Tourist Visa for America
A checklist of who needs a tourist visa for America
Tourist visas for America are fairly straightforward. There are three categories for visitors to the United States, and everyone with the exception of Canada and Mexico, falls into one of these three categories.
The first is for citizens of countries that have a visa waiver agreement with America at the time. These nationalities are simply required to fill out an Electronic System for Travel Approval online, and present their passport upon arrival.
The visa waiver countries are as follows:
Andorra
Austria
Australia
Belgium
Brunei
the Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
San Marino
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
If you do not hold a passport with any of these countries, or intend to stay in America for more than three months, you must file for a visa. There are three main visas currently available for admission into America: the B1 (for business) the B2 (for tourists) and the F1 (for students).
In order to obtain the B2 tourist visa, you must file with the American Visa Bureau. I should reiterate that if you are from a visa waiver country and intend to stay longer than three months in America, you should forget about the ESTA and file for a B2 visa.
The B2 tourist visa for America is good for six months. You can file for an extension for an additional six months, provided you can prove financial stability. Why they don’t apply the same standards for banks in this country is beyond me!
|