Visa Waiver Program

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The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a program of the United States of America which allows citizens of specific countries to travel to the US for tourism or business for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa.

History

The visa waiver program was introduced in 1986 with the aim of facilitating tourism and short term business visits to the United States, and allowing the Department of State to focus consular resources on addressing higher risks to the U.S.

Eligible countries

As of 2004, 27 countries participate in this program:

Persons must be citizens of the country in question in order to travel. Permanent residents of eligible nations do not qualify unless they hold an eligible passport.

Eligibility for the visa waiver scheme may be withdrawn at any time.

British passport holders

Only British Citizens are eligible for the program. British National (Overseas) and other British passport holders (except most persons from Bermuda) need a visa to visit the United States.

British National (Overseas) passport holders do not need visas to visit Guam. See British Nationality Law for details regarding various kinds of United Kingdom passports.

Requirements for the visa waiver program

The requirements for the visa waiver program are as follows:

Machine readable and biometric passports

All travellers must have individual passports. It is not acceptable (for the visa waiver scheme only) for children to be included on a parent's passport.

Passport requirements depend on the date the passport was issued:

passports issued before 26 October 2005 must be machine readable
if passport was issued after 26 October 2005, a machine readable passport with a digitized photograph or a passport with biometric identifiers
if passport is issued after 26 October 2006, it must be a machine readable passport with biometric identifiers

Passport validity

The standard requirement for passport validity is 6 months beyond the expected date of departure from the U.S., however some country-specific arrangements are different. Details (pdf format)

Return or onward ticket

If entering the U.S. by air or sea, additional requirements apply:

travelling on a participating commercial carrier
holding a valid return or onward ticket. Where ticket terminates in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or an island in the Caribbean, the traveller must be a legal resident of that country or territory.

Other eligibility requirements

Applicants for admission under the visa waiver program:

must have complied with the conditions of all previous admissions to the U.S.
must not be ineligible for a visa
must not be intending to visit the U.S. for a purpose other than tourism or a short term business visit. In particular, journalists cannot use the visa waiver scheme to operate in the U.S. and must instead apply for an I visa.
if entering over the land frontier, must pay a fee of USD6. For thosr arriving by air or sea, the cost of the visa waiver is included in the airline ticket.

Those who do not meet the requirements for the visa-waiver scheme must obtain a U.S. tourist visa from an American Embassy or Consulate.

Canadians and Bermudians

Canadian citizens and British Overseas Territories citizens from Bermuda are also admitted to the United States without requiring tourist visas, but under different legislation to the Visa Waiver program.Details

Prior to 17 March 2003, Canadian permanent residents who were citizens of Commonwealth countries or Ireland could be admitted to the U.S. on the same basis as Canadian citizens. This concession has been withdrawn.

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