Mr. President. today I am introducing. along with six of my colleagues. legislation to provide a limited waiver of the U.S. nonimmigrant visa requirement. Visa waiver legislation was passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 98th Congress and is supported by the administration. yet our stringent visa requirement remains unchanged. This bill is very similar to the original visa waiver amendment which I added to the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1982. Our current visa system requires virtually all foreign travelersthe major exception is Canadiansto obtain visas from U.S. embassies in their countries before entering the United States. This requirement causes delays of up to 6 weeks for visa applications to be processed. and the disruptive effect on travel plans has undoubtedly resulted in a substantial loss in foreign visitors to this country. Testimony before the Commerce Committees Subcommittee on Business. Trade. and Tourism. which I chair. has indicated that the losses resulting from our visa policy are in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars per year and thousands of jobs. As a strong supporter of the travel and tourism industry. I want to stress both the importance of the industry to this Nation and the significant impact that this legislation would have on international travel.
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Immigration visas visa Visa