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(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act regarding the visa waiver program to require that an alien, when applying for program admission, possess a valid unexpired passport that:
is machine-readable, tamper-resistant, incorporates document authentication identifiers, and otherwise satisfies the internationally accepted standard for machine readability; and
A program country must certify that:
it issues passports that satisfy the internationally accepted standard for machine readability, and as of April 1, 2016, passports that satisfy internationally accepted standards for electronic passports; and
(Sec. 3) An alien shall be ineligible for program participation who:
has been present, at any time on or after March 1, 2011, in Iraq or Syria, in a country designated as one that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism, or in any other country or area of concern designated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); and
Such prohibitions shall not apply to an alien who was present in such a country to perform military or official government service for a program country.
DHS may waive such prohibitions if in U.S. law enforcement or national security interests, and shall report annually to Congress on each waiver made in the previous year.
DHS shall determine and review annually whether such prohibitions shall apply to any country or area, considering whether:
the presence of an alien in the country or area increases the likelihood that he or she is a credible U.S. security threat,
House Dec 8, 2015
Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015
Passed · Two-thirds required
407 Yea 19 Nay 7 not voting
Crossed both parties 19 of 426 voting members broke with their own party: 19 Democrats.
DemocratsRepublicansFilled: YeaRing: NayGrey: not voting or present
433 members on this roll call, from the official House record. Party majorities need at least five voting members, so an independent never counts as breaking with a party.
Signing on is not a vote: a member can cosponsor H.R. 158 and vote against it. 1 signed when it was filed.
(Sec. 4) A program country shall:
report the loss or theft of one of its national's passports to the United States within 24 hours; and
If DHS and the State Department jointly determine that a program country is not sharing information or conducting required screening, DHS shall terminate the country's program status, subject to specified conditions for reinstatement.
(Sec. 5) Certain reporting requirements are amended.
(Sec. 6) DHS shall evaluate program countries annually and identify and suspend from program participation any country whose nationals present a high U.S. security risk.
In suspending a country DHS shall consider:
the number of nationals determined ineligible for U.S. travel during the previous year,
DHS shall give Congress an annual evaluation and threat assessment of each country that presents a high U.S. security risk.
(Sec. 7) DHS shall:
research opportunities to incorporate anti-fraud/deception technology into the electronic system for travel authorization; and
DHS shall report annually to Congress on: (1) the number of individuals denied travel eligibility under the program or whose travel eligibility was revoked during the previous year, and (2) the number of such individuals who were determined to represent a U.S. security threat.
DHS shall report to Congress on steps to strengthen the electronic system for travel authorization.
(Sec. 8) DHS shall provide assistance in a risk-based manner to non-program countries to assist them in:
submitting theft or loss of passport information to Interpol; and
(Sec. 9) The electronic travel authorization system is renamed the electronic system for travel authorization.
(Sec. 10) It is the sense of Congress that:
the International Civil Aviation Organization should establish electronic passport standards and obligate member countries to utilize them as soon as possible, and
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, describing H.R. 158 as passed House amended on Dec 8, 2015. It is not the text of the measure; a later amendment may have changed what it does.
Organizations that named H.R. 158 in a lobbying disclosure. Only those that cited the bill by number appear, so this is a floor, not a full list.
89 disclosures name this measure. Retrieved from LDA.gov on 2026-10-05. Senate Office of Public Records cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from LDA.gov.