Each year, the United States welcomes over 20 million visitors traveling under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).
The Visa Waiver Program permits citizens of 38 countries to travel to the United States for business or tourism for stays of up to 90 days without a visa through Electronic travel authorization issued by the Electronic System for Travel Authorization to travel to the United States..
DHS is introducing the following security measures applicable to all countries in the VWP:
- Requiring VWP countries to fully implement existing information sharing arrangements by systematically screening travelers crossing their respective borders against U.S. counterterrorism information;
- Assessing VWP countries on the effectiveness of safeguards against insider threats in the aviation security environment; and
- Requiring VWP countries having a two percent or greater rate of business or tourism nonimmigrant visitors overstaying the terms of their admission into the United States to initiate a public information campaign to reduce overstay violations by educating their nationals on the conditions for admission into the United States.
DHS is also calling on Congress to codify existing VWP requirements to bolster efforts in the following areas:
- Reporting of foreign terrorist fighter information to multilateral organizations, such as INTERPOL and EUROPOL;
- Systematically collecting and analyzing passenger travel data (Advance Passenger Information/Passenger Name Records); and
- Concluding arrangements to permit U.S. Federal Air Marshals to operate onboard U.S. air carriers for last point of departure flights to the United States.
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