2008 Press Releases
Second U.S. Delegation Positive on Greece’s Visa Waiver Program Candidacy
February 5, 2008
A second delegation from the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security visited Athens on February 4-5 for further discussions of Greece’s candidacy for the modernized U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) with counterparts at the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, and Justice.
“Our consular and immigration experts reported back very favorably on their visit to Greece last November,” said Assistant Secretary for Policy Development
Richard C. Barth of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “so I’m delighted to be in Athens to talk about next steps toward the VWP for our two countries.”
“We look forward to continuing these discussions with our Greek counterparts,” Barth added. “If our bilateral contacts continue to go well, I hope we can implement the VWP in Greece sometime in 2008.”
Greece was the first and is so far the only country to have received a formal nomination to the modernized VWP since the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 became U.S. law last August 3.
The U.S. has now also begun discussions with all current participants regarding the modernized VWP, as well as with several other countries that wish to be considered for it in the future.
