Back to News Menu         Cruise News for the Corporate Travel Professional            December 2015

In the wake of the attacks on Paris, the USA tighten their rules for entering the country without a visa. Citizens from Germany and 37 other countries with a treaty for visa-free travel will have to face stricter security checks.

According to statements made by the US administration, upon granting an electronic entry permit (Esta) the authorities are going to examine if applicants reside in countries which they deem as “terrorist refuges”.

US intelligence agencies and the Homeland Security are going to update their list of problematic countries in regular intervals, the White House explained.

Furthermore, the cooperation with partner countries for the exchange of biometric data will be strengthened. In collaboration with the US congress, airlines which fail to adequately verify the ID of their passengers will also have to pay a higher fee of USD 50,000 instead of the previous USD 5,000.

Minister of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, invoked the House of Representatives and the senate to provide more financial assets for the verification of air travelers upon entry of the USA. These assets then should be used in order to tighten airport security and send US border officers to additional international airports with direct flights to the United States. As of now, there are 15 US officers stationed at foreign airports, said Johnson.

Meanwhile, Congress is working on laws to tighten the so-called "Visa Waiver" program, which enables citizens from partner countries a 90-day visit to the US visa-free travel.

Among these partner countries are 23 EU states and countries such as Australia, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Singapore.

Based on the nature of quid-pro-quo, the program also allows US-citizens to travel to these partner countries visa-free as well.

Worldwide Travel & Cruise Assoc., Inc.

150 S. University Dr.  Ste E, Plantation, FL 33324 - USA

Tel: +1 954 452 8800  Fax: +1 954 252 3945

EMail: sales@cruiseco.com

Designed & Published by: Worldwide Media.