Everything about Visa Waiver Programme Explained

A Visa Waiver Program is a program introduced in 1986 which allows citizens of selected countries to travel to the United States for business and tourism purposes for up to 90 days without carrying a visa. Likewise, those specific member countries will allow nationals of the United States to visit their countries for similar timespan and purposes without obtaining a visa.

Keep scrolling to learn more about it!

Individuals planning to visit the United States must fulfil the eligibility criteria of VWP:

• Must be a citizen of a member country
• Should receive authorisation from ESTA
• Hold an electronic passport.
• The staying period in the United States is 90 days.
• Planning to visit the United States for tourism like visiting relatives, vacation etc. and business purposes such as attending a conference and consulting business associates. Alternatively, visit other destinations by commuting through the United States.
• Citizens must carry a return ticket if they are travelling to the U.S. via air or sea route. Additionally, individuals with onward tickets who are willing to disembark at Caribbean Island, Canada, Bermuda, or Mexico must be residents of these countries.

Here are the following conditions under which individuals cannot visit the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program:

• Travellers with criminal records suffering from severe communicable diseases and citizens who have been rejected to enter the United States or previously overstayed under VWP are not eligible to travel to the U.S. under this program.
• According to the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, travellers who are also citizens of Iraq, Iran, Sudan, North Korea, and or Syria do not qualify to visit the U.S. under VWP. Or else, citizens who have travelled or are present in Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, North Korea, or Yemen on or after 1st March 2011, except for military or diplomatic purposes to serve a member country of VWP, do not qualify to travel visa-free as per the Act.
• Citizens who committed insignificant traffic offences which did lead to an arrest may visit the U.S., given they meet the other criteria mentioned above.

Take a look at the following specifications of passports and additional criteria that travellers need to fulfil:

• A machine-readable passport. If an applicant does not possess a passport with this feature, he or she must acquire a new qualifying passport or else apply for a visa.
• Effective from 1st April 2016, an applicant must own an e-Passport equipped with an electronic chip that includes his or her biometric details.
• All passports should have a digital photograph of a bearer. If a digital photograph is not printed on a passport, a citizen can travel when his or her country joined VWP before 2008. Moreover, they own a machine-readable passport issued before 26th October 2005. Elsewise, applicants must possess an e-Passport, equipped with a digital chip, digital photograph, and other biometric data. If this passport is issued on or after 26th October 2005, they need to acquire a visa.

It is essential to note that being a part of the Visa Waiver Program's member country does not imply that an applicant is directly eligible to visit the U.S. without a visa.

Citizens should receive an authorisation through ESTA or Electronic System for Travel Authorisation before visiting the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection operates this web-based system to assess the eligibility of individuals to visit the United States for tourism or business purposes under this VWP.

If a citizen gets an email that his or her ESTA has been refused, he or she cannot travel visa-free under VWP. However, a non-immigrant visa holder can visit the U.S. without receiving ESTA.

Citizens travelling to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program cannot extend their staying period in the U.S. beyond the stated admission period. Additionally, travellers visiting the United States under VWP cannot change their status in the U.S.

Individuals planning to visit the United States visa-free must keep all these pointers about the Visa Waiver Program to avoid hassles later.