Visa Waiver Program

This requirement was announced on June 3, 2008 and is intended to bolster U.S. security by pre-screening participating VWP passengers against terrorist or no-fly lists and databases.

[1] However, those who traveled to such countries for diplomatic, military, humanitarian, reporting or legitimate business purposes may have this ineligibility waived by the Secretary of Homeland Security.

[36] Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the George W. Bush administration decided to tighten entry requirements into the United States, as a result of which legislation was passed requiring foreign visitors entering under the Visa Waiver Program to present a machine-readable passport upon arrival starting from October 1, 2003, and a biometric passport from October 26, 2004.

While a country's political and economic standing does not directly determine its eligibility, it is widely believed that nationals of politically stable and economically developed nations would not have much incentive to illegally seek employment and violate their visa while in the United States, risks that consular officers seriously consider in approving or denying a visa.

The U.S. government initially responded to those efforts by developing bilateral strategies with 19 candidate countries known as the Visa Waiver road map process.

This development began first with Bill S.2844[41] which explicitly named Poland as the only country to be added to the VWP, and continued as an amendment to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S.2611), whose Sec.

413, Visa Waiver Program Expansion,[42] defined broader criteria that would apply to any EU country that provided "material support" to the multinational forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During his visit to Estonia in November 2006, President Bush announced his intention "to work with our Congress and our international partners to modify our visa waiver program".

As Helle Dale wrote in the spring issue of European Affairs: "Meanwhile, the problem is fueling anti-U.S. antagonisms and a perception of capricious discrimination by U.S. bureaucrats ---and damping the visits to the United States of people from countries with whom Washington would like to improve commercial and intellectual ties.

Meanwhile, horror stories abound from friends and diplomats from Central and Eastern Europe about the problems besetting foreigners seeking to visit the United States.

"[45] The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 allowed the inclusion of new countries in the VWP with a visa refusal rate up to 10% (up from the standard requirement of 3%) if they satisfied certain other conditions, from October 2008.

[46] With the relaxed criteria, eight countries were added to the program: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea in November 2008,[47] and Malta in December 2008.

[49] However, from July 2009, the authority to include countries with such higher visa refusal rate became conditioned on the implementation of a system capable of matching the entry and exit from the United States of travelers under the VWP using biometric identifiers.

[53] In 2013 there was conflict over the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013 whose Senate version specified that satisfaction of the requirements regarding reciprocal travel privileges for U.S. nationals would be subject to security concerns.

[54] Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the security language because it seemed to validate Israel's tendency to turn away Arab Americans without giving any reason.

[56][57] Hong Kong is the only jurisdiction with a higher Human Development Index than the United States whose citizens cannot enjoy the program.

[62] In November 2014, the Bulgarian government announced that it would not ratify the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership unless the United States lifted the visa requirement for its nationals.

[64] On May 2, 2017, the European Commission decided not act on the resolution and hoped to restart full visa reciprocity negotiations for the remaining EU member states with the new U.S.

[67] On October 4, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that the Department of State had formally nominated Poland for entry into the Visa Waiver Program.

[74] On March 15, 2023, Democratic senator Dick Durbin introduced a bill that would allow including Romania in the VWP regardless of the program requirements.

[80] In December 2023, during a visit to the United States, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that Romania's entry into the U.S. visa-free program would be announced in 2024, ahead of the 2025 deadline discussed with the U.S.

[89][88] Because the program lacked stringent identity-verification procedures, it was abused by bad actors, including criminals and applicants who used forged documents to falsely claim Hungarian descent.

[88] In October 2017, the U.S. government downgraded Hungary's status in the VWP to "provisional" and sought to develop a "cooperative action plan" within 45 days.

Cyprus, Nauru, Romania,[a] United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Vatican City had a visa refusal rate lower than 3% in fiscal year 2024,[95] satisfying a critical requirement to join the VWP.

[100] Nationals of Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and countries in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (except Qatar and Romania) may visit American Samoa for up to 30 days without an entry permit.

However, if arriving by air, they must apply online for an electronic authorization called "OK Board", at least 3 business days before travel, for a fee of 40 USD.

[102] Nationals of other countries need an entry permit, which must be requested by a local sponsor at the Immigration Office of the Department of Legal Affairs of American Samoa.

[112] The table below shows the overstay rate, which is the portion of visitors arriving under the Visa Waiver Program who remained in the United States longer than the maximum allowed stay of 90 days.

[130] Under Compacts of Free Association, citizens of the following countries may enter, reside, study and work in the United States indefinitely without a visa.

2 Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Russia and the partially recognised republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia each span the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia.