Another significant progress on the road to exemption from visas to the USA:
this week the Knesset plenum will approve in second and third reading the first of three laws required as infrastructure for the exemption (API law).
Among other things, the discussions will begin in the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee to prepare for the second and third reading of another law - PNR that allows the transfer of information about passengers between Israel and the USA.
Towards the end of the month, the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee is also expected to begin work on a criminal information sharing law between the countries, so that by the end of the winter session on April 2, the Knesset will complete the legislation of the three laws required as infrastructure for entry into the US visa exemption program.
Traveling in the National Bank of Israel, photo: Moshe Shay
As mentioned, tomorrow the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee will meet to prepare the PNR law due to the fact that the Constitution Committee has created a "traffic jam" of laws due to the work on the legal reform and it is expected to finish the preparation of the law and its enactment in a second and third reading by the end of winter.
According to the law, a legal infrastructure will be allowed to receive personal information from airlines regarding passengers on flights entering, leaving or passing through the State of Israel that appears in the travel documents of a passenger on a flight issued by states, as well as data about the flight that is collected by the airlines for their needs.
During the week, the Knesset will also approve the API law that deals with the information found in the passengers' passports and it will be possible to share it even before the passenger leaves for the destination country (Israel or the USA) and thus prevent or delay the arrival of unwanted parties. The third law, which will also soon reach the Foreign Affairs Committee, will allow Sharing criminal information about passengers within the framework of only two thousand queries per party per year.
In addition, Israel must finish building the technical tools required to enter the visa program.
Among other things, the establishment of an information collection center by the Tax Authority where all security officials will sit alongside government ministries.
In addition, it is necessary to establish an information system that will allow information sharing with the Americans, as well as an Israeli inspection of those crossing its borders against the Interpol databases.
Ambassador Tom Neides, photo: AP
The Americans recently clarified that their main concern is that the Tax Authority will not be able to complete the establishment of the information collection center according to the defined target dates.
It should be noted that Israel has a time frame until the month of September to complete the legislation which, according to the plan, will reach its final stages already in April and must also be able to collect and share information by the target date.
Three weeks ago, the United States Ambassador to Israel, Tom Neides, announced that the percentage of Israelis who were refused entry to the US fell below the 3% threshold in the past year. This is the maximum refusal threshold for residents of a foreign country so that its citizens do not need a visa, and it is another basic condition that Israel was able to meet Good luck for her entry into the exemption program.
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