We want a good life for the Israelis and the Palestinian people. But you cannot do it when you have a terrorist organization running. in essence. the Gaza Strip. In this bill Senator BLUNT and I have worked on. there is a visa waiver section. and I want to go over that because I fear we may have objections to this. I am hoping not. I still hope we wont. but in this visa waiver section it does three things: First. it expresses the sense of the Senate that Israel should be designated as a program country under the Visa Waiver Program. Second. it urges United States engagement with Israel to help it meet the requirements of the waiver program. i.e.. when Israelis come over they pay attention to the time on their visas and they go back to their country when the time is up. Third. it authorizes but doesnt require the administration to waive a nonimmigrant visa waiver requirement only if Israel meets all the other program requirements. Here is what is important. There are 38 countries in the Visa Waiver Program. These countries represent some of Americas closest allies. In fact. 20 of the current Visa Waiver Program countries are NATO allies. So I want to say clearly to my friend Senator SESSIONS and anyone within the sound of my voice that the provision I hope he will not object to today. the provision gives Israel. the strongest ally of the United States in the Middle East. a chance to join the program. As a member of the Visa Waiver Program. Israeli citizens. many of whom have families in America. would be allowed to visit the United States for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa. This deepens the ties between our nations. I want to read some of the countries that have these privileges: Lithuania.
Keywords matched
visa Visa visas