Support for Visa Waiver for Czechs

Latest news about VISA waiver effort

General information on VISA waiver effort

What is the Visa Waiver Program and what are its current requirements?

The VWP enables citizens of certain countries to travel to the United States for stays of 90 days or less without a visa. The program was established in 1986 to promote better relations with U.S. allies, eliminate unnecessary travel barriers, and stimulate tourism. Currently, 27 countries participate in the VWP—Andorra, Austria, Australia, 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.

To participate in the VWP, countries must meet criteria set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (U.S.C. 1187), the Border Security Act, and the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act (EBSVERA).

They require the following criteria:

Governments provide reciprocal 90-day visa-free travel for U.S. citizens.
Governments issue secure machine-readable passports that contain biometric identifiers.
Governments certify that they report lost or stolen passports on a timely basis to the U.S. Government, and do so in practice.
The country must have a very low non-immigrant refusal rate.
The incidence of foreign nationals traveling as nonimmigrant visitors who are denied admission, withdraw their application, or violate the terms of VWP admission amounts to less than 2 percent of the total number of non-immigrant nationals traveling to the U.S. during the previous fiscal year.

The INA also requires that the Department of Homeland Security evaluate the effect that a country’s designation as a VWP participant would have on U.S. law enforcement and security interests, including enforcement of immigration laws and the existence and effectiveness of extradition agreements and procedures. For a country to be designated as a VWP participant, a determination must be made that U.S. interests would not be compromised. Specific factors considered in such a review are not established, but have included political and economic stability, security and law enforcement threats, cooperation with the United States on law enforcement issues, and nationality and citizenship laws. For more VWP information, visit www.senate.gov.

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