Congress Considers Forcing Travel Registration

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


[ Found this originally on /. but thought the original article
would be better served here. Rather backwards, this current
US government... -Ed. ]


http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/...isa.php?page=1

U.S. proposals on visa rules raise fears in Europe
By Brian Knowlton
Friday, June 15, 2007


WASHINGTON: Measures moving through Congress, including a requirement
for travelers in some countries to register travel plans online 48
hours before departure, have raised fears in Europe of disruptions in
the trans-Atlantic flow of business and leisure travel.

The requirement, proposed by the Homeland Security Department, would
apply to people in 27 mostly West European countries who are now able
to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without visas. It
would also apply to new entrants to the same so-called Visa Waiver
Program, a status sought by 12 countries, many of them eastern and
central European states new to the European Union that have placed
enormous stock on getting in - for business, tourism, family links and
plain national prestige.

Poles need "proof that this is a fair relationship," said Janusz
Reiter, the Polish ambassador to Washington. "I'm afraid that if we
fail, we may lose a generation."

Poles, who can now travel and work across the EU, would turn against
the United States, traditionally regarded as a friend, Reiter said.

The existing European members of the waiver program are not thrilled by
the 48-hour requirement - a potential hardship for business people, who
often change travel plans at the last minute - nor by some other
tightening of standards for their airports and passport handling.

Nathalie Loiseau, the spokeswoman at the French Embassy in Washington,
said that European officials, with full French support, were working
with Congress to help "enhance trans-Atlantic relations and not to put
more obstacles before people who wish to travel to the U.S."

But a U.S. official this week said that the online registration would
be a "convenient" process, taking five minutes or less, and causing no
one to miss a flight.

While the mechanics of the online registration are yet to be set, said
Russ Knocke, the Department of Homeland Security spokesman, in
practice, online registration could be done less than 48 hours before
departure.

"The concept is that whenever the ticket is purchased, there's a quick
'ping' to give us advance notice on who's going to travel to the U.S."

Earlier information on travelers' identities, he said, should mean
fewer flights delayed - or even turned back in midair - for security
reasons.

"Whether done on the Internet from someone's office while packing up
the laptop to catch a flight that day, or when they're in the hotel the
night before and need to change their flight and come home early, it
can still be done," Knocke said. The process would involve sharing no
more data than from a passport, he said.

U.S. officials have long seen the waiver program as politically
vulnerable.

If someone entering the country from a visa-waiver country should
launch a terror attack, Knocke said, "the rush in Congress to shut this
program down altogether would be fast and furious."

Thus the tougher standards set by the proposed change could make it
easier to bring in new countries, he said. "What we're working with
Congress to accomplish is to strengthen the integrity of the overall
program through, for example, the electronic travel authorization
process, so the program itself is stronger and potentially more
inclusive."

Along with online registration, the updated program would require new
and existing member countries to improve data-sharing; more rigorously
report lost and stolen passports (not just blank passports); and
guarantee they will repatriate nationals if those people are ordered
out of the United States.

"It's really a 21st-century model," said James Carafano, a Heritage
Foundation analyst who specializes in homeland security. "It'll all be
done electronically and biometrically. And it really doesn't compromise
your privacy."

But tied in to legislation that has passed the Senate and been
introduced in the House is the question of the entry standards for
countries eager to join the program.

Current members are judged as among the most reliable U.S. travel and
business partners. Membership requires, among other things, a record of
extremely low rejection by U.S. consular officials of the visa
applications from a country's nationals - less than 3 percent of the
total.

In the past, a low total mainly reflected a small probability of a
country's nationals overstaying visas. But since the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, terrorism concerns have played a growing role.

"Most of the refusal rates have gone up since 9/11 because consular
officers have been much more cautious," said Carafano.

The new EU member countries tend to have rejection rates far higher
than the 3 percent threshold. Estonia had a rejection rate last year of
7.1 percent; the Czech Republic 9.4 percent; Hungary 12.7 percent; and
Poland 26 percent, according to State Department figures.

