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Last update - 10:22 19/10/2008
Israel not among nations getting visa waiver from U.S.
By Barak Ravid
Tags: Israel News, Meir Sheetrit 

President George W. Bush announced a decision over the weekend to exempt the citizens of seven more countries from the need to apply for U.S. visas; Israel was not among the seven.

The U.S. is also supporting the same measure for an additional six countries - Israel, again, is not one of them. The countries that received the exemptions are Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and South Korea.

The six additional countries on the road to visa exemption are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Poland and Romania. Several of these countries have assisted the U.S. in its war on terror, particularly in activities in Afghanistan.
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Despite the special relationship between Israel and the U.S., the latter has refused Israel's requests in recent years to expedite visa exemptions. Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit made an official request on the matter two weeks ago when he met in Washington two weeks ago with Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

Sheetrit was told that the U.S. wants to move the matter ahead but that Israel has to meet certain conditions, including a biometric passport containing fingerprint or iris identification.

The cabinet approved biometric passports a month ago but a long legislative process awaits in the Knesset on the matter, and biometric passports will likely only come into use at the end of 2009.

A senior government official said in Jerusalem last week that "without biometric passports, no progress is expected" on the matter.

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      1.   Tough luck 05:43  |  Ola 19/10/08
      2.   Can You Blame Us? 06:36  |  Bryan 19/10/08
      3.   No, we don`t blame you 08:35  |  Mrs. Lincoln 19/10/08
      4.   None of the countries with visa exemptions has Arab population 08:38  |  x-ray 19/10/08
      5.   #2 Bryan 08:54  |  D 19/10/08
      6.   Why would anyone want to go to the US ? 09:03  |  Iris 19/10/08
      7.   Gee, more proof that Israel and Jews control 09:23  |  David Teich 19/10/08
      8.   Bryan 09:24  |  hello 19/10/08
      9.   Israel not among nations getting visa waiver from U.S. 09:35  |  Adrian 19/10/08
      10.   sucks to be you... 09:41  |  yezmar 19/10/08
      11.   BRYAN Israel refrained from attacking Iraq to save the coalition. 09:52  |  PETER SM 19/10/08
      12.   Why Israel is NOT exempted! 10:25  |  Samy 19/10/08
      13.   #7 Peter SM 10:36  |  Bryan 19/10/08
      14.   It has to do with Biometric Passports. Period. 11:15  |  Stephen. 19/10/08
      15.   Its because of "Israeli" Arabs 11:49  |  Yehoshua 19/10/08
      16.   Samy - you are such a moron 11:54  |  Philip Ravicher 19/10/08
      17.   #2 Bryan 12:02  |  Loreen 19/10/08
      18.   #8 israel has too many non-european 12:13  |  Kris Lazar 19/10/08
      19.   Visa exemption for a country with so many fanatics? 12:13  |  Joe Wuzelbacher 19/10/08
      20.   Visa waiver for an Apartheid state?! 12:15  |  Yael 19/10/08
      21.   No need for Visa waiver 12:18  |  Settler 19/10/08
      22.   #4 arab population 12:19  |  Jonathan 19/10/08
      23.   Lack of biometric passport is an excuse 12:19  |  Bernie 19/10/08
      24.   Phillip 13:02  |  J in Oregon 19/10/08
      25.   Pro and Con of VWP 13:52  |  Sivan 19/10/08
      26.   Thank You Republicans; Give Us More! 14:06  |  Dave 19/10/08
      27.   #4to x-ray: do you know how many arabs/muslims in Western Europe 14:33  |  JustMe 19/10/08
      28.   All U.S. Presidents promise,,,Jerusalem as Israel`s capital 15:05  |  crossed my fingers 19/10/08
      29.   Why Not? 15:11  |  Mary 19/10/08
      30.   Bravo Bush 15:20  |  Vladimir Jabotinsky 19/10/08
      31.   the real reason 15:28  |  mohammad 19/10/08
      32.   None of the countries with visa exemptions has Jewish population 15:28  |  gamma-ray 19/10/08
      33.   Thank you Brazil 16:02  |  FOX 19/10/08
      34.   Silly at best 16:08  |  Mark Lincoln 19/10/08
      35.   What`s all this about "Arabs" ? 17:23  |  Rodrigue 19/10/08
      36.   VWP Criteria 17:29  |  ChanaWashDC 19/10/08
      37.   # 15 yehoshua 17:41  |  Axel 19/10/08
      38.   no visa wiver for Israel 18:41  |  Kermit 19/10/08
      39.   # 4 x-ray 23:45  |  Axel 19/10/08
      40.   BRYAN are you for real? Send Israeli troops to Iraq??? 00:06  |  PETER SM 20/10/08
      41.   Non biometric passport can be handed to a 08:03  |  michael mazur 20/10/08
      42.   back to Sammy 08:30  |  Nerijus 20/10/08
      43.   31 MohamMAD 15:18  |  Ibn Musa 20/10/08
      44.   reverse psychology? 21:03  |  5PillarScribe 20/10/08
      45.   axel, why do you think it`s impausible 01:56  |  E.A. 21/10/08
      46.   visa waiver 01:16  |  mike kelly 22/10/08
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