The visa policy of the USA comes down to one question: does your passport belong to a Visa Waiver Program country? If it does, you can usually visit for up to 90 days for tourism or business with an approved ESTA, an online travel authorization that costs about $40 and normally lasts two years. If it does not, you need a visitor visa (B-1/B-2) issued at a US embassy or consulate before you fly, which means an online DS-160 form, a $185 application fee, an interview and, at many posts, a new $250 visa integrity fee charged when the visa is issued.
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This guide explains how each route works, who qualifies for which, how long the process really takes, what happens at the border when you land and which mistakes most often lead to refusals. It covers the rules as they apply to any nationality, so check your own passport against the official sources named below before you book flights through our flight search or plan the rest of your trip with the United States travel page.
US entry rules at a glance (as of October 2026)
- Visa-free route: Visa Waiver Program, about 40 participating countries
- ESTA fee: about $40, valid up to 2 years or until the passport expires
- ESTA stay limit: up to 90 days per visit, no extensions
- Visitor visa: B-1 (business) and B-2 (tourism), usually issued together
- Visa application fee: $185 (MRV fee), non-refundable
- Visa integrity fee: $250, collected at issuance where posts have started charging it
- Where to apply: embassy or consulate in your country of nationality or residence
- Official sources: travel.state.gov (visas) and esta.cbp.dhs.gov (ESTA)
How the US visa policy works: three ways in for visitors
Short visits to the United States fall into three groups: visa-free entry for Canadian and Bermudian citizens, ESTA entry for Visa Waiver Program nationals, and visa entry for everyone else. Which group you are in depends only on the passport you travel on, never on where you live or where your flight departs.
The first group is small. Canadian citizens visiting for tourism or business do not need a visa or an ESTA, and they are generally admitted for up to six months. Bermudian citizens have a similar arrangement. Everyone else falls into one of the two larger groups, and the difference between them shapes the whole trip: an ESTA applicant can be approved within minutes from a phone, while a visa applicant in a busy country can wait many months just for an interview date.
One point surprises many first-time visitors. Neither an ESTA nor a visa is a guarantee of entry. Both only allow you to travel to a US port of entry and ask to be admitted. The final decision belongs to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer who checks your passport on arrival, and that officer also decides how long you can stay.
ESTA vs B-1/B-2 visitor visa, head to head
| Point | ESTA (Visa Waiver Program) | B-1/B-2 visitor visa |
|---|---|---|
| Who uses it | Citizens of VWP countries | All other nationalities, plus VWP nationals who are ineligible for ESTA |
| How to apply | Online or through the official ESTA mobile app | DS-160 form, fee payment, interview at an embassy or consulate |
| Cost | About $40 | $185, plus $250 integrity fee at issuance where charged, plus any reciprocity fee |
| Validity | Up to 2 years or passport expiry | Set by reciprocity with your country; often several years |
| Length of each stay | Up to 90 days, cannot be extended | Set by the CBP officer, commonly up to 6 months; extensions possible |
| Change of status inside the US | Generally not allowed | Possible in limited cases through USCIS |
Visa Waiver Program countries eligible for ESTA
About 40 countries take part in the Visa Waiver Program, most of them in Europe, plus a group of high-income partners in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. The list changes now and then (Israel joined in 2023 and Qatar in late 2024), so confirm your country on the official ESTA website before you apply.
In Europe the program covers almost every European Union member, including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, along with the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and San Marino. Outside Europe it includes Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Chile, Israel and Qatar.
Two details catch people out. First, the program follows citizenship, so a resident of London with an Indian passport still needs a visa, while a British citizen living in Dubai can use ESTA. Second, being a citizen of a VWP country is not enough on its own. You also need an electronic passport (the type with a chip, marked by a small camera-like symbol on the cover), and you must not fall into one of the exclusion groups explained further down.
Applying for an ESTA step by step
You apply on the official CBP ESTA website or through the official ESTA mobile app. The form asks for your passport details, contact information, parents' names, employment, your address in the United States and a set of eligibility questions about health, criminal history, previous refusals and travel to certain countries. You pay by card at the end.
Most applications are decided within minutes, but CBP says a decision can take up to 72 hours, so apply as soon as you start planning. Once approved, the authorization is linked to your passport electronically. You do not need to print anything, though a screenshot of the approval page is useful if an airline agent asks.
Search engines show many lookalike websites that charge two or three times the official fee to submit the same form for you. They are legal, and they add nothing. Type the official address yourself and check that the payment page shows the government amount of about $40.
