President Bush said during his recent trip to Europe that he would like to expand the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to include more countries. He made the announcement during his visit to Estonia, a country that would like to participate in the VWP.

The visa waiver program is designed to enhance the ease of routine travel for visitors to the United States. It is essentially an alternative to the B-1/B-2 (business visitor/tourist) visa for travelers from certain countries with high rates of compliance with the terms of their visas. The country also must have a very low rate of B-1/B-2 visa rejections at the U.S. consulate. One of the requirements is that the country offer reciprocal travel privileges to U.S. citizens, providing a benefit to U.S. citizens who travel to VWP countries for periods of up to 90 days.

The program does not replace the need for other types of visas, such as the H-1B, L-1, J-1, F-1, etc. It also only allows visits of 90 days, with no extension of status or ability to file for a change of status to a work visa. So a VWP visitor must return to her country to apply for a work-related visa.

Currently, the following 27 countries are included in the VWP program: Andora, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff supported the potential inclusion of other countries in the VWP if they agree to participate in certain enhanced security systems, including transmission of information about travelers prior to airline departure from abroad.

The travel industry, which benefits from VWP visitors, also supported the proposed expansion. The president did not name the countries he would like to see included in the VWP.