For Non-
Passports: Your passport must be
machine-readable. This rule has been in effect since 2005. Getting a passport
can take more time than you expect, so the advice is to do this well enough in
advance. People have missed classes
because the amount of time needed to get passports and such turned out to be
longer than expected. I advise everyone to do this well in advance.
Come as a Tourist: The whole customs/immigration thing goes
much easier if you say that you are coming as a tourist. If you say you are
coming to take a class, US Customs may insist that you get a student visa,
which has new complications, so our suggestion is to do your best to avoid
them.
General Links & Information on Visa Waiver Program:
(NOTE: some of the links below didn’t work in the Google Chrome browser but
worked fine in Internet Explorer.)
This link takes you to general information on the electronic Visa Waiver Program:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/business_pleasure/vwp/
If you click on 'overview of the Visa Waiver Program' it takes you to:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/business_pleasure/vwp/vwp.xml
where there are more details. For instance, it lists the following countries as currently in the VWP program:
Andorra, Austria, Australia, 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, the United Kingdom*, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovak Republic and South Korea.
*
Form I-94 & I-94W: One of the items on that
information page says that you will, in addition to the electronic
registration, need to “Present to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Officer a completed and signed Form I-94W, Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver
Arrival/Departure Form.” This is the form that registers your date of entry and
the date you need to leave by. It must be handed back when you leave the