Angered that it cannot convince the United States to change its visa policy, the Czech Republic is now hoping there's more power and influence in numbers.

The country has joined forces with six other new European Union member states in a campaign to get the United States to extend to their citizens the same right enjoyed by citizens of the original 15 members of the EU: the ability to travel to the United States without a visa.

Officials say the cooperation among Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will be a grass-roots lobbying effort aimed at specific U.S. senators and congressmen who are in a position to affect change. The campaign also expects to involve nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and U.S. corporations that have business dealings in the region.

"The pressure must come from all sides," said Jiří Pehe, a political analyst and director of the New York University (NYU) in Prague. "Only this way do we have a chance."

Despite the involvement of the three Baltic countries, the Visegrad Group made up of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland appears to be the nucleus of the renewed push for visa-free status.

Presidents of the four countries gathered in this small village 35 kilometers (20 miles) west of Prague for a summit Sept. 15–16, and the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) topped the agenda.

"It's very important that the citizens of our countries can travel to the United States without visas," Hungarian President László Sólyom told reporters at the end of the summit.

Strength from within

The campaign's soldiers are citizens from these countries who already live in the United States. They are lobbying elected officials who represent constituencies with large populations of Central and East European immigrants.

They've already met with some success. In Ohio, for instance, Democratic U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich said he would organize a public conference to raise awareness about the issue.

"It's a campaign that aims to work from the bottom up," says Petr Kolář, Czech ambassador to the United States. "The pressure on the U.S. government to lift visa requirements has to come from within."

East European expatriate communities aren't the only ones getting involved. Members of the American-Cuban community, no doubt showing solidarity with countries that have supported democracy in their homeland, have jumped into the fray, as have several Jewish communities.

Several NGOs, notably the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., are speaking out against U.S. visa policy in an effort to show Americans that Central and East Europeans are not a threat to their security.

In a recent op-ed article titled "Mistreating Our Friends" distributed on the Knight Ridder newswire, Heritage fellow James Carafano said it is in Americans' best interest to lift visa requirements for allies, and that the current situation is unfair.

Carafano wrote that unlike VWP participants France and Germany, Poland has sent thousands of troops to Iraq, and yet Polish citizens cannot travel freely to the United States.

All 15 original EU member states are part of the VWP. Similarly, Canada and Australia allow the same countries visa-free entry, and require the 10 new EU member states to obtain visas.

It's a double standard, leaders say.

The Czech Republic is set to take over the rotating EU presidency in 2009. "It would be very unfortunate if the Czech Republic didn't have the same rights as other EU countries when the country will be presiding over the union," says Kolář.

While analysts admit the current political climate in the United States isn't particularly favorable for relaxing visa policies, they say that, with the midterm election approaching in November, now is a good time for countries to intensify their lobbying efforts.

"The Visegrad countries are becoming much more united in this effort, and that makes the campaign stronger," says Petr Drulák, director of the Institute of International Relations in Prague. "I'm actually surprised this didn't happen sooner."

Slovak, Polish and Hungarian ambassadors in Washington, have tried to involve prominent companies — such as Haliburton, Black & Decker and Microsoft — that invest heavily in Eastern Europe.

On Oct. 3, for instance, the Czech Embassy in Washington plans to host a reception for investors in an effort to raise awareness about the visa issue.

"It's in their best interest that there are as few restrictions as possible," says Kolář.

Some Czech efforts to lift those restrictions in the past have been misguided, analysts say.

In the spring, the Czech Foreign Affairs Ministry talked about requiring visas for American and Canadian tourists here. That was mere political populism, analysts now agree.