A sample of a UK passport

By Trent Jacobs
trent@caymannetnews.com 

The United States government is planning to implement a new policy that will require citizens of Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) nations to register online before they will be allowed to enter the country by air or sea.

This will affect not only Caymanian and United Kingdom passport holders but also citizens from Australia, Italy, Spain and more than 20 other VWP countries who until next year are allowed to enter the US for 90 days without obtaining a visa.

The new policy, Electronic System for Travel Authorisation - whose acronym ESTA is Spanish for “this” - will become mandatory on 12 January 2008 and, ironically, only be available in English.

Travellers must log on and fill out the online application at least 72 hours before their departure. Once the application is approved, travellers won’t have to apply again for another two years. The relatively short time frame could possibly hamper emergency or short-notice business travel to the US, however.

If a passenger is refused authorisation for travel he or she must obtain a nonimmigrant visa at either a US embassy or consulate. Since Cayman hosts only an Honorary Consulate that does not issue visas, travellers would be forced to fly to the nearest embassy, which would be in Jamaica, to sort out matters.

Headlines were made recently when the US “No Fly List”, sometimes referred to the “Terrorist Watch List”, reached a new plateau in July surpassing one million names. The list includes notables such as former South African President Nelson Mandela, US Senator Ted Kennedy and the singer/songwriter formerly know as Cat Stevens, now Yusef Islam, who became famous for his song “Peace Train.”

An immigration lawyer in Florida, Deirdre Valladares, opposes ESTA, saying that the new programme has the potential to cause major headaches for millions of innocent travellers.

“If it turns out you’re not authorised, then you’re going to have to go and take extra steps; one of those might be to get a visitor’s visa which people that use the VWP right now travel without and that’s one of the luxuries of the programme.

“[Under VWP] they can come to the US for short stays and not have to go to an embassy and go through all the rigmarole,” she said.

She added that while it is not known if ESTA will cross-reference the terrorist watch list she would not be surprised it that were the case.

The added security measure will not affect US citizens, but Mrs Valladares pointed out that retaliatory restrictions from the affected countries could be implemented for American travellers.

“Other countries, especially countries we have visa-waiver arrangements with, are going to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to do the same thing to you,’ and when US citizens travel overseas to Spain, Italy or the UK there is the potential for those countries to institute the same type of programme,” she said.

In January of 2004, the US implemented photo and thumbprint requirements for citizens of countries not on the visa-waiver list, which angered nations like Brazil who followed suit by mandating that all US citizens provide a full set of ink fingerprints upon entering the South American country.

Travellers may voluntarily register online with the Department of Homeland Security at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov. The online form is similar to the green immigration form handed out on international flights to non-US citizens, which asks for basic biographical information.

According to the US government website, there will not be the similar $131 processing fee for a visa, as ESTA is currently free of charge, but there might be an application fee in the future.