Visiting the States ?

[ACiD303]

DOes anyone know if you now need to apply for a visitors visa/pass to visit the states these days from the UK?

Heard they changed something effective from October but dont really know/remember . . . or can we just jump on the plane and go?

what are the requirements?

[starside]

I am going to L.A in april 2005. AFAIK, all you need is a passport with more than 6 months left on it has to be machine readable.

My travel agents said that you have to fill in a visa waiver form on the plane if staying for less a set period (6 weeks i think). Check with the airline to confirm this. Longer visits require visas.

[ACiD303]

nice, cheers. Been told my passport has to be valid before 24 october 04 as well . . . which it is

[fRostiE]

yeh just your passport will be fine

you then fill in a green form per person and a white card per family... they give them out on the plane

[petrefax]

acid / starside...i am by no means attempting to besmirch your good characters here fellas i'm sure this advice is not necessary but i thought i should mention nonetheless

AFAIK the visa waiver for < 6 months stay doesn't apply if you have a criminal record. if you have a record you have to apply for a proper visa regardless of how short your stay will be

[turkster]

Dont you have to have a special bio ID card or something?

I'm sure I was told you had to have something like that now. But maybe it doesnt apply ot British passports.

Edit: Just saw this. Apparently the biometric passport requirement has been postponed to October 2005. But you still need a machine readable passport if you're from Britain or Ireland etc if you want to get in without a Visa.