Letter supporting the “Visa Waiver Program Enhanced Security and Reform Act”

The Honorable Mike Quigley
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Steve Chabot
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representatives Quigley and Chabot:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, strongly supports the “Visa Waiver Program Enhanced Security and Reform Act.”

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) currently allows business and leisure travelers from 36 partnering countries to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days without obtaining a non-immigrant visitor visa. The Visa Waiver Program Enhanced Security and Reform Act would provide necessary updates to the VWP while also allowing the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate additional program countries.

Expansion of the VWP to key countries such as Brazil, Poland, and Chile, would eliminate unnecessary barriers to business and leisure travelers, provide enhanced security collaboration, and allow the Department of State to shift resources from low risk countries to higher risk countries. Prior to Brazil’s entry into the European Union’s (E.U.) Visa Waiver Program in 1996, the U.S. and Europe attracted about the same volume of Brazilian visitors. Over the decade that followed, Brazilian visitation to Europe increased by 163 percent but Brazilian travel to the U.S. grew by only 41 percent. According to the U.S. Travel Association, if the U.S. had obtained the same growth rate as the E.U., it could have gained an additional $5 billion in Brazilian traveler spending that would have supported 36,000 additional U.S. jobs.

Expansion of the Visa Waiver Program is a critical step in restoring the U.S. share of the global travel market to its 2000 level of 17 percent and achieving that goal would create an additional 1.3 million jobs by 2020. The Chamber thanks you for introducing this bill and looks forward to working with you on this important issue.

Sincerely,
R. Bruce Josten