From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
State Department says Israel set to launch pilot program to test visa waiver readiness
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
WASHINGTON — US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says Israel will announce later today a series of new policies that it will begin implementing tomorrow to ensure “ensure equal treatment for all US citizen travelers, without regard to national origin, religion or ethnicity.”
“Our understanding is that this policy will apply to all US citizens, including Palestinian Americans on the Palestinian population registry,” he says.
“We will monitor not just their implementation of these policies but their compliance with these policies and compliance or other facets of the Visa Waiver Program, and by September 30 make a decision on whether they merit admission into the program.”
Israel is slated to begin a pilot program on Thursday, which will test its preparedness for allowing Palestinian-Americans to more freely travel into Israel.
The Times of Israel Community.