Applying for your Visa
Travel without a Visa
Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
Letter of Invitation

Applying for your Visa

To obtain a visa and enter the United States, you must begin by completing an application form, DS-156. Contact the U.S. Embassy in your country to make an appointment. Take your application, passport, a photograph, and supporting documents to the embassy or consulate, where you will be interviewed about the purpose of your visit. You must also pay an application fee. The visa allows you to travel to a U.S. port-of-entry where an official will again look at your travel documents before granting you permission to enter the country.

Recent Procedural Changes:

• All males between the ages of 16 and 45 are required to complete an additional form, DS-157, to provide a detailed history of their previous travel and their affiliation with various institutions. Consular officers can request that this form be filled out by other applicants as well.
• All student and exchange visitors, regardless of nationality, must complete a supplemental application form and be enrolled in SEVIS by their sponsoring institution.
• Almost all persons requiring visas must have a face-to-face interview with a consular officer. Previously, consular officers could waive the requirement for an applicant's personal appearance, and some travel agents could submit applications for their clients. Because this is no longer the case, over the past three years the State Department has greatly increased the number of its consular officers and worked to improve appointment scheduling systems.
• Technological systems have been put in place to electronically share visa files and law enforcement and watch-list information, as well as to track student enrollments. Since 2004, the technology, the consolidation of databases, and the correction of problems within these systems have been dramatically improved and backlogs reduced.
• Since 2004, embassies have been instructed to expedite the processing of visas for students and business travelers. As a result, consular posts have set up special appointment times and now give priority to scheduling and processing these visas.
• The United States and many other countries are moving toward tamper-resistant machine-readable visas, passports, and other entry-exit documents that contain digital photographs and biometric indicators, such as fingerprints. For instance, finger scans are taken during the visa application process and again on arrival in the United States.
• Information on the identity of all passengers is provided to U.S. immigration officials by all commercial ships and airplanes en route to the United States.
• Passengers who would normally require a visa to enter the United States must now have one even if they are just in transit, traveling on a carrier that stops in the United States on its way to another destination.

The requirements and costs for a U.S. visa are similar to those of other democracies; and the need for a visa, additional fees charged, and any restrictions imposed are based on reciprocity with other nationsthat is, they match the requirements that other countries place on U.S. citizens wishing to travel there.

For more information, we suggest you read the e-journal "Deciphering the Visa Code."

The Department of State can authorize travel to the United States however, a visa does not guarantee that you will be allowed to enter the United States. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has the authority to grant or deny your admission to the United States. The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services determines how long you may stay in the United States and whether or not you may extend your stay. You may contact them at 1-800-375-5283.

Travel Without a Visa

Foreign nationals that are lawful permanent residents of the U.S. must present a Permanent Resident Card (Green Card), a Reentry Permit, or a Returning Resident Visa, and their passport to reenter the United States if traveling from outside the Western Hemisphere.

Visa Waiver Program (VWP)

U.S. visa policy permits citizens of certain countries to travel to the U.S. without a visa. Most Canadian citizens and many citizens from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries can come to the U.S. without a visa if they meet certain requirements. Currently 27 countries qualify for the VWP. The foreign national must be coming from an eligible country, staying no more than 90 days, for pleasure/medical purposes, and able to prove they are not inadmissible. The foreign national is still required to have a passport. Visa waiver travelers from ALL 27 VWP countries must present a machine-readable passport at the U.S. port of entry to enter the U.S. without a visa, otherwise a U.S. visa is required.

Any passport issued on or after October 26, 2006, by a VWP (VWP) country must be an e-Passport for VWP travelers to be eligible to enter the United States without a visa. For information on e-Passport visit this site. Lean more about the VWP here.

Participating countries: