VILNIUS - One week after the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush, Baltic officials are working diligently to win their citizens the right of visa-free travel to the United States.
In Lithuanian, a Foreign Ministry delegation is busy working out how to implement the U.S.
Visa Waiver Program Roadmap, a program tabled by U.S. officials in Washington last month.
The roadmap, which was first proposed by Bush during his visit to Slovakia in February, allows for a U.S. Visa Waiver Program to be applied to citizens of Central and East European countries and new members of the European Union at an undefined time in the future.
The Foreign Ministry said in a press release that during this week's visit to Washington, the Lithuanian delegation was scheduled to meet with Director of International Affairs for the Department of Homeland Security Cresencio Arcos, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Maura Harty and members of the law committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Vaidotas Verba, director of the Foreign Ministry's consular department, was to acquaint U.S. officials with roadmap implementation in Lithuania, the introduction of new IDs with the latest biometric and security standards, and to discuss the introduction of a computerized data base that processes information rapidly.
At a presentation of the roadmap action plan on April 19, U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania Stephen Mull said that a country seeking visa-free privileges with the United States had to meet several requirements. Among them are visa-free trips for U.S. citizens to the country and digital passports with biometric data.
Another key requirement is that no more than 2 percent of all foreigners traveling on nonimmigrant visas violate visa-regime rules and no more than 3 percent of all visa applicants are refused visas.
The non-issue visa index has recently stood at 30 percent in Lithuania. The issuance of first electronic documents in Lithuania 's diplomatic passports 's was started in early May.
In Latvia, the Foreign Ministry announced last week that it is planning to organize informative events on problems that may arise from the misuse of US visas. The ministry said it was considering steps it could take for that purpose and had assessed various forms of distributing information, including seminars for mass media and posting information on the ministry's Web site.
Under the agreement reached between the Foreign Ministry and the U.S. Embassy in Riga, the ministry is obligated to launch a public campaign and call on Latvian citizens not to overstay their U.S. visas. The campaign will also inform people about problems that may arise from overstaying or misusing U.S. visas.
Latvia also undertook to meet biometric and other technical and security criteria of the visa waiver program as soon as practicable, while the U.S.A. will offer technical advice and assistance, as practicable, the ministry said.
