Statement by Chargé d’Affaires Alexander Karagiannis on Bulgaria and the Visa Waiver Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 2007

President Bush on August 3, 2007 signed the “Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007” into law.  Among the provisions of the law, it modernizes the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) – incorporating additional security measures and allowing greater flexibility to bring close allies such as Bulgaria into the program.

The new law allows for limited flexibility for membership inclusion.  Under the new law, countries with visa refusal rates of not more than 10 percent in the previous year can be considered for the program.  (Bulgaria currently has a tourist refusal rate of about 17 percent.)   Candidate countries must also show a sustained reduction in the number of people who stay or work illegally in the United States.  The law also significantly enhances VWP security requirements, including enhanced information sharing, document security, and airport security standards, all designed to improve cooperation against terrorism and increase international border security.  The law requires improvements in the U.S. border security screening system, including establishment of an electronic travel authorization system and a system to verify visitors’ exits from the United States.  Under the new law, these systems must be in place before new countries enter the VWP.

Thanks to this new law. Bulgaria is closer to the day when Bulgarians can travel without visas to the United States.  It will take considerable time, in some instances months and in others several years, for all VWP systems to be in place, so that Bulgarians and other qualified nationalities will be able to travel without visas to the United States.  Already, four out of five Bulgarians who apply for tourist visas receive them.  We want more Bulgarians to come to the United States for study, business, and tourism, to visit family, and to meet the American people face-to-face.  We will work closely with the Bulgarian Government to help Bulgaria meet all requirements of the law and eventually to join the VWP.