Hot answers tagged us-visa-waiver-program
12
No, this is not accurate. I'm from New Zealand and therefore am eligible for the Visa Waiver Program (see list of countries).
In 2010 I flew in from Bogota, Colombia - which is NOT on the list of countries, and it was absolutely fine. They don't care where you came from, only what your passport says.(*)
(*) - note however that this does not prevent a ...
9
There's an important distinction between leaving the US temporarily, and leaving permanently, which is as much as anything dictated by you returning to your place of residence.
If you are in the US under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and you leave the US for a few weeks to visit Canada (or Mexico) with an intent to return to the US then you are deemed to ...
7
There's no requirement for the WVP as to which country you are entering from.
However, there can be issues when leaving the US, depending on what country he's returning to.
When departing the US, he will need to show the airline his passport. There's two purposes for this - firstly it's so that the airline can confirm that he has a visa/citizenship/etc ...
5
I've never been in the exact situation you describe, but Visa Waivers are a very low-maintenence way to get in. My advice would be to explain to the immigration officer when you go into the US. I'm pretty sure the answer will be that they will give you a new I94W on the spot (with of course a new fee, if they still do that).
You backup plan would be that ...
4
There are no specific requirements for the period of time until you can re-enter the US after a previous visit on the VWP.
Technically there is nothing that would have stopped you from re-entering the US on the 17th of September, or any date after that.
However entry is always at the discretion of the immigration officials at your point of entry. If they ...
4
It all comes down to a 'reasonable length of time' between stays.
Now that's about as ambiguous as they come - what's reasonable? It's like this on purpose - it's up to the official at the border, as the purpose of this is to try and work out if you're trying to live in the states and just border hopping every 90 days, instead of visiting.
From the CBP ...
4
As you are staying less than 3 months in North America, there will be no problem.
When you enter the US the first time, you'll have to fill a small green paper, the I-94. This form should be given back when you leave the US, and it is a proof you actually left US territory.
So you will not give it back when you go to Vancouver, but when you leave Seattle ...
4
Assuming that you are leaving the USA in time with a valid visa and were not "removed" as they call it, you should be able to enter the USA with either passport (As long as they are both eligible for the VWP) for the purpose of tourism or doing business - not to work or study.
Selling a car, ending a lease is doing business. Visiting your friends is ...
4
Lets get the easy question out of the way first. Yes, you will need to buy your ticket to South America before you depart for the US. One of the conditions of entering under the VWP is that you have either a return or onward ticket out of the US within 90 days of entry. This will normally be enforced by the airline, and if you do not have such a ticket ...
4
This is how I understand this works:
After you arrived in the US, you have 90 days to stay before you have to leave. If within the 90 days you go into Mexico or Canada and want to come back to the US (which by going to Alaska is something you plan to do) you don't reset your 90 days. In other words you have to finish the whole trip from the Mexico border up ...
3
Unless there are no border guard in Alaska (because it is quite empty), I see no reason it would not work.
To be clear, the procedure for terrestrial entrance into the US from Canada: If you are on the Visa Waiver Program (and only in this case), you just enter the US through any terrestrial port of entry (border). At that point the custom agent will give ...
3
You can apply for and enter the US with an ESTA (if you meet ESTA requirements). With ESTA,
You can stay in the US for up to 90 days; you cannot extend your stay.
You cannot change your status.
You cannot study.
An ESTA "does not guarantee that you are admissible to the United States". A CBP officer might ask you questions about the purpose of your ...
3
You should not be using the VWP to enter the US as a visiting scholar. The VWP comes instead of B1/B2, while the status you're interested in is J1. You should get a proper visa and then you won't have to worry about what happens if you get caught breaking the terms of your stay.
Since apparently there's a lot of ignorance on the matter, here's the official ...
3
As @Doc states on this answer - there's an important distinction between leaving the US temporarily (eg quick trip to Canada) and permanently - like returning to your home country.
If you are leaving US to return to your place of residence, then you are leaving permanently. In this case your VWP period would end when you left the country, and historically ...
3
There isn't a problem with applying for a new Visa Waiver after the old one expires. Just like you (presumably) got your Visa Waiver when you entered the US on your stopover, you can get a new one with the same ease when you come in on your Dec 12 visit (assuming nothing has changed to make you ineligible).
If you want to play this safe, when you leave the ...
3
I think you can enter again the day after you left. I remember entering again about 100 days after I entered the first time (so not long after the end of the 90 days, but a while after I left the country) and I have friends who entered a lot of times and on a regular basis so they probably had maybe 2 weeks between the time they left US (and gave their I-94 ...
3
There's a convenient page on the ESTA program website:
When my ESTA expires how do I renew my application?
If your ESTA has expired, you must reapply for a brand new authorization by submitting a new application. Current authorizations can not be extended. Go to ESTA.cbp.gov, follow the instructions to answer all of the required questions and submit a new ...
3
There won't be any issue, just maybe a bit of a hassle. The Visa Waiver Program functions differently for air and land travel since the introduction of ESTA. Since you plan to do both, you will need to go through both procedures.
Arriving by plane: At least two weeks before your journey go to the ESTA homepage and fill out the electronic form. Note that ...
3
You can take a look at the Immigration Forum discussion on the same subject. Generally unless it's an emergency(medical, or similar) extension of VWP will not be granted.
You would need to contact the immigration lawyer to see if it is even possible and under what circumstances this could get removed. But my guess this ban is for life.
Now as far as ...
2
One should separate what's legal and what's real. Legally you should have no problem doing this and you should be able to obtain travel authorization under ESTA and re-enter the country as long as that's approved which is most likely it will be.
Problem comes if your stays in the US will start exceeding 6 months out of a year or you will be leaving and ...
2
From the VWP description page
VWP travelers who have been admitted under the Visa Waiver Program and who make a short trip to Canada, Mexico or an adjacent island generally can be readmitted to the United States under the VWP for the balance of their original admission period. See the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ...
2
What you will have applied for is an ESTA, or Electronic System for Travel Authorization.
In the past, if you wanted to enter the US under the visa waiver program, you'd just rock up in America and fill out the green I-94W form, and you didn't need to pay a fee. A few years ago, they changed the system, and now you need to apply for an ESTA before you ...
1
Once you have left the US after a visa waiver visit you can re-enter and get another visa waiver almost immediately. You don't need to return to your home country.
Technically there is no need to have a return flight booked for a visa waiver. In fact they probably won't look at your return ticket, and so will never know it's for six months time. I've never ...
1
I believe this is true for tourists, not Canadian residents. I couldn't find any authoritative statement anywhere on DHS or CBP sites to support this statement.
You must remember though that any stay for less than 30 days in Canada will not reset the 90 days VWP clock.
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