During a press conference with Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador William Cabaniss said the contentious Czech visa issue was on the agenda of the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C.

He spoke of a significant lobby made up of various groups, including Czechs already living in the United States. He said a major think tank has "drawn up recommendations" on how the Czech Republic could gain so-called visa waiver status.

But Czech politicians and lobbyists in Washington say this is not the case, and it appears that any concerted campaign to change the United States' visa policy toward the Czech Republic is at most fledgling, according to interviews.

"It's not getting the attention it needs in the right places yet," says Michael G. Rokos, president of the Washington–based American Friends of the Czech Republic (AFCR).

Several Jewish- and Cuban-interest organizations based in the United States want to end requiring visas for visiting Czechs, according to the Czech Embassy in Washington. But any organized lobby in Congress is months away, Rokos says.

A Congressional delegation of eight U.S. representatives visiting Prague April 21 and 22, including two from Texas, a state with a large Czech population, did not seem eager to discuss the visa issue in depth. The leader of the delegation told Czech media they were aware of and working on the issue, but several lawmakers did not respond to numerous interview requests from The Prague Post.

Currently, U.S. citizens are allowed to enter the Czech Republic and stay up to 90 days without a visa, while Czechs entering the United States must go through a lengthy and expensive visa application process that often leads to rejection.

Rokos says that immigration policy is a hotbed issue in the United States right now, and the Czech visa waiver issue is getting wrapped up in that discussion.

"They are completely separate issues," he says.

'End of discussion'

One Czech recently rejected was Kamila Hejmová, 57, who wanted to visit her brother in Florida earlier this year.

"The officer looked at everything, took a stamp and said, 'End of discussion — rejected,' " she says. "Of course, I asked him why, and he said 'It's obvious that you intend to stay in the U.S.' "

Hejmová says she was not a risk to stay in the United States because she owns a luxury apartment in Prague and a weekend retreat in Kutná Hora and is the caretaker of her elderly mother — none of which she is willing to give up by overstaying her welcome in the States.

In the past month, the Czech government has increased the pressure on the United States to remove the visa requirement, which officials say is unfair.

Foreign Affairs Minister Cyril Svoboda has even called for a tougher policy on tourists from the United States, as well as Australia and Canada, which also require visas for Czech tourists.

Svoboda said tourists from these countries must have their passports stamped upon their arrival and that they should be required to prove, among other things, that they have $35,000 (809,200 Kč) in health insurance coverage.

Hesitant delegation

The congressional delegation recently in town, part of an exchange called the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue (TLD), met with President Václav Klaus and Paroubek April 21 and discussed the visa waiver issue.

Representative Jo Ann Davis (R–Virginia), who led the delegation, told the Czech News Agency they would look into changing the law that would allow Czechs to enter the United States without a visa, but she gave no commitments to change the law.

Visa issues are not among the TLD's stated "issues of mutual interest."

Meanwhile, Czechs officials are not holding their breath.

"We did not expect these talks to offer a general solution to the problem," said Lucie Orgoníková, a spokeswoman for Paroubek.

Realistic expectations

Earlier this month, 11 members of Parliament visited the United States. They say they received an overwhelmingly positive response from their counterparts about changing visa policy.

But the delegates heard mixed messages about when that change would occur.

"Everybody took our arguments on lifting the visa requirements seriously," says Luděk Sefzig, chairman of the Senate Committee for European Union Affairs. "It will be sooner rather than later, and surely after we have biometric data on our passports."

The United States will soon require electronic passports from citizens of the 27 countries that can currently enter the country without a visa.

Still, in the event of a change in policy, the Czech Republic wants to be ready: It will begin issuing e-passports Sept. 1 in order to get in line with that policy change.

Deputy Milan Ekert of the Social Democrats says the visa waiver would take much longer than some of his colleagues expect, and says it is the wrong moment to press the issue because the United States is still embroiled in an internal immigration debate.

"It's going to take a long time," he says.