Greece added to Visa Waiver Program

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now allows nationals of Greece to use the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Travellers will be able to enter the US for 90 days or less for tourism or business purposes without a visa, provided they have an e-passport and an approved authorization via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).

To travel to the United States under the VWP, an alien must be from a participating country and must (1) be seeking entry as a tourist for a period of 90 days or less; (2) be a national of a VWP participant country; (3) present an electronic passport or a machine readable passport issued by a designated VWP participant country to the air or vessel carrier before departure; (4) execute the required immigration forms; (5) if arriving by air or sea, arrive on an authorized carrier; (6) not represent a threat to the welfare, health, safety or security of the United States; (7) have not violated U.S. immigration law during a previous admission under the visa waiver program; (8) possess a round trip ticket; and (9) waive the right to review or appeal a decision regarding admissibility or to contest other than on the basis of an application for asylum, any action for removal.

For the DHS press release, see here. For more information about the Visa Waiver Program and ESTA, see here.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/london/43530136/.

Malta added to Visa Waiver Program

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now allows Maltese nationals to make use of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), as of December 30, 2008. Travellers will be able to enter the US for 90 days or less for tourism or business purposes without a visa, provided they have an e-passport and an approved authorization via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).

To travel to the United States under the VWP, an alien must be from a participating country and must (1) be seeking entry as a tourist for a period of 90 days or less; (2) be a national of a VWP participant country; (3) present an electronic passport or a machine readable passport issued by a designated VWP participant country to the air or vessel carrier before departure; (4) execute the required immigration forms; (5) if arriving by air or sea, arrive on an authorized carrier; (6) not represent a threat to the welfare, health, safety or security of the United States; (7) have not violated U.S. immigration law during a previous admission under the visa waiver program; (8) possess a round trip ticket; and (9) waive the right to review or appeal a decision regarding admissibility or to contest other than on the basis of an application for asylum, any action for removal.

For more information about the Visa Waiver program and ESTA, please see our blog post dated 11/17/08: http://martinvisalaw.blogspot.com/search/label/visa%20waive.

7 new countries added to Visa Waiver Program

The US Department of State has increased the number of participating Visa Waiver Program countries from 27 to 34. The seven new countries are: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia. The 27 countries that were already in the VWP before November 17, 2008 are: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Starting today, visitors from the 7 new countries will need to apply for ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) before they travel. From January 12, 2009 onwards, all VWP travellers will need ESTA clearance. Full details about the ESTA program, including FAQs and information sheets, are here: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/esta/.