Israel nearing long-sought visa waiver deal with US — ministers

Israel is on the brink of completing a visa waiver agreement with the United States, ministers said Monday, heralding the imminent arrival of the long sought arrangement.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said a number of hurdles holding up Israeli compliance with US visa waiver requirements were being cleared, without providing details.

“We are finalizing a deal to cancel the visas,” Shaked tweeted. “Ever since I took up the post we have been working with the Americans to join the group of select countries whose citizens are exempt from obtaining an entry visa to the USA. We found the balance between protecting the privacy of Israeli citizens and the demands of the Americans.”

Israel and pro-Israel groups have pushed for Israel’s entry into the program, which allows for 90-day visits for business or tourism. The program is seen as a facilitator for trade.

A key issue concerns US access to Israeli fingerprint records, Channel 2 news reported last month.

Under the current Biometric Database Law there is a sweeping prohibition on transferring details such as fingerprints to foreign authorities unless it’s for a specific criminal investigation. Foreign authorities are also prevented from keeping the information or passing it on to other entities.

According to the report, Shaked indicated that only the fingerprints of those with a criminal record would be passed on to the Americans, an arrangement that could pave the way to the visa exemptions program.

Implementing the visa waiver will eventually require changing the Biometric Database Law, the report said.

Another issue holding up Israel’s entry into the program is the requirement that visa refusals be under 3 percent. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said Monday her ministry was “acting on various levels to reduce the number of Israelis who are refused visas to the US.”

Hotovely wrote that she is set to meet with the US Consulate General in the Jerusalem for further talks on the matter.

The 3% requirement has long been an obstacle in Israel’s drive to join the 38 countries currently in the visa waiver program, and officials in the past have lobbied for Congress to exempt the country from the threshold.

In 2016, Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat of New York, who has advocated for allowing Israel into the visa waiver program, said in a statement that the refusal rate for Israelis in 2015 was 3.85 percent, down from 8.2% in 2014.

JTA contributed to this report.