- Apply: at least 72 hours before departure
- Fee: about $40 by card
- Needs: chip passport, email, US address or hotel
- Renew when: it expires, or you get a new passport or change name
Who cannot use the Visa Waiver Program even with an eligible passport
Several groups of VWP nationals cannot use an ESTA and must apply for a full visa. The main ones relate to past travel, dual nationality, previous immigration problems and the purpose of the trip.
Travel history matters most. Since 2016, people who have been present in certain countries on or after 1 March 2011 (the list includes Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, with Cuba added for travel on or after 12 January 2021, and North Korea also listed) are generally barred from the program, with narrow exceptions for official or military duty. Dual nationals of some of these countries are also excluded. A traveller from Germany who toured Iran on holiday in 2019, for example, needs a B-2 visa for their next trip to New York.
Anyone who has previously been refused a US visa, refused an ESTA, refused entry at the border, or overstayed a previous admission, even by a day, should also expect to apply for a visa. The same goes for people with certain criminal convictions, which the ESTA form asks about directly. Answering untruthfully is the fastest way to a permanent problem: misrepresentation can lead to a lifetime bar.
Finally, the purpose has to fit. ESTA covers tourism, visiting family, short business meetings, conferences, short non-credit courses and medical treatment. It does not cover paid work, study for credit, journalism on assignment or living in the United States. Those require the matching visa category, such as F-1 for students or H-1B for specialty workers.
How to apply for a US visitor visa (B-1/B-2) from any country
A visitor visa application has five parts: the DS-160 online form, the fee payment, an appointment booking, an in-person interview and, if approved, the return of your passport with the visa inside. The process is broadly the same everywhere, but appointment waiting times differ enormously from one embassy to the next.
B-1/B-2 application, from form to passport
- Step 1, Complete the DS-160: The online form takes one to two hours. It asks for travel plans, family, education, work history, social media identifiers used in the past five years and previous travel. Upload a recent photo that meets the rules (white background, no glasses). Save the confirmation page with its barcode.
- Step 2, Pay the $185 fee: You pay through the appointment system used by your local embassy, by bank transfer, card or at a partner bank, depending on the country. The receipt is usually valid for a year, and the fee is not refunded if the visa is refused.
- Step 3, Book the interview: Since September 2025, applicants must book at the embassy or consulate in their country of nationality or legal residence. Many posts also require a separate fingerprint appointment at a visa application centre a day or two before.
- Step 4, Attend the interview: Bring your passport, the DS-160 confirmation, the fee receipt and supporting documents. The interview often lasts only a few minutes. The officer may approve on the spot, refuse, or place the case in administrative processing for further checks.
- Step 5, Pay at issuance and collect: If approved, posts that have started charging the $250 visa integrity fee collect it before printing the visa, along with any reciprocity fee for your nationality. The passport comes back by courier or for pickup, usually within days.
The interview waiver program, which once let many renewal applicants skip the interview, was cut back sharply in September 2025. Most adults now attend in person even when renewing, and it is safest to plan on that. Check your embassy's website for any current exceptions, which mainly affect some diplomatic and official categories.
What US consular officers look for in a tourist visa interview
US law presumes that every visitor visa applicant intends to immigrate until they show otherwise. The officer's job is to decide whether you have strong enough ties at home, and a clear enough reason for the trip, that you will leave the United States on time.
Ties mean the things that pull you back: a stable job you will return to, a business you run, studies in progress, property, close family, and a travel history that shows you have visited other countries and come home. A salaried professional with a spouse and children at home, who has already toured Europe and Japan, presents a very different picture from a 22-year-old with no job and no previous trips, even if both have the same bank balance.
The trip itself has to make sense. Officers ask simple questions: why are you going, for how long, who is paying, where will you stay, who do you know in the United States. Answer directly and in your own words. A two-week plan to see New York, Washington and Niagara Falls with a realistic budget is easy to understand. A vague plan to "look around" for three months raises questions.
Refusals under section 214(b) of the immigration law are the most common outcome for weak applications. They are not permanent bans. You can apply again, but only when something has genuinely changed, such as a new job, a completed degree or more international travel. Reapplying the next week with the same facts usually brings the same answer.
- Proof you have a job to return to. A letter from your employer on company letterhead stating your role, salary, start date and approved leave dates, plus recent payslips. Business owners bring registration papers and tax returns instead. Salaried and self-employed applicants both need this.
- Bank statements that tell a steady story. Six months of statements with regular income work better than a large deposit made a week before the interview. Officers notice sudden balances and may ask where the money came from. This is how you show you can pay for the trip.
