Israeli citizens came one step closer to not requiring visas to enter the United States after the countries signed an information-sharing agreement on Wednesday that could see the Jewish state added to the US Visa Waiver Program.
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Public Security Minister Omer Barlev and US Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Policy Robert Silvers signed the agreement in Jerusalem, in the presence of Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.
Any country interested in joining the USVWP must provide the US with access to criminal records and the information-sharing agreement will allow each side to file 1,000 inquiries regarding the criminal records of citizens seeking to cross their respective borders.
To clarify, the USVWP does not grant the US full and unlimited access to Israel's criminal databases and vice-versa.
Being included in the US visa waiver program would enable all Israelis to visit the United States for up to 90 days for tourism or business.
Currently, Israelis seeking to travel to the US, even briefly, must go through a lengthy visa application process.
Israeli officials in the past have said such access would require parliamentary legislation, although it wasn't clear whether this stipulation was still in place.
Israel would become the 40th party to the USVWP and US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last year that he wanted to see an agreement come to fruition.
"Today we took another step toward visa exemptions for Israelis and signed an agreement that was a necessary criterion for meeting the Americans' prerequisites," Shaked said in a statement. She also thanked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Silvers, and US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides for their efforts in advancing the matter.
"As I promised, we continue to advance this objective on a daily basis with all our might and will do so until the job is done. There's still a ways to go, but thanks to the hard work of both sides, we will be able to deliver the good news to Israeli citizens," Shaked added.
Meanwhile, beyond the information-sharing condition, much larger issues still remain that Israel has yet to adequately address.
Inclusion in the USVWP requires countries to provide reciprocal privileges to all US passport holders at all points of entry. This will mean allowing all US citizens in Gaza and Judea and Samaria visa-less entry into Israel – which Israel does not currently grant due to security concerns.
Another requirement is for Israel to lower its visa rejection rates from the current rate of 4.5% to 3% or lower.
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