Poles deserve visa-free travel, says outgoing US ambassador

Lee A. Feinstein: photo - PAP/Rafał Guz

Ambassador Feinstein added in an exclusive interview before the end of his term of office this month, however, that the ultimate decision on the matter is in the hands of Congress not the White House.

When pressed, Lee Feinstein declined to name any concrete date by which Poles would be allowed visa free travel to the United States.

“It is very difficult to predict when, but I can tell you that President Obama is very committed to doing this. He told that to President Komorowski when he saw him at the UN General Assembly meeting and right now the White House’s job is to push Congress to support legislation which the White House endorsed, granting Poland its deserved membership in the Visa Waiver Program,” Ambassador Feinstein said.

He added that the amendments to legislation on which the US Congress is working on will concern a different method of counting the percentage of visa refusals to Poles wishing to travel to the United States.

This would enable Poland to meet criteria by which it could be included in the program for visa free travel to the US for up to 90 days.

Lee Feinstein also said he is convinced that elements of the new American, more mobile, missile defense shield will be located in Poland, as promised by Barack Obama when he scrapped the previous Bush administration’s plans to set up an anti-missile shield in Poland with a radar system in the Czech Republic.

Lee Feinstien said the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) project is proceeding according to schedule and has gained backing not only in Washington.

“This is a program that has strong support in the Unites States from both parties. […] This is a plan that has the endorsement not just of the United States and Poland but also NATO. That’s another reason to feel confident about the progress of the program.”

The elements of the missile defense shield in Poland would be completed by 2018, he said.

Lee Feinstein was appointed as ambassador to Poland by President Obama in July 2009.
Before that he worked as a campaign advisor to Hilary Clinton when she was seeking nomination as Democratic presidential candidate and for Barack Obama as a foreign policy advisor during his successful election campaign in 2008.

Lee Feinstein is married with two children.

The new US ambassador to Warsaw Stephen Mull is arriving on 3 November. (pg/ss)