Final US visa waiver agreement signed by Israel and US

Israel has taken another step towards inclusion in the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) after Israeli and US officials signed a final bilateral agreement needed to implement the VWP. However, a final key bill remains stuck, with Israeli interior minister, Ayelet Shaked, accusing the Israeli government’s opposition party, Likud, of delaying legislation for ‘political reasons’.

Accompanied by Shaked, Israel’s public security minister, Omer Barlev, signed the Preventing and Combating Serious Crime (PCSC) information-sharing agreement with US Embassy deputy chief of mission, Jonathan Shrier.

However, US and Israeli officials acknowledge that there is still a ‘long way to go’ before Israel is eligible to join the VWP. Additional legislation still needs to be passed by the Knesset, which opposition parties led by Likud blocked before the Knesset was recently dissolved.

US visa waiver program

The US VWP enables citizens of participating countries to make short-term visits to the US, without the need to apply for a US visa, which takes time, and money and is by no means guaranteed.

40 countries are currently part of the VWP. The most recent nation to be accepted into the program was Croatia in 2021.

The recent signing of the PCSC accord is the second information-sharing agreement that Israel has signed as part of the VWP process.

According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS): “PCSC agreements permit the United States and its partner countries to cooperatively exchange biometric and biographic data in the course of preventing and combating serious crimes and terrorist activities.”

Under the PCSC legislation, when a country identifies a person of interest, it may query the automated biometric system of the partner country to determine whether there is a fingerprint match. If a match is found, personal information about a person of interest can be shared, including immigration and criminal history, date of birth, aliases and more.

1,000 inquiries per year

In March this year, an agreement signed by Barlev and US Department of Homeland Security undersecretary for policy, Robert Silvers, will allow Israel and the US to each file 1,000 enquiries per year regarding the criminal records of citizens looking to enter either of the two countries.

At the recent signing ceremony, Shaked said: “This is it, all the agreements are signed. Now we just need to pass three laws in the Knesset, but the opposition Likud party is delaying the legislation for political considerations.”

The necessary legislation is unlikely to be passed any time soon, and despite hopes that Israel would join the US visa waiver program in 2022, it’s more likely that it will be 2023.

The bills in question will require airlines to disclose private information about travelers entering or exiting the country, including any credit card numbers used to pay for tickets, their billing address and their destination. 

The bills also call for the creation of a database containing passengers’ information, and a Passenger Information Unit that would be responsible for managing and reviewing the data. 

Database

The idea of creating a database first emerged in 2014, when former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, ordered the formation of a task force to study the possible establishment of a passenger database. 

However, it was not until February 2020, amid efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 – concentrated on travelers entering the country - that work began on the bills.

Opposition leader Netanyahu and his party supposedly held up the legislation in what was deemed to be an effort to deny the outgoing government a political victory ahead of the elections in November. 

Likud has said it voted against the measure because it would curb Israel’s ability to perform security examinations of Palestinian Americans entering the country.

Recently, US Ambassador Tom Nides made the rare move of publicly imploring Israeli lawmakers to pass the bills, even calling a senior Likud MK to try to convince him to allow the legislation through.

A similar plea to support the bills was made to the Joint List party, with US officials telling it that Israel’s entry into the VWP would also assist Americans of Palestinian descent.

Barlev said: “The agreement has strategic importance, since beyond its importance for the Visa Waiver Program, it will help Israel and the US to fight crime and terrorism through the information-sharing agreements, which enable criminals and terrorists to be monitored and located.”

Israel has been attempting to join the US Visa Waiver Program for years, but has yet to meet the minimum requirements. In the past, governments have lobbied Congress for an exemption from these global criteria, but the newest push saw Israel move toward passing the legislation that would instead help it fulfill the American conditions.

Congressional Research Service

According to the US Congressional Research Service, VWP countries “must issue electronic passports, report information on all lost and stolen passports to the United States through the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), and share information on travelers who may pose a terrorist or criminal threat.”

All members of the US Visa Waiver Program are expected to grant ‘reciprocal’ treatment to all US citizens at every border crossing.

“To become a VWP member, foreign countries must treat all American visa applicants equally; however, Israel has been accused of discriminating against Arab Americans,” according to a CRS report.

Granting automatic entry to US citizens from the West Bank and Gaza Strip is expected to be a tall ask of Israel, which regularly limits such passages over what it says are ‘security reasons’.

Current policies have left Palestinian Americans with little option but to travel to Amman and try to enter the West Bank through the Israeli-controlled Allenby Crossing. 

“The US recently proposed adding Palestinian Authority staff to the Allenby Crossing, but the idea has not been well received by Israel”, said an Israeli official familiar with the matter.

US visa rejection rate

Another essential step required for Israel’s entry into the VWP is lowering the visa application rejection rate to below three percent by the end of the fiscal year in September. 

“Israel’s rejection rate in 2020 stood at roughly 6.25%,” said a US embassy official, “due largely to mistakes applicants made in filling out their US visa forms, including inadequate photographs,” the official added.

Should Israel fail to reduce its US visa rejection rate below three percent this year, it will have to wait another year to apply for entry into the VWP, even if the necessary legislation has passed, because acceptance is based on annual visa rejection rate figures, which are collated in September.

Travelers from participating countries are not guaranteed entry into the US. They are required to be cleared for travel before boarding their flight through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization.

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