Visa Waiver Program (VWP)

[forum_admin]

If you are coming to the U.S. for tourism or business for 90 days or less from a qualified country, you may be eligible to visit the U.S. without a visa. Currently, 28 countries participate in the Visa Waiver Pilot Program: 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, the United Kingdom and Uruguay. If you enter on the Visa Waiver Pilot Program, you are not allowed to work or study while in the U.S., and you cannot stay longer than 90 days or change your status to another visa category. For more information, please see Visa Waiver Pilot Program

UPDATE:

On October 17, 2008 President Bush announced the imminent expansion of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Republic of Korea and the Slovak Republic. However, the United States must still complete certain internal steps required by statute before we can complete VWP expansion. Nationals of each country above continue to require visas to travel to the United States during that period. DHS has announced that nationals of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Republic of Korea and the Slovak Republic will be able to travel without a visa for tourist and business travel of 90 days or less beginning on November 17 provided they possess a biometric passport and register on-line through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). For the full text of the President’s statement see the Press Release.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announces implementation of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which began to accept voluntary ESTA applications starting on August 1, 2008. ESTA is a new fully automated, electronic system for screening passengers before they begin travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. ESTA applications may be submitted at any time prior to travel to the United States, and VWP travelers are encouraged to apply for authorization as soon as they begin to plan a trip to the United States. It is anticipated that ESTA will become mandatory for VWP travelers from current VWP member countries on January 12, 2009 and for VWP travelers from newly admitted VWP countries in mid-November 2008.

International travelers seeking to travel to the United States without a visa, who are nationals of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries, should review this important information on traveler passport requirements under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).

All VWP travelers, regardless of age or type of passport used, must present a machine-readable passport. In addition, depending on when VWP travelers’ passports were issued, other passport requirements apply:

• Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended on or after 10/26/06 – requires integrated chip with information from the data page (e-Passport).
  
• Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended between 10/26/05 and 10/25/06 – requires digital photograph printed on the data page or integrated chip with information from the data page.
  
• Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended before 10/26/05 – no further requirements.

Temporary, emergency, official and diplomatic passports are exempted from biometric digital photo and chip requirements, but must be machine-readable. Note that German temporary or emergency passports are not included in this biometric e-passport exemption. Therefore, holders of German temporary or emergency passports must either obtain a valid, machine-readable regular German passport for VWP travel or apply for a U.S. visa to travel to or through the United States.If a traveler cannot meet all of the requirements, he/she must obtain a visa for entry to the United States, and cannot travel without a visa on VWP. See Visa Waiver Program on the DHS, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website for additional information.

Read more:
Visa Waiver Program (VWP)

As an American of Polish ancestry, I am disappointed in this administration's decision. When my family would like to visit me in the United States, I am required to send a letter of invitation; they are then required to wait in line for hours, fill-out a myriad of forms, pay $100 (which is quite a bit of money in Poland)... and most people are usually turned away. By the way- they don't get their money back.

For a country that owes its existance to prominent Polish figures like Kosciuszko and Pulaski, the U.S. should be a little more flexible. Our Senators need to recognize that approximately 10% of the American population is of Polish ancestry (nearly 40 million people), and discontinue this wall and roadblock that I'd equate to the "American Berlin-Wall for the Polish" that separates so many families. The Polish culture is very family-centric; this is such a great issue for us Poles as it makes normal family visits between Poland and the U.S. nearly impossbile. Thank you Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, and George W. Bush. Bush is out- let's make sure that the other two never move up in politics again. Vote them out.

I agree-- it should be that Poland is included in the program at this point.