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Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
 

Travelers from 35 countries may be eligible to travel to the United States using the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) for tourism, business or transit (see list below). To enter the United States without a visa, you must:

  • Have a valid passports from a country in the VWP
  • Travel for tourism, business or transit
  • Stay in the united States for less than 90 days
  • Have a return or onward ticket to your home or another country
  • Have at least a 90 days validity passport from your entry date
  • Have an ESTA travel authorization

Effective October 26, 2004, U.S. law required that each Visa Waiver Program (VWP) traveler present a machine-readable passport even if it is an emergency or temporary passport or obtain a nonimmigrant visa. VWP travelers from Andorra, Belgium, Brunei, Liechtenstein, and Slovenia have been required to do so since 2003.

If you do not have a Machine Readable Passport (MRP), you must obtain a U.S. visa.

MRPs issued between October 26, 2005 and October 25, 2006 will be required to contain a digitized photo or contactless chip that contains the data from the bio-page of the passport.

MRPs issued on or after October 26, 2006, must be electronic or "e-passports", bearing an integrated computer chip holding the same information printed on the passport bio-page.
VWP travelers with MRPs issued before October 26, 2005 do not need to obtain new passports or visas in order to travel to the United States. Such MRPs will be valid for VWP travel until they expire.

For more information visit Visa Waiver Program (VWP).
 
Important note:

  • If your travel plans terminate in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean, you must be a legal permanent resident there
  • You must get a visa if you want to study, work or stay more than 90 days in the United States
  • You are not permitted to enter with a VWP if you were arrested, have a criminal record, certain diseases, been denied entry or deported from the U.S., or previously overstayed too long on VWP.

For detailed requirements visit Visa Waiver Passports.

Visa Waiver Country list

  • Andorra
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Brunei
  • The Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • The Republic of Korea
  • Latvia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxemburg
  • Malta
  • Monaco
  • The Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • San Marino
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom

Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA)

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization is a new, fully automated, electronic system for screening passengers before they begin travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).

ESTA will be accessible via internet for citizens and eligible nationals of the Visa Waiver Program countries. ESTA will ask applicants to provide basic biographical and VWP eligibility information to Customs and Border Protection. This information will allow CBP to determine, in advance of the applicant’s travel, whether the applicant is eligible to travel under the VWP and whether he or she poses a law enforcement or security risk.
Effective September 8, 2010, all Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) registration applications or renewals on or after that date will require a $14.00 fee payment by credit or debit card.  Existing ESTA registrations remain valid through their expiration date. For more information, please visit the ESTA webpage on the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection website.

How the Electronic System for Travel Authorization Works

Log onto the ESTA Web site and complete an on-line application in English. Travelers are encouraged to apply early. The web-based system will prompt you to answer basic biographical and eligibility questions typically requested on a paper I-94W form.

Applications may be submitted at any time prior to travel, however, DHS recommends that applications be submitted no less than 72 hours prior to travel. In most cases you will receive a response within seconds:

  1. Authorization Approved:  Travel authorized.
  2. Travel Not Authorized:  Traveler must obtain a nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate before traveling to the U.S.
  3. Authorization Pending:  Traveler will need to check the ESTA Web site for updates within 72 hours to receive a final response.

An approved travel authorization via ESTA is:

  • Required for all VWP travelers prior to boarding a carrier to travel by air or sea to the U.S. under the VWP beginning January 12, 2009;
  • Valid, unless revoked, for up to two years or until the traveler’s passport expires, whichever comes first;
  • Valid for multiple entries into the U.S. As future trips are planned, or if an applicant’s destination addresses or itineraries change after their authorization has been approved, they may easily update that information through the ESTA Web site; and
  • Not a guarantee of admissibility to the United States at a port of entry. ESTA approval only authorizes a traveler to board a carrier for travel to the U.S. under the VWP. (For additional information, please visit “For International Visitors” ).