Congress voted to tighten visa regulations

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that excludes from the program of visa-free entry into the country of persons who have visited Iraq or Syria for the past five years.

We are talking about a program that allows citizens of 38 countries, without applying for a visa at the American embassy or consulate, to come to the US for up to 90 days.

The bill, approved on Tuesday by 407 with “for” votes with 19 “against”, introduces a number of changes to visa regulations, including new requirements for citizens of Iraq, Syria and any other country that will be recognized as a territory of active terrorist activities. Restrictions will also affect people who have visited these countries in the past five years.

The bill also requires countries participating in the visa-free entry program to check travelers on Interpol databases to make sure that they are not wanted because of their links to terrorism or criminal activities.

To prevent passport fraud, the bill requires all 38 countries to issue passports with an electronic chip containing biometric information. The bill requires these countries to confirm the validity of these passports when they are scanned.

As part of the US visa-free entry program, about 20 million people visit each year. They are already being tested through an online system supported by the Ministry of National Security.

The bill was proposed after the November terrorist attacks in Paris, when, as a result of a series of explosions and coordinated attacks on civilians perished 130 people.

US lawmakers claim that the organizers of the attacks had the opportunity to visit the United States without a visa.

However, in Congress they distanced themselves from applications Presidential candidate Donald Trump, who on the eve called for a temporary end to the admission of Muslims to the United States.