US getting tough on Visa Waiver Scheme

[Katys Grandad]

According to today's Guardian the US authorities are pressing EU governments to provide data on all air passengers overflying the US and not just those landing. They also want to have the right to put armed US Air Marshalls on all transatlantic flights irrespective of whether the carrier is American or European.

The article also claims that in the near future it might become necessary for all potential Europe-US passengers to apply for entry online BEFORE buying their tickets.

It seemes that failure to comply on the part of EU governments will mean the withdrawal of the Visa Waiver Scheme.

Watch this space.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/11/usa.theairlineindustry

[Chaufeurse]

Phew, the US government and their paranoia!

[ccarcher]

Cant see it at the moment with the state of their economy that they would deny people willing to go and spend good money there

but then again this is Mr Bush we are talking about [:o)]

[Robert5988]

One Senator has been 'pushing' for the tightening of regulations, or even the abolishing, of the Visa Waiver Scheme for quite some while.

There is much debate on the effectiveness of Air Marshals on US Airlines; they stand out like a sore thumb. However if they are deemed necessary(which I personally doubt) it makes no sense to have them on US airline's international flights and not on foreign carrier flights to the USA.

[Ian Dee]

was'nt the 9/11 planes on InternalFLights?

[SDJ]

Live for the moment. I am fed up of reading all the doom and gloom that may never happen[msnmad]

[Jill]

They were all internal flights but perhaps they think if they can prevent people getting in then it will not happen again, which is a very short sighted view. I guess if someone is that determined they will find another way.

[orlandodaze]

I really cannot understand why holiday makers would require Visas . Im all for taking all measures necessary to ensure we have terriorist free airways ,but surely even the US authorities must realise most of us are just ordinary Joe Soaps off to the US for our annual 2 or 3 weeks "vacation ". If thats the case will US citizens have to go through the same procedures to gain entry into Europe .

[ShirleyD]

Olive that is why I am conviced the visa waiver will never be removed. After 9/11 the USA tourist industry suffered so badly and ever since there has been a 'fight' between homeland security and the tourist industry to encourage people to travel there. They know how important our money is. Also the UK papers love to spread this doom and gloom. What about all those massive 2 or 3 hour queues we would have entering the US when we had to give our finger prints... that never happened either.

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ShirleyD
Olive that is why I am conviced the visa waiver will never be removed. After 9/11 the USA tourist industry suffered so badly and ever since there has been a 'fight' between homeland security and the tourist industry to encourage people to travel there. [/quote]

While I would also be surprised if it was withdrawn, the scheme doesn't apply worldwide and there are lots of countries whose citizens the tourist authorities would welcome but who do currently have to apply for visas. Equally, there are plenty of examples of nations which require US citizens to apply and be granted visas for entry. Some South American nations had it withdrawn and did the same to US citizens.

What does seem clear is that the US government will use the scheme as a bargaining tool to get their way on other related issues.

This is politics folks, so logic doesn't necessarily apply here.

[orlandodaze]

November 2008 will tell a tale.

[Tonish]

Personally, I'd be quite happy for the waiver scheme to be s[bad language filtered out]ped. When I first started to go to the USA there was no waiver scheme, everybody needed a Visa. Presumably the waiver was brought in to speed up access, allow for the last minute holiday/business bookers and remove a lot of administration.

However, the waiver scheme now seems to be a bit of a mess and creates a lot of confusion. It's also very unpopular amongst most of the conservative politicians. If they now want the details of everybody on a plane flying through US airspace, whether they land or not, then I'm sure s[bad language filtered out]ping the waiver won't be far behind.

It just moves the queues from the immigration desks at the airport to the embassies. I think I'd rather queue at the embassy.

[brizzle]

I think I'd rather queue at immigration since I'm passing through anyway rather than go out of my way before the trip to get to the US embassy.

I assume we'd have to visit London to get a full visa, which is a lot less convenient to most people.

[orlandodaze]

I would really hate to return to the US Visa days when it was necessary to get your enployer to state that you had a job to return to and all that fuss . Two weeks ago on a visit to Washington I was all of seven minutes going through immigration . Granted we were one of the first parties off the flight and there were no other flights ahead of us , and surprise surprise the immigration official was a charming gentleman.

[alfie]

just got back, when at customs in Orlando, guard asked if i was carrying over X amount of dollars was so tired answered yes, when asked if carrying any blah blah blah blah again so tired could really hear him and so just answered yes. he just looked at me and said have a nice day and off we went. Daughter did say after that i answered yes to the wronge things but i was in a daze after being at the end of a very lengthy queue....

[ShirleyD]

The US embassy don't have the facilities in this country for everyone to have a visa. In the old days it was all done by post with just photos required. They then brought in a 'blue lane' (I think it was called) where you registered your details with the airline and you got to use a fast track line, before the visa waiver came in.