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Resolutions in State Legislatures Supporting Visa Waiver for Poland

By virtue of being included in the United States Department of State's Visa Waiver Program, there are 36 nations in the world whose citizens may travel to the United States visa-free. Poland's citizens cannot.

Since May 2004 the Polish American Congress has worked with 12 state legislatures for the successful passage of 13 Resolutions supporting the admission of Poland to the United States Visa Waiver Program. The 13 Resolutions came about because the Massachusetts legislature passed the nation's first Visa Waiver for Poland Joint Resolution in May 2004 and then another in July 2010. Of the other 11 Resolutions, 10 were Joint Resolutions as well, one of which, in Ohio, specified that all NATO member nations, including Poland, should be admitted to the Visa Waiver Program. The Nebraska legislature passed a Unicameral Resolution insofar as that state only has a Senate in its legislative branch. In Connecticut, the Resolution had been passed only by the Senate.

Of the twelve states, three had no Polish American Congress presence (Maine, Nebraska, and Vermont). Nevertheless, the Polish American Congress got the job done in those states as well.

In essence, each Resolution "memorializes the President and Congress of the United States" to admit Poland to the Visa Waiver Program. As such, the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, and Senate and House leaders received official copies of the Resolutions as did each state's Congressional Delegation in Washington, DC. In one case, an official copy had been sent to the Secretary of Homeland Security as well.

The National Vice President for American Affairs, hitherto a life-long resident of Massachusetts until his move to New Hampshire in 2011, initiated the process and has sustained it, one which continues to this day in the search for additional legislatures inclined to the idea of Visa Waiver for Poland.

Honor Roll of State Legislatures which have passed Resolutions
supporting extending the Visa Waiver Program to Poland

  Massachusetts, 323,210 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, May 2004)
  New Jersey, 576,473 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, October 2004)
  Vermont, 20,484 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, January 2005)
  Pennsylvania, 824,146 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, April, 2005)
  Connecticut, 284,272 Polish Americans: (Senate Resolution: Poland, May 2005)
  Maine, 24,982 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, May 2005)
  Nebraska, 62,475 Polish Americans: (Unicameral Resolution: Poland, June 2005)
  New York, 986,141 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, June 2005)
  Ohio, 433,016 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: All NATO Nations, June 2005)
  Michigan, 854,844 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, June 2006)
  Arizona, 126,665 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, April 2007)
  Illinois, 932,996 Polish American: (Joint Resolution: Poland, May 2007)
  Massachusetts, 323,210 Polish Americans: (Joint Resolution: Poland, July 2010)

 
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