I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 634 
To designate Poland as a program country under the visa waiver program 
established under section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 
subject to special conditions. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 8, 2005 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas (for herself, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. 
TOWNS, and Ms. KAPTUR) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To designate Poland as a program country under the visa 
waiver program established under section 217 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act, subject to special con-
ditions. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Poland is one of the closest allies of the 
United States in Europe and worldwide; the diplo-
matic, political, military, and economic relationships 
between the two countries have never been better in
history, but personal contacts among ordinary indi-
viduals are lagging behind. Over the medium and 
long terms, this will start to affect the overall qual-
ity of the strategic partnership between the United 
States and Poland. 
(2) Poland has actively participated in the glob-
al campaign against terrorism led by the United 
States. There is an indication that the threat of po-
tential terrorist activities generated in Poland is ac-
tually smaller than that in most of the 27 countries 
currently participating in the visa waiver program 
established under section 217 of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act. Polish citizens have not been 
involved in any form of terrorist activities on the ter-
ritory of the United States or against the interests 
of the United States overseas. 
(3) Since joining the North Atlantic Treaty Or-
ganization on March 12, 1999, Poland has proven to 
be a reliable partner and a capable guarantor of 
NATO security in Kosovo and Afghanistan. 
(4) From the first days of Operation Iraqi 
Freedom, Poland has been a staunch ally to the 
United States and has committed its soldiers to help 
with ongoing stabilization efforts in Iraq.
(5) In recognition of the historic changes in our 
bilateral relations and motivated by the sincere need 
to enhance contacts between Polish and United 
States citizens, on April 15, 1991, Poland unilater-
ally repealed its visa obligation for United States 
citizens seeking to travel to Poland for a period of 
90 days or less. 
(6) The Polish-American community of 9.3 mil-
lion people contributed significantly to the develop-
ment of the United States. 
(7) Since the movement known as ‘‘Solidarity’’ 
and the turning point of 1989, Poland has under-
gone great political, social, and economic changes. It 
has become a nation committed to traditional values, 
rules of law, freedom, and democracy. 
(8) On May 1, 2004, Poland became a member 
state of the vibrant European Union. Poland is a 
free market economy, and Poland’s integration with-
in the European structures has had a stabilizing ef-
fect on its economy. 
(9) More than 150,000 Polish citizens visited 
the United States in 2003. 
(10) Poland’s visa refusal rate has declined dra-
matically, and it continues to decline. Nevertheless, 
the visa refusal rate is an arbitrary standard that is
not an objective measurement because it does not re-
flect the propensity of nationals from Poland to vio-
late the terms of their admission into the United 
States. 
(11) Poland participates in the work and travel 
program that allows about 25,000 Polish students to 
visit the United States each year. 
(12) Warsaw International Airport Oke˛cie par-
ticipates in the pilot program of voluntary passenger 
screening for passengers leaving Warsaw to fly to 
the United States. 
(13) If Poland is allowed to conditionally par-
ticipate in the visa waiver program, the Polish gov-
ernment will develop and implement a campaign to 
prevent Polish citizens from remaining in the United 
States beyond their authorized period of admission 
or otherwise violating the terms of their admission 
into the United States. 
(14) The Polish government is committed to be-
coming a successful part of the visa waiver program. 
(15) Poland is ready to demonstrate that ade-
quate safeguards against fraudulent use of its pass-
ports are in place, including proper storage of blank 
passports and sufficient screening of passport appli-
cants.
(16) Poland is determined to fulfill its obliga-
tions and introduce extremely safe passports for its 
citizens, including two mandatory biometric identi-
fiers. This is in addition to satisfaction of the ma-
chine-readable requirements for passports described 
in the Immigration and Nationality Act. 
(17) On February 23, 2004, and May 11, 2004, 
the assemblies of New Jersey and Massachusetts, re-
spectively, enacted resolutions urging the President 
and the Congress to make Poland eligible for the 
visa waiver program. 
SEC. 2. TEMPORARY AND CONDITIONAL DESIGNATIONS OF 
POLAND FOR VISA WAIVER PROGRAM. 
(a) TEMPORARY DESIGNATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and notwithstanding section 
217(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1187(c)), Poland temporarily shall be des-
ignated a program country for purposes of the visa 
waiver program established under section 217 of 
such Act. 
(2) EXPIRATION.—The temporary designation 
described in paragraph (1) shall expire on the date 
that is 18 months after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.
(b) REVIEW.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 
Security shall determine the overstay rate for the portion 
of the period of temporary designation described in sub-
section (a) that has elapsed when the determination is 
made. Based on such calculation, the Secretary shall de-
termine whether Poland permanently, but conditionally, 
shall be designated a program country for purposes of 
such visa waiver program. 
(c) DURATION, SUSPENSION, AND TERMINATION OF 
CONDITIONAL DESIGNATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, if the Secretary determines under 
subsection (b) that Poland permanently, but condi-
tionally, shall be designated a program country, Po-
land shall continue to be a program country for pur-
poses of the visa waiver program as long as the an-
nual overstay rate for each fiscal year remains below 
3 percent. 
(2) SUSPENSION.—If the overstay rate for a fis-
cal year exceeds 3 percent, the Secretary of Home-
land Security shall suspend the designation of Po-
land as a program country for purposes of the visa 
waiver program for a period of 1 year.
(3) TERMINATION.—If the annual overstay rate 
exceeds 3 percent for any two fiscal years (regard-
less of whether such years are consecutive), the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security shall terminate the des-
ignation of Poland as a program country for pur-
poses of the visa waiver program. 
(4) REDESIGNATION.—The Secretary of Home-
land Security may redesignate Poland as a program 
country without regard to any other law when the 
Secretary determines that Poland has established 
satisfactory new safeguards to ensure that the over-
stay rate will remain acceptably low. 
(d) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 
term ‘‘overstay rate’’ means the percentage which— 
(1) the total number of nationals of Poland who 
were admitted as nonimmigrant visitors during the 
applicable measurement period and who violated the 
terms of such admission; bears to 
(2) the total number of nationals of such coun-
try who applied for admission as nonimmigrant visi-
tors during such period. 
Æ