New rules for US Visa waiver program announced by Trump administration

New rules for US Visa waiver program for 38 participating nations have been announced by the Trump administration. This includes the requirement to utilize counterterrorism data of the US to filter travelers.

US Visa waiver program permits chiefly EU nationals to travel to the US and stay for 3 months without a visa. The nationals of these 38 nations are required to get the travel authorization to arrive in the US.

US President Trump is seeking to toughen the rules for immigrants who intend to live in or visit the US. He has said that curbs are required for owing to security concerns, as quoted by the Reuters. The changed rules mandate the participating nations utilize US data for screening travelers when they cross borders from third nations. Some of the nations are already following this, informed one of the US officials.

Some nations will also be required to conduct public awareness campaign regarding overstay consequences. This is applicable to nations who have a high rate of citizens overstaying in the US than permitted legally. As of now the penalty for overstayers is that they are barred from visa-free travel to the US in the future.

The overstay rate threshold that would require holding public awareness campaign is 2%. This was revealed by the officials of the Trump administration. In 2016 VWP nations had higher rates exceeding 2%. This includes San Marino, Portugal, Hungary, and Greece. It was revealed by the US Department of Homeland Security.

The overall rate of overstay is 0.68% for VWP nations. This is lower than the non-VWP nations, apart from Mexico and Canada. For these two nations, it is 2.07, revealed DHS.

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