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Government/Legislation
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New norm for citizens of Visa Waiver Program countries
Effective October 26, travelers from countries participating in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP) must abide by the policies below to gain entry into the United States without a visa:
- Passports issued on or after October 26, 2006 must be an e-Passport. E-passports feature an international e-passport symbol on the cover and contain an radio frequency identification chip that holds digital information about the travelers, including name, date of birth, citizenship and other biographic information
- Passports issued between October 26, 2005 and October 26, 2006 must contain a digital photograph of the passport holder
- Passports issued before October 26, 2005 must be a machine-readable passport
The VWP allows foreign nationals from participating countries to enter the U.S. for a limited time without obtaining a visa. Countries participating in the VWP 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. Citizens of Canada are exempt from the VWP policies and are not required to have a visa to enter the U.S.
Several U.S. airports, including New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Washington’s Dulles International Airport and Newark International Airport, have installed machines capable of reading electronic passports to enable the VWP to operate.
For a traveler’s guide on the Visa Waiver Program, visit: http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel/id_visa/vwp/vwp_timeline.ctt/vwp_timeline.pdf
Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Travel Weekly
