Visa Waiver Program

Question:  What is the status of the review of the Visa Waiver Program?

 Answer:  The Department of State supports the Visa Waiver Program and welcomes the continued participation of those countries that meet its requirements.  Participating countries are periodically reviewed as a matter of routine.  We worked with INS to review six countries last year.  Joint INS/Department of State teams visited Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Uruguay in November and December.  Argentina was removed from the program under the Attorney General’s emergency authority.  We await INS to finish its report and present it to the Department for formal consultations.  For comment on the status of the report, we refer you to INS.