Israeli tourists may enter US without visa

Israeli tourists may enter US without visa


New US legislation will eliminate need for visa for Israeli tourists wishing to enter US for three months or less. Israel to join 38 other countries with same prerogative

Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 07.30.07, 20:36 / Israel News

WASHINGTON - Israeli tourists traveling to the United States for a period of three months or less may soon be able to do so without an entry visa.

The US is currently working on an amendment to its visa protocol which would allow for 12 states to be added to the 27 whose citizens do not need visas to enter the US

So far, all of Israel's efforts to exempt Israeli tourists from the lengthy process of obtaining a US visa have failed, due to the US criteria saying that only countries which had less than a third of their applications denied may be included on the list.

The US Congress is said to vote on new security legislation, which allows for countries that had 10% or less of their applications denied to be included on the list.

Should Congress approve this amendment Israel could easily qualify for the list, since only 3% of Israeli visa applications are denied each year...

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