre19 scribe, in order to determine that the prospec20 tive travelers do not represent a threat to the

21 welfare, health, safety, and security of the Unit22 ed States.

23 (D) The tour operator excludes from the

24 tour group any person whom the Secretary of
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1 State denies permission to travel to the United

2 States.

3 (E) The tour operator provides written cer4 tification or other such evidence prescribed by

5 the Secretary of State and Attorney General

6 which documents the return to Korea of each

7 tour group member.

8 (2) FORFEITURE OF BONDS.—Bonds posted in

9 accordance with this subsection shall be forfeited in

10 whole or in part and a tour operator’s authorization

11 to escort tours to the United States may be sus12 pended or revoked if the Secretary of State finds

13 that the tour operator—

14 (A) has failed to disclose a material fact in

15 connection with the application required under

16 paragraph (1)(B);

17 (B) fails to comply with the advance notifi18 cation and refusal requirements of paragraphs

19 (1)(C) and (1)(D);

20 (C) has failed to take adequate steps to en21 sure that visitors who are being escorted to the

22 United States under the terms of an approved

23 application return to their country of residence;

24 or
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1 (D) is found at any time to have commit2 ted a felony or any offense under the immigra3 tion laws of the United States.

4 (f) PARTICIPATION BY TOUR AGENTS.—The Sec5 retary of State shall periodically review the overstay rate

6 of nationals of the Republic of Korea that corresponds to

7 each tour agent participating in the program under this

8 section. The Secretary may terminate the participation in

9 the program of any tour agent if the Secretary determines

10 that the corresponding overstay rate is excessive.

11 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

12 (1) GROUP TOUR.—The term ‘‘group tour’’

13 means travelers who take advantage of group-pur14 chased hotel or airfare packages, as guided, super15 vised, and arranged by a tour agent in the Republic

16 of Korea approved or licensed by the Department of

17 State.

18 (2) OVERSTAY RATE.—The term ‘‘overstay

19 rate’’ means, during a specified period of time, the

20 proportion that the number of aliens remaining in

21 the United States after the expiration of their visas

22 bears to the total number of aliens entering the

23 United States during that period of time.
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1 (3) PILOT PROGRAM PERIOD.—The term ‘‘pilot

2 program period’’ means the three-year period imme3 diately following the establishment of the pilot pro4 gram.

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