The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announces that, beginning [INSERT DATE THAT IS 60 DAYS FROM DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER], all nonimmigrant aliens traveling to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) must obtain an approved travel authorization from the Department’s Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). DHS anticipates that the Secretary of Homeland Security will issue that notice in November 2008, for implementation of the mandatory ESTA requirements on Jan. 12, 2009.

 

To comply with ESTA, VWP travelers must provide electronically to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the information currently collected on the I-94W Nonimmigrant Alien Arrival/Departure (Form I-94W) through the CBP ESTA website and receive authorization to travel before embarking on travel to the United States.

 

Section 711 of the Implementing the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (9/11 Act) requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to develop and implement a fully automated electronic travel authorization system. Section 711 requires that this system collect such biographical and other information that the Secretary of Homeland Security determines necessary to evaluate, in advance of travel, the eligibility of the alien to travel to the United States, and whether such travel poses a law enforcement or security risk.

 

On June 9, 2008, DHS published an interim final rule in the Federal Register (73 FR 23440) establishing the ESTA program for aliens traveling to the United States under the VWP. As required under section 711 of the 9/11 Act, the interim final rule provided that ESTA would be implemented as a mandatory program 60 days after publication of a notice in the Federal Register. See 8 CFR 217.5(g).

 

ESTA is designed to improve the security of the VWP. Each approved ESTA generally is valid for a period of two years, such that an alien may travel to the United States repeatedly within a two-year period without obtaining another ESTA. Travelers whose ESTA applications are approved, but whose passports will expire in less than two years, will receive an ESTA that will be valid until the passport’s expiration date. Travelers from countries that have not entered into agreements relating to passport validity for purposes of return of the traveler to his or her home country will not be issued an ESTA that will remain valid more than six months before to the expiration of his or her passport.

 

DHS continues to recommend that VWP travelers obtain travel authorizations as soon as they begin to plan a trip to visit the United States, in order to facilitate timely departures.