Current Immigration Statistics - Visiting The United States

The Visa Waiver Program

Under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), citizens of certain countries can travel to the United States for tourism or business for ninety days or less without obtaining a visa. Travelers from countries participating in the program can apply for entry to the United States on a passport issued by their country of citizenship. Representatives of the foreign press, radio, film, journalists, or other information media cannot enter the United States on a visa waiver when traveling for professional pursuits. In Fact Sheet: The Visa Waiver Program and Biometric and Machine-Readable Passport Requirements (Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security, 2004), the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs estimated that thirteen million visitors each year had entered the United States under the VWP.

The following twenty-seven countries participated in the VWP as of October 2004: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (for citizens with the unrestricted right of permanent abode in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man).