Greece Gets Visa Waiver Privileges, But Other Nations Left in the Cold

Jena McNeill / March 15, 2010

Last week Greece was admitted as the 36th member nation of the Visa Waiver Program, (VWP). While this is certainly a welcome move for a program that hasn’t added a new member since 2008, it also highlights a real lack of willpower and effort by the White House to keep adding new member countries. In fact, DHS can barely add any new members right now because of the biometric exit mandate Congress linked to its waiver authority. The biometric mandate—which hasn’t gotten much of anywhere is a real stumbling block for the program—yet, the White House hasn’t even tried to pressure Congress to decouple them.

For a President who once emphasized, how we need “a new era of American diplomacy” he has done little to support VWP—which betters relations between the U.S. and its member nations. As explained by Heritage Analysts, the VWP offers many benefits to the U.S. and its allies. When travelers come to the United States, they spend billions of dollars in American restaurants, stores, and hotels, and also have the opportunity to bring positive experiences of the U.S. back to their home countries to be shared with others. While diplomatically, membership in the program serves as a real sign of trust to our allies—something they have expressed repeatedly throughout the program’s existence. (more…)