July 22, 2016
As expected, the European Union has decided to do nothing in response to the US law that denies visa-free travel to the United States to Iranians who hold dual citizenship in EU states.
Many Iranian-Americans objected strongly when the US Congress passed legislation last year denying visa-free travel to certain categories of visitors from the 38 countries, mostly European, that normally enjoy visa-free access to the United States. Those categories are dual nationals from Iran, Sudan, Syria and Iraq and all others who have visited those countries in the previous five years.
Iranian-American groups said the EU could be expected to retaliate by denying visa-free entry to the EU to Iranian-Americans. That was logical because the visa-free arrangement is normally arranged on a reciprocal basis.
The EU was already in a dispute with the US and Canada because both countries have refused visa-free entry to nationals of some EU member states in Eastern Europe. These are countries that joined the EU after the US and Canada reached agreements with the EU on visa-free travel. They are countries from which historically large numbers of visitors have tended to overstay their visas and remain in the US and Canada as illegal aliens.
In April, the European Commission, which is the executive arm of the EU, said that enforcing reciprocity would accomplish no good, would sour relations with Canada and the United States and be an economic disaster for Europe’s tourist industry. The commission asked the European Parliament and the European Council (composed of ministers from each EU member state) to take a position by July 12 on how to respond.
Last week, the commission noted that neither the Parliament nor the Council took any action by that deadline. The commission then said its policy now is “to continue to push for full visa reciprocity.” The announcement was silent on retaliation, meaning it will not retaliate and Iranian-Americans wishing to visit Europe will continue to be treated like all other Americans.
Franco-Iranians and German-Iranians and other European-Iranians will, however, continue to require a visa to visit the United States, just like Iranians in Iran.
Legislation to modify the “terrorist” ban enacted last year was introduced in Congress last winter, but no action has yet been taken on it. Given that Congress only has a short session remaining before adjournment for the elections, it is highly unlikely that any action will be taken and that the bill will die at the end of the year.
The visa requirement was enacted in the wake of the Paris massacre when there was a great fear of European citizens of Arab origin who had been radicalized by the Islamic State. The law, passed in a rush, tackled visitors to and nationals of Iraq and Syria, where the Islamic State is active, and visitors to and nationals of any country on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, which are Iran, Sudan and Syria.
But volunteers joining the Islamic State do not fly into Syria or Iraq and get passports stamped there. They fly into Turkey and cross the border illegally into Syria. Yet no restriction applies to visitors to Turkey. And the restriction on Iranian dual nationals isn’t likely to pick up many volunteers for the Islamic State, a Shiite-hating organization. So, the law actually has little utility.