FOREIGN Minister Ján Kubiš has said he believes that an agreement will be reached and that Slovakia will be included in the US visa-waiver program within one or two years.
At a press conference on March 1, Kubiš said that US lawmakers were dealing with this topic and mentioned that discussions on this issue in the US senate are becoming more dynamic and that the US House of Representatives should deal with this topic within several weeks as well.
He thinks that all countries that want a change of the US visa-regime should keep putting pressure on the US Congress and should remind the US state administration that their efforts to be included in the visa-waiver program is important.
The US will not change its criteria for countries that would like to be part of the US visa-waiver program, SITA wrote. The criteria concern the number of rejected applications for entry visas to the US and the number of Slovaks who have violated their visa status in the US.
More attention will be devoted to statistical trends and to security measures that have been adopted for people traveling to the US. They include stricter passenger screening and the use of biometric data.
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
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