Since January next year, Japanese, Western European and some other countries when traveling to the United States must register in advance with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) via the Internet.

The above mechanism only applies to countries that are exempt from US visas within the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) program. Instead of having to fill out an I-94 visa exemption form, visitors to the United States only need to register online.

The US allows registration of visas via the Internet images 1 In its announcement, DHS said that the measure was mandatory for tourists from January 12, 2009. Currently this service ( https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov ) has been started for more than 2 months (from August 1, 2008) and has received over 200,000 requests, of which 99.6% require approved.

' This kind of pre-processing of information will help make traveling with a safer free visa, allowing us to further expand the VWP program ,' a DHS statement.

The new measure is considered one of the recommendations of the September 11 Committee to help strengthen US border security after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

DHS recommends travelers need to register now if they plan to come to the United States. After being accepted, tourists can stay in the US for 90 days.

Instructions at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov are posted in 14 languages, including English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Norway, Portugal, Yugoslavia, Spain, and Sweden.

Citizens of 27 countries including some European members and Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Brunei are all included in the VWP program.