- A simple, believable plan. A one-page outline of cities and dates, a conference invitation or a letter from relatives you will visit. Do not buy non-refundable flights before the visa is issued; a reservation is enough. It gives you a ready answer to "why are you going".
Visa fees, reciprocity and the new visa integrity fee
The base fee for a B-1/B-2 visa is $185, paid before the interview and kept by the government whether or not the visa is approved. Many applicants now also pay a $250 visa integrity fee when the visa is issued, and some nationalities pay a separate reciprocity fee.
The visa integrity fee comes from legislation signed in July 2025. It applies to most nonimmigrant visas, including visitor visas, and is collected only when a visa is actually issued, so refused applicants do not pay it. Rollout has been uneven: some embassies began collecting it in 2026 while others had not yet started. The law allows a refund in limited cases, mainly when the visitor complied with the terms of the visa, but the refund process has not been clearly set out. Treat the $250 as a cost of the trip unless your embassy states otherwise.
Reciprocity fees mirror what each country charges US citizens. They also set how many entries your visa allows and how long it lasts. Citizens of some countries receive ten-year multiple-entry visitor visas, while others receive visas valid for a few months or a single entry. The State Department publishes a reciprocity table for every nationality on travel.state.gov, and it is worth checking before you apply so you know what to expect.
US travel restrictions and country bans in 2025 and 2026
A presidential proclamation issued in June 2025 fully or partly suspended the issuing of visas to nationals of a list of countries, and that list has been revised since. If you hold a passport from a country under restriction, a visitor visa may not be available at all, apart from narrow exceptions.
The restrictions apply to new visas. They do not cancel visas already issued, and they do not apply to dual nationals travelling on a passport from an unrestricted country. Because the list has changed more than once, the only reliable check is the current notice on travel.state.gov. Read it before paying any fee, since the $185 is not returned if the application cannot be approved.
Check before you pay or book: US entry rules changed several times in 2025 and 2026: interview locations, interview waivers, new fees, social media screening and country restrictions. Before you pay the visa fee or buy a non-refundable ticket, read the current pages for your nationality on travel.state.gov and, for ESTA, esta.cbp.dhs.gov.
Arriving in the USA: what happens at the port of entry
At your first US airport you queue for passport control, where a CBP officer scans your passport, takes your fingerprints and photo, and asks a few questions about your trip. If you are admitted, the officer decides how long you may stay and records it electronically.
Typical questions are short: the purpose of your visit, how long you are staying, where you are staying and what you do for work. Have your hotel address and return booking ready on your phone. The officer can also inspect your baggage and, under CBP's policies, electronic devices. Answer plainly and avoid jokes about work or overstaying.
After admission, check your I-94 record on the CBP I-94 website within a few days. It shows the date by which you must leave. Officers occasionally make mistakes, and it is far easier to fix a wrong date early than after the fact. Returning ESTA travellers and some other groups can use the free Mobile Passport Control app at participating airports to submit details before reaching the booth, which can shorten the queue.
Some international airports run US preclearance, where you clear CBP before departure. Examples include Dublin and Shannon in Ireland, Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and most large Canadian airports. Your flight then arrives in the United States as if it were domestic, which is useful when connecting to a smaller US airport.
How long you can stay and what counts as an overstay
ESTA visitors can stay up to 90 days per entry, and a short trip to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean does not reset that clock. Visa holders are commonly admitted for up to six months, but the exact date is the one on the I-94. The expiry date printed on the visa is a separate thing.
The visa's expiry date only limits when you can enter. A visa that expires on 10 June still lets you enter on 9 June and stay until the I-94 date. The reverse also matters: staying even one day past the I-94 date automatically cancels the visa, and future visas must normally be applied for in your home country. Overstays of more than 180 days trigger a three-year bar on returning, and more than a year triggers a ten-year bar.
Visa holders who need more time, for a medical reason for instance, can ask USCIS for an extension on Form I-539 before the I-94 date passes. ESTA travellers cannot extend, except for rare emergency cases handled by CBP.
Other US visa types travellers ask about
Visitor visas cover most holiday and family trips, but several other categories come up often. Transit, students, exchange visitors and crew all have their own rules.
Transit (C-1)
For connections through the US
- The US has no airside transit zone
- Every connecting passenger clears immigration
- VWP nationals transit on ESTA; others need C-1 or B-2
Student (F-1, M-1)
For degree and vocational study
- Needs an I-20 from a certified school
- SEVIS fee paid before the interview
- Short recreational courses can use B-2
Exchange (J-1)
For sponsored programs
- Au pairs, interns, researchers, camp counsellors
- Needs a DS-2019 from a designated sponsor
