Immigration Law

CHERTOFF REMARKS HINT THAT VISA WAIVER PROGRAM WILL BE EXPANDED TO SLOVAK NATIONALS

By Greg Siskind

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff commented yesterday on a crime and security agreement reached with the Slovak government:

So before I turn it over to the Minister, I want to emphasize that we remain committed to Visa Waiver Program expansion at the earliest opportunity. That, of course, is enabled by two things: our allies doing their part, just as the Republic -- Slovak Republic has done today, and our doing our part, which we are, of course, carrying out by implementing our Electronic System for Travel Authorization. So I look forward to a day hopefully in the not-too-distant future where we can welcome Slovaks into visa-free travel, as we also hope to do with a number of other countries.

While the number of Visa Waiver countries has been stuck at around 27 for several years, recent announcemnts suggest that the number could expand significantly in the coming months with the inclusion of a number of Eastern European countries as well as Israel.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on October 09, 2008 (boomark / email).