United States opens up visa-free entry for 11 nations

BOOSTING TOURISM

Having to obtain visas is a costly and tedious process for many travellers, unless visas are offered on arrival or online.

The move is expected to facilitate eased entry for travellers visiting the United States for leisure or business purposes.

By removing the obstacles brought about by visa requirements, several countries are seeing increased tourist arrivals.

VISA WAIVER PROGRAM

The United States has expanded its Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to facilitate entry for eligible citizens from various additional countries.

The VWP exempts nationals of select countries from requiring visas when visiting the United States.

NEW COUNTRIES ADDED TO VISA WAIVER PROGRAM

Under the expanded VWP the following nations will now be able to enjoy visa-free entry to the United States for up to 90 days.

• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• San Marino
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland

Therefore, these nations, including nationals of 30 other countries, will be able to visit the US without visas, under the visa-free entry agreement.

Unfortunately South Africans will still need to obtain US visas as South Africa is not included in the list of eligible countries.

INCREASING TOURIST FLOWS

BusinessToday states the initiative aims to reverse the reduced international visitor arrivals to the United States.

Furthermore, it aims to attract more visitors from select nations.

By extending eased entry to citizens of additional countries the US hopes to reduce the percentage of international arrivals categorised as “Rest of the World” travellers, from 37% to 35%.

REDUCING BARRIERS TO ENTRY

There seems to be a global trend for countries to open up their borders in recent times.

Countries in Africa including Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda have eased entry for visitors by removing visa restrictions for all or many nationalities.

This has helped the economies of such countries since higher international visitor numbers have been reported.

Moreover, adding barriers to entry is not advisable since this deters visitors from travelling to places.

VISA REQUIREMENT OBSTACLES

Visa applications take time, money and often come with a great deal of frustration for travellers.

Unless visas are available at the point of entry or online, visa requirements can deter visitors from travelling to countries.

In some instances, airlines are also reluctant to operate scheduled flights to destinations that have visa restrictions in place.

Hence visa requirements may affect the ability of airlines to fill their flights.

That said, Namibia has recently announced its intention to impose visa requirements on passport holders from countries that do not grant visa-free entry to its citizens.