The strings attached to visa-less travel

SME is running a couple of stories today about the lifting of the requirement that Slovaks obtain a visa for the USA before travelling there. The changes seem to be taking place on two fronts. Firstly a bill has been introduced in Congress to make travel to the US easier for coutries that do not represent a threat to the US (Slovak language link, SME newspaper). The previous requirement that the number of rejected Visa applications be below a certain threshold is likely to be reduced in priority in favour of cooperation with the US in security matters.

A second front is shown by the meeting between a senior official of the Department for Homeland Security, Paul Rosenzweig, and representatives of 13 countries potentially entitled to Visa-free travel (Slovak language link, SME newspaper), including Slovakia. This discussed technicalities of the security situation necessary to ensure US security. For example, Slovakia would have to share its list of lost and stolen passports with the US. Sorry about the Slovak language links but neither the Spectator nor Radio Slovakia International have picked up on these developments.

While many Slovaks would welcome easier travel to the US, they should be aware that this does not mean that they will be able to travel with any more privacy than when they were previously summoned to Bratislava to explain themselves.

A recent story in the British newspaper, the Telegraph states that EU governments have agreed to provide the Department of Homeland Security with a wide variety of flight passenger information on request.

By using a credit card to book a flight, passengers face having other transactions on the card inspected by the American authorities. Providing an email address to an airline could also lead to scrutiny of other messages sent or received on that account.

No doubt, Slovakia will have to agree to the same or stricter conditions. If you dislike the US processing or storing this information, you are welcome to lodge a complaint, in a US court. By the way, the US government merely undertook to "encourage" its airlines to share such information with the Europeans rather than oblige them.