Both the Senate bill and a House version seek to give Homeland Security
greater flexibility. Candidate countries would merely have to show a
"sustained reduction in visa refusal rates," as Poland, for example,
says it can do.

But an amendment to the Senate bill would set 10 percent as the maximum
refusal rate for member countries. The House version proposes no such
change.

The European Union has urged Congress to extend the waiver program to
all EU citizens based on individual eligibility without regard to
nationality.

The candidate countries say they support tighter security measures but
they see the refusal rate standard as arbitrary. "Even American experts
recognize that granting a visa is an arbitrary decision" based on how
an applicant acts during a consular interview, said Daniela Gitman, the
Romanian charg? d'affaires in Washington. "The way they sweat, the way
they discuss. This is not a good way" to decide.

As new members of the EU, they say they merit better treatment.

Entry to the program, said Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu of Romania
during a Washington visit, "for us will be a sign of appreciation for
our participation in the war against terror."

Reiter put it differently: "This is not so much about practical
importance. This is much more about symbolism, about the emotional side
of the relationship."

"The asymmetry we are having between the U.S. and our countries,
including Poland, is becoming more and more an instrument for those who
say this is not a fair relationship," he said.

Applicant countries say U.S. officials are living in the past if they
are worried about a flood of East Europeans entering - and not leaving.

"Many people in the U.S. seem to believe it is a natural instinct of
every Pole, Hungarian or Slovak to want to stay in the U.S.," Reiter
said. "This is totally wrong today."

The countries now in the waiver program are Andorra, Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain.

BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email:
Unix Systems Administrator, |
Web + NewsMaster, BOFH.. Smeghead! | http://www.wizard.com/~tyketto
PGP: 1024D/E319F0BF 6980 AAD6 7329 E9E6 D569 F620 C819 199A E319 F0BF

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFGczSYyBkZmuMZ8L8RAqyoAJ9AGfrIcNrE0tUtri5Ra4 qqvsjPnACgzgZm
GJqOhH55ZadWXXjkfj92kSs=
=p+pe
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

A Guy Called Tyketto wrote:
WASHINGTON: Measures moving through Congress, including a requirement
for travelers in some countries to register travel plans online 48
hours before departure, have raised fears in Europe of disruptions in
the trans-Atlantic flow of business and leisure travel.

Not surprising considering the orwelian bunch in washington that have
yet to be ousted and tried for their war crimes.

So, how do people who don't have internet access get to file those
"easy" reports 48 hours in advance ? What about backpackers who may be
out camping somewhere and not have internet access ?

It is very sad to see the population of a formerly great country
continue to allow their government to try to implement "power trip"
rules just to show that they can control everything.

Eventually, some of the worse ideas get watered down. They realised that
requiring all americans to have passports so quickly just coudln't work,
so they rescinded the requirement for now, and americans just need to
have a proof that they made an application for a passport to be allowed
to travel back home from canada to the USA.


The sad thing is that by making it harder to visit the USA, nations will
also reciprocate and make it harder for americans to travel outside of
their country.

International travel fosters better understanding of how the world works
and greater tolerance for different cultures. The more americans are
educated about internatonal affairs, the less they would tolerate their
rogue government declaring wars under false pretenses. The more they
would understand the extremely negative impact of many of the US
government's foreign policies and this would force politician to be a
bit more honest on international affairs.


North Korea may be extremely self-isolated, but they aren't really a
serious threath to anyone. But the USA has shown it lacks the checks and
balances to prevent a lying president from declaring a war under false
pretenses. And the USA has a lot of WMDs are are a very serious threath
to the world. Furthering the isolation of the USA will make the USA an
even more dangerous country.

In message Nobody
wrote:

The sad thing is that by making it harder to visit the USA, nations will
also reciprocate and make it harder for americans to travel outside of
their country.

The fun part is watching Americans froth when they are refused or
delayed when trying to travel.

--
If quitters never win, and winners never quit,
what fool came up with, "Quit while you're ahead"?