New rules proposed for ‘visa waiver’ visitors

WASHINGTON — House leaders on Thursday unveiled bipartisan legislation to tighten rules on visa-free travel by millions of foreigners to the United States in hopes of making the U.S. less vulnerable after the Paris attacks.

Republicans are promising a vote next week, and Democrats have signed on as well. The proposal may end up being added to the massive spending measure that’s the main piece of remaining business in Congress this year.

The bill would require U.S. visitors from the 38 “visa waiver” countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Spain, to go through stricter screening procedures and obtain visas if they’ve recently been in Iraq, Iran, Syria or Sudan. Participating countries would be required to share counterterrorism information with the U.S., and would be terminated from the program if they fail to do so.

The legislation would also mandate new fraud-resistant passports with chips containing biometric information. Countries participating in the program would have to more thoroughly screen travelers, including checking them against Interpol databases, to be more certain that they don’t have terrorist ties.

“For terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons. That was certainly the case on 9/11, and unfortunately, it holds true today,” said the bill’s top sponsor, Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich. “It is imperative that we address every vulnerability that might allow terrorists to carry out another attack on U.S. soil — including vulnerabilities with our visa waiver program.”

The travel industry weighed in Thursday in favor of the legislation despite expressing reservations about companion legislation in the Senate that would require additional biometric information from travelers.

“Rather than embracing a knee-jerk reaction that threatens to set us back, this bill improves a process that is already making vital contributions to the fight against terrorism,” said Roger Dow, president of the U.S. Travel Association.