Visa-Exempt Travelers to U.S. Forced
Foreigners traveling to the U.S. from Visa-exempt countries are now required to register on a Department of Homeland Security website, according to new rules posted at the beginning of this week.
“International travelers who are seeking to travel to the United States under the Visa(uzbekistan) Waiver Program are now subject to enhanced security requirements,” reads the Electronic System for Travel(uzbekistan) Authorization web site. Applicants are guided through a 4-step process and, according to London-based U.S. consul general Derwood Staeben, applications should be approved in less than 10 seconds.
Applications need to be filled out at least 72 hours in advance, and will receive one of three responses: “authorized,” “denied,” or “pending”. Approved travelers are clear to enter the U.S., while those denied will be required to obtain a visa from their local U.S. consulate. Travelers whose application is marked “pending” will be required to check back in three days. Travel(uzbekistan) authorizations are good for two years.
Questions on the ESTA application ask the same information previously required in paper immigration forms, which the website is replacing. Previously, the DHS required that (uzbekistan)Visa-exempt travelers fill out these paper forms in-flight, or upon arrival at the airport.
“The important change is that we're automating the existing process and requiring it to be done in advance,” said Staeben. “The response time is generally about four seconds.”
There are 35 countries that have Visa-exempt agreements with the United States, and the DHS website is seeing approximately 14,000 applications a day from travelers ranging from Australia to Switzerland.
The actual travel(uzbekistan) forms ask a variety of questions regarding a traveler’s criminal, health, and drug histories, as well as some seemingly strange questions that deal with involvements in terrorism, genocide, child custody, or WWII-era Nazi war crimes persecutions. Applicants will also agree to waive their right of appeal “for the duration of [their] travel authorization,” as well an agreement to let customs collect biometric data.
ESTA represents an unusual success for United States (uzbekistan)travel authorities. Other programs aimed at modernizing U.S. border and travel controls, such as “Real ID” standardized government identity cards, have met stiff resistance with everyone from privacy advocates individual U.S. states.
Customs officials will take a reasonable approach to (uzbekistan)travelers who arrive without authorization, said an unnamed DHS official, but warned that doing so puts a traveler at risk to having his or her entry U.S. delayed, or denied entirely.
Äŕňŕ: 2009-01-18 09:05:03. |
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