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) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary
A BILL
To establish a visa waiver pilot program for nationals of
Korea who are traveling in tour groups to the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. KOREA VISA WAIVER PILOT PROGRAM.
(a) CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.—The Congress finds
that—
(1) travel and tourism play a major role in re-
ducing the United States unfavorable balance of
trade;
(2) the characteristics of the Korean travel
market do not permit long-term planning for longer
trips;
(3) applications for United States visas cannot
now be processed in a reasonable period of time;
(4) the Secretary of State has attempted to
solve the problem by adding additional staff to the
consular section at the United States Embassy in
Seoul;
(5) unfortunately, these additions have not re-
sulted in any discernible improvement in reducing
visa processing delays;
(6) further, it is unlikely, given the current fis-
cal environment, to expect funding to be available
for further staff additions in sufficient numbers to
effect any significant improvement in the time re-
quired to process visa applications;
(7) most of the nations of the South Pacific,
Europe, and Canada do not currently require Kore-
ans entering their countries to have a visa, thus pro-
viding them with a serious competitive advantage in
the tourism industry;
(8) the United States territory of Guam has
been permitted by the United States Government to
eliminate visa requirements for Koreans visiting
Guam, with resultant impressive increases in travel
and tourism from citizens of the Republic of Korea;
(9) any application under existing procedures to
add the Republic of Korea, or any other nation to
the group of favored nations exempted from United
States visa regulations, would require many years
during which time the United States could well lose
its competitive advantages in attracting travel and
tourism from the Republic of Korea;
(10) the Republic of Korea, as a gesture of
goodwill, has already unilaterally exempted United
States tourists who seek to enter the Republic of
Korea from the requirement of obtaining a visa; and
(11) growth in Korean travel to the United
States has not kept pace with growth in travel to
non-United States destinations, and cumbersome
and time-consuming visa processing procedures are
widely recognized as the cause of this loss of market
share and competitiveness with alternative destina-
tions.
(b) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of State and
the Attorney General jointly shall establish a pilot project
(in this section referred to as the ‘‘pilot program’’) within
six months of the date of the enactment of this Act under
which the requirement of paragraph (7)(B)(i)(II) of sec-
tion 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1182(a)(7)(B)(i)(II)) is waived during the pilot
program period in the case of any alien who meets the
following requirements:
(1) NATIONAL OF PILOT PROGRAM COUNTRY.—
The alien is a national of, and presents a passport
issued by, the Republic of Korea. The Republic of
Korea is urged to provide machine readable pass-
ports to its citizens in the near future.
(2) SEEKING ENTRY AS TOURIST.—The alien is
applying for admission to the United States during
the pilot program period as a nonimmigrant visitor
for pleasure (as described in section 101(a)(15)(B)
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1101(a)(15)(B))), as part of a group tour to the
United States.
(3) PERIOD OF STAY.—The alien seeks to stay
in the United States for a period of not more than
15 days.
(4) EXECUTES
IMMIGRATION
FORMS.—The
alien before the time of such admission completes
such immigration form as the Attorney General shall
establish.
(5) ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES.—If ar-
riving by sea or air, the alien arrives at the port of
entry into the United States on a carrier which has
entered into an agreement with the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to guarantee transport of the
alien out of the United States if the alien is found
inadmissible or deportable by an immigration officer.
(6) NOT
A
SAFETY
THREAT.—The alien has
been determined not to represent a threat to the
welfare, health, safety, or security of the United
States.
(7) NO PREVIOUS VIOLATION.—If the alien pre-
viously was admitted without a visa under this sec-
tion, the alien must not have failed to comply with
the conditions of any previous admission as such a
nonimmigrant.
(8) ROUND-TRIP TICKET.—The alien is in pos-
session of a round-trip transportation ticket (unless
this requirement is waived by the Attorney General
under regulations).
(c) WAIVER OF RIGHTS.—An alien may not be pro-
vided a waiver under the pilot program unless the alien
has waived any right—
(1) to review or appeal under this Act of an im-
migration officer’s determination as to the admissi-
bility of the alien at the port of entry into the Unit-
ed States, or
(2) to contest, other than on the basis of an ap-
plication for asylum, any action for deportation
against the alien.
(d) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding
any other provision of this section, the Attorney General
and the Secretary of State, acting jointly, may terminate
the pilot program under this section on or after a date
which is one year after the date of the establishment of
the pilot program if—
(1) during the preceding fiscal year, the over-
stay rate for nationals of the Republic of Korea en-
tering the United States under the pilot program ex-
ceeds the overstay rate of such nationals entering
the United States with valid visas; and
(2) the Attorney General and the Secretary of
State have jointly determined that the pilot program
is leading to a significant increase in the number of
overstays by such nationals.
(e) SPECIAL BOND AND NOTIFICATION REQUIRE-
MENTS FOR TOUR OPERATORS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Nationals of the Republic of
Korea may not enter the United States under the
terms of this section unless they are accompanied
for the duration of their authorized admission period
by a tour operator who has fulfilled the following re-
quirements:
(A) The tour operator has posted a bond
of $200,000 with the Secretary of State.
(B) The Secretary of State, under such
regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, has
approved an application by the tour operator to
escort tour groups to the United States.
(C) The tour operator provides the name,
address, birthdate, passport number, and citi-
zenship of all prospective tour group members
to the Secretary of State no less than one busi-
ness day prior to the departure date of the
group, under such regulations as he may pre-
scribe, in order to determine that the prospec-
tive travelers do not represent a threat to the
welfare, health, safety, and security of the Unit-
ed States.
(D) The tour operator excludes from the
tour group any person whom the Secretary of
State denies permission to travel to the United
States.
(E) The tour operator provides written cer-
tification or other such evidence prescribed by
the Secretary of State and Attorney General
which documents the return to Korea of each
tour group member.
(2) FORFEITURE OF BONDS.—Bonds posted in
accordance with this subsection shall be forfeited in
whole or in part and a tour operator’s authorization
to escort tours to the United States may be sus-
pended or revoked if the Secretary of State finds
that the tour operator—
(A) has failed to disclose a material fact in
connection with the application required under
paragraph (1)(B);
(B) fails to comply with the advance notifi-
cation and refusal requirements of paragraphs
(1)(C) and (1)(D);
(C) has failed to take adequate steps to en-
sure that visitors who are being escorted to the
United States under the terms of an approved
application return to their country of residence;
or
(D) is found at any time to have commit-
ted a felony or any offense under the immigra-
tion laws of the United States.
(f) PARTICIPATION
BY TOUR AGENTS.—The Sec-
retary of State shall periodically review the overstay rate
of nationals of the Republic of Korea that corresponds to
each tour agent participating in the program under this
section. The Secretary may terminate the participation in
the program of any tour agent if the Secretary determines
that the corresponding overstay rate is excessive.
(g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—
(1) GROUP
TOUR.—The term ‘‘group tour’’
means travelers who take advantage of group-pur-
chased hotel or airfare packages, as guided, super-
vised, and arranged by a tour agent in the Republic
of Korea approved or licensed by the Department of
State.
(2) OVERSTAY
RATE.—The term ‘‘overstay
rate’’ means, during a specified period of time, the
proportion that the number of aliens remaining in
the United States after the expiration of their visas
bears to the total number of aliens entering the
United States during that period of time.
(3) PILOT PROGRAM PERIOD.—The term ‘‘pilot
program period’’ means the three-year period imme-
diately following the establishment of the pilot pro-
gram.
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