USWorkVisa.com News Archive
for the ‘CBP’ Category

Effective November 17, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security has added the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Korea, and the Slovak Republic to the list of countries authorized to participate in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).

Citizens and eligible nationals of VWP countries may apply for admission at a U.S. port of entry as nonimmigrants for up to 90 days for business or pleasure without obtaining a nonimmigrant visa, provided that they are otherwise eligible for admission under applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. The designated countries in the VWP include Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (defined for VWP purposes as England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also announced on November 13, 2008, that beginning January 12, 2009, all VWP nonimmigrants traveling to the U.S. must obtain an approved travel authorization from the Department’s Electronic System for Travel Authorization (Site: ESTA). To comply with ESTA, VWP travelers must provide electronically to CBP the information currently collected on the I-94W Nonimmigrant Alien Arrival/Departure (Form I-94W) through the CBP ESTA Web site and receive authorization to travel before embarking on travel to the U.S.

The final rule adding the VWP countries is available as a PDF. The CBP notice about obtaining travel authorization is available here.

With the onset of summer travel, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently released tips for cross-border travelers between the U.S. and Canada.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has signed a joint agreement with the government of the United Kingdom to develop a bilateral pilot program to facilitate travel between the two nations. The International Expedited Traveler Initiative will integrate CBP’s Global Entry program with the British registered traveler program.

CBP announced the Global Entry pilot program April 11 to build upon other CBP trusted traveler programs, such as NEXUS and SENTRI, designed to facilitate and expedite the entry process for pre-registered low-risk international travelers into the U.S. NEXUS is a joint program with the Canada Border Services Agency that allows expedited processing into the U.S. and Canada at the land border and at Canadian pre-clearance airports. SENTRI provides for dedicated processing at the U.S.-Mexico land border.

The Global Entry pilot kicked off for U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents on June 6 at three airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York; George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas; and Washington Dulles International Airport. CBP began accepting online applications on May 12. CBP expects that citizens of the United Kingdom will be invited to apply as soon as late this year. CBP signed a similar agreement with the government of the Netherlands on May 19.

Just two months after Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff accepted the Boeing Co.’s completed $20 million virtual fence along portions of the border with Mexico, the agency announced it will replace the Arizona-Mexico virtual fence with new radios, cameras, towers, and computer software. Customs and Border Protection officials recently acknowledged that the “Project 28″ pilot program is not working sufficiently. Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector agreed with Boeing’s conceptual design of Project 28 but said the final system might have been more useful if they and others had been given an opportunity to provide feedback throughout the process, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued in February 2008.

An article about plans to replace the virtual fence is available here. A GAO report on border security, issued in March 2008, is available as a PDF. The GAO report issued in February 2008, detailing some of the problems with the virtual fence program, is available as a PDF.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on January 22, 2008, that it has begun collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Boston Logan International Airport (Logan). The change is part of the DHS’s upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection.

For more than four years, U.S. Department of State (DOS) consular officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have been collecting biometrics—digital fingerprints and a photograph—from all non-U.S. citizens between the ages of 14 and 79, with some exceptions, when they apply for visas or arrive at U.S. ports of entry.