Poland still not eligible for US visa waiver program
Poland still doesn’t meet the criteria necessary to be included in the US visa waiver program, Deputy Minister of the International Affairs Ministry Bogusław Winid has said. The main criterion for the program is the percentage of declined visa applications, which currently stands at 3 percent.
“Unfortunately the statistics [of declined visa applications] for Poland are still above the statutory threshold prescribed by US law,” Winid said.
In 2013 Poles filed 65,000 visa applications, 8,000 of which were declined, which equals to 10.8 percent. In 2007 the level stood at 25 percent and has been steadily decreasing over the next few years. The level has come in below 10 percent only twice so far: in 2009 and 2011 (9.8 percent in 2009 and 9.3 percent in 2011).
The US Congress is currently working on a new bill that would increase the level to 10 percent, but the work on the project has been stalled.
