Mr. Speaker. this February we will celebrate the 200th year of our diplomatic relations with the country of Portugal. yet on September 13. when a list was published extending the names of countries whose citizens we permit to visit this country without a tourist visa. three countries were conspicuously absent from this list: Greece. Ireland. and Portugal. Mr. Speaker. there are some 1.200.000 Portuguese in this country. Unfortunately our State Department creates a presumption that anyone visiting this country is going to stay in this country. and so those people who go to get a tourist visa are often denied a right to visit their relatives and friends in this country because they cannot show a family. a job or other financial responsibility in their home host country. This is unfair. Portugal has been a longtime friend of the United States.
Identified stereotypes
The State Department creates a presumption that anyone visiting this country is going to stay in this country.