The Visa Waiver Program: Balancing Tourism and National Security

March 15, 2018

The Visa Waiver Program: Balancing Tourism

and National Security

The U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is intended to

encourage travel to the United States by allowing citizens

of more than three dozen countries to visit without

obtaining visas from a U.S. consulate. The program was

originally established in 1986. In recent years, some

Members of Congress and the Trump Administration have

expressed concern that potential terrorists holding passports

from a VWP country might be able to enter the United

States. Discussions over reform of the VWP are occurring

at the same time as a recent dip in the number of visitors to

the United States from VWP countries.

What Is the Visa Waiver Program?

The Visa Waiver Permanent Program Act (P.L. 106-396)

allows citizens holding a passport from 38 developed

nations in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and South America (see

Figure 1) to visit the United States on trips of 90 days or

less for business or tourism without first obtaining a visa.

The VWP sets standards for travel documents, requires

information sharing between member countries and the

United States, mandates reporting of lost or stolen travel

documents, and requires travelers to use e-passports, which

include a digital chip containing biometric information and

are relatively difficult to tamper with.

Figure 1. 38 Visa Waiver Program Countries

Source: Graphic created by CRS using data from the U.S.

Department of State—Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Prior to boarding a plane or ship for the United States, all

prospective VWP travelers must obtain pre-travel

authorization through the Electronic System for Travel

Authorization (ESTA). This is a web-based application run

by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which

determines the eligibility of the foreign national to enter

under the VWP. An ESTA authorization is generally valid

for multiple entries over a period of two years.

Each VWP traveler who uses ESTA is charged a $14 fee.

Of this, $10 is used to fund Brand USA—a public-private

entity to promote U.S. tourism—and $4 goes to defray

DHS’s costs of screening VWP applicants.

The VWP was established as a pilot program in 1986 and

became permanent in 2000. It is the largest source of

overseas visitors to the United States, other than visitors

from neighboring Canada and Mexico (which accounted for

half of total arrivals in the United States in 2016). Canadian

nationals can travel visa-free to the United States, but

Mexicans must obtain visas. Border crossing cards, often

referred to as “laser visas,” are issued to Mexican citizens

for short-term entry to the United States border zone for

business or tourism.

U.S. Travel and Tourism Economy

In 2015, the latest year for which data are available, the

nation’s tourism industries accounted for 2.7% of U.S.

gross domestic product. Of the 7.6 million American jobs

directly and indirectly supported by the domestic travel and

tourism industry in 2016, 1.2 million were supported by

international visitors, according to the Department of

Commerce. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates

foreign travelers accounted for 25% of tourist spending on

lodging, 27% of tourists’ food and beverage demand, and

24% of total passenger air transportation demand in 2015.

In addition, international travelers spent about $244 billion

in 2017 on passenger fares on U.S. air carriers and travelrelated goods and services, which makes tourism the United

States’ single-largest services sector export. The U.S. travel

and tourism sector has maintained an annual trade

surplus—$70.1 billion in 2017—with the world every year

since 1989.

Arrivals of foreign visitors increased over many years, with

growth interrupted by the terrorist attacks of September 11,

2001, and by poor economic conditions in Europe and

Japan in 2009. Between 2015 and 2017, however, the

number of foreign residents arriving in the United States is

estimated to have fallen from 77.5 million to 75 million, a

drop of 3%, despite relatively strong economic growth

around the world. This decline has occurred at a time when

cross-border tourism is increasing globally.

Figures from the World Bank show the United States’ share

of the 1.2 billion global tourism arrivals shrank to 6.1% in

2016 from 6.4% in 2015.

Visitors from VWP Markets

In FY2016, about 23 million people entered the United

States under the VWP, accounting for roughly a third of all

temporary visitors to the United States. Arrivals from many

of the VWP countries responsible for the highest volumes

of tourist visits declined significantly (see Figure 2).

https://crsreports.congress.gov

The Visa Waiver Program: Balancing Tourism and National Security

Figure 2. Visitors from Selected VWP Countries to

the United States

including Brand USA, and making the revenue available to

Customs and Border Protection.

