No change to the Visa Waiver scheme
Recent suggestions that the Visa Waiver Programme is to be scrapped for UK visitors are completely false and it remains the case that all passengers holding machine-readable passports (which is the overwhelming majority of visitors) can continue to holiday in the US with minimal formalities.
The only entry procedure changes planned are a change from the current two index finger scan to a full 10 finger scan but this is not expected to make the immigration process any longer. A digital photograph will also continue to be taken, as now.
Testing of the new 10-finger scan procedure will begin at 10 ports of entry this autumn including those most used by British visitors such as New York JFK, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
For the future, the US Senate is considering the introduction of Advanced Electronic Travel Authorisation (AETA), already used by the Australian government. This would simply mean that passengers data currently provided on visa waiver forms while en route to the US would be required 48 hours before departure. The information might be requested again inflight (as now) but there would be no other additional procedures.
All these measures will help to further streamline the whole entry process while further enhancing passenger security.
Comments
2 Responses to “No change to the Visa Waiver scheme”
Leave a Reply
Hello Tim,
Visa waiver forms are distributed at check-in and on the plane and take approxmiately 5 minutes to complete. Regards. Duncan - CNA.
Dear sir along with my wife, i have a holiday booked to north USA and Canada, in August.Having never been to the US i am a little worried that i have read that although our passports have just been renewed we will need a visa waiver form.This should then be handed in when arriving at the airport.If this is the case can you tell me where i find a visa waiver form? thankyou.