House Approves Overhaul of Visa Waiver Program

The House has overwhelmingly approved a bill to tighten the federal visa waiver program.

The existing program allows citizens of 38 countries to be in the country for up to three months without a visa. But the new bill would require visas for anyone who's been in Iraq or Syria in the previous five years.

"Our nation faces the highest terror threat environment since 9/11, and we must do everything possible to shut down terrorist pathways into this country," Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said.

About 20 million visitors come to the United States annually under the current visa waiver program. They are screened through an online system maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.

But The Associated Press reports that in past years, the program has been used by would-be terrorists, including "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who boarded a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001 without a visa and attempted to set off a bomb.

There's also Zacarias Moussaoui, the "20th hijacker" from 9/11, who flew from London to Chicago with a French passport and no visa in February 2001, according to a Homeland Security Inspector General report from 2004.

The White House has recently announced a series of improvements to that and other aspects of the program.

Countries in the visa waiver program would also be required to share counterterror information with the United States or face expulsion from the program. All travelers would be checked against Interpol databases, and visa waiver countries would be required to issue "e-passports" with biometric information.

Belgium and France are among the countries that have been part of the visa waiver program, but most of the perpetrators of last month's Paris attacks lived in those countries.

Lawmakers are also talking about looking at the fiancé visa program that allowed Tashfeen Malik, the shooter in the recent attacks in San Bernardino, California, into the country. The Homeland Security Department has already announced a review of that program.