A long-standing issue between United States and the

European Union (EU) is the exclusion from the VWP of

travelers from five EU member states (Bulgaria, Croatia,

Cyprus, Poland, and Romania). The EU has argued that the

Visa Waiver Program interferes with European citizenship

rights by excluding at least 14% of EU citizens. The United

States has insisted that each individual EU member country

must meet U.S. security requirements before its citizens can

become eligible for VWP travel. In 2017, the European

Parliament adopted a nonbinding resolution calling for the

EU to suspend visa-free entry for citizens of countries that

do not grant a reciprocal visa waiver to citizens of all EU

member states, but this proposal has not been put into

effect.

Source: National Travel and Tourism Office.

VWP-Related Issues for Congress

For example, the volume of visitors from Germany shrank

10% between 2015 and 2016, and arrivals from the United

Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and Japan were down as

well.

Following a number of high-profile terrorist attacks in

Europe perpetrated mainly by European citizens, and

reports of European countries’ citizens fighting with armed

groups in the Middle East, some Members of Congress

proposed bills to tighten requirements under the VWP. The

Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel

Prevention Act, enacted as part of the FY2016 Consolidated

Appropriations Act (P.L. 114-113) in December 2015,

made residents of VWP countries ineligible for admission

to the United States if they are dual nationals of or have

been present in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or

Yemen at any time on or after March 1, 2011 (with limited

exceptions). The law also allows the Secretary of Homeland

Security to immediately suspend a country’s participation

in the VWP if the country fails to provide information

related to security threats.

Several factors may account for the recent overall slide in

foreign visitors traveling to the United States, including

 a strong U.S. dollar in 2016, making stays in the United

States more expensive for international visitors;

 weak economies in some other nations, such as Brazil,

an important source of international visitors, at nearly

1.7 million arrivals in 2016; and

 travelers electing to go elsewhere.

There is also a perception, supported by surveys conducted

by various travel groups, indicating that prospective

travelers from VWP countries view the United States as a

less welcoming place than previously, perhaps due to

changes to the VWP and to publicity surrounding the

Trump Administration’s announcements of “travel bans” on

visitors from several majority Muslim countries.

The U.S. government predicts an overall rise in foreign

visitors traveling to the United States over the next five

years. However, projections that about 83 million foreign

visitors will travel to the United States in 2020 are below

the goal of 100 million set by a federal Task Force on

Travel and Competitiveness established in 2012.

Meanwhile, other lawmakers have offered bills to expand

the VWP to several other countries, such as Hong Kong and

Israel. In the 115th Congress, for example, H.R. 2388 would

extend the VWP to Poland; H.R. 187 would create a

separate visa waiver program for the U.S. Virgin Islands;

and H.R. 730 would remove the prohibition against VWP

participation by dual nationals from Iraq, Syria, and other

countries of concern. None of these bills has been reported.

Related CRS Products

CRS Report R43463, U.S. Travel and Tourism: Industry Trends

and Policy Issues for Congress, by Michaela D. Platzer

Executive Branch Actions

In December 2017, as part of the Trump Administration’s

counterterrorism efforts, DHS announced additional VWP

security measures and called on Congress to codify existing

VWP requirements. In the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018

(P.L. 115-123), Congress extended the Travel Promotion

Fund fee through September 30, 2027, but the authority to

transfer the funds to Brand USA sunsets at the end of

FY2020. The Trump Administration’s FY2019 budget

proposes eliminating funding for tourism promotion,

CRS Report RL32221, Visa Waiver Program, by Jill H. Wilson

Michaela D. Platzer, Specialist in Industrial Organization

and Business

Jill H. Wilson, Analyst in Immigration Policy

https://crsreports.congress.gov

IF10847

The Visa Waiver Program: Balancing Tourism and National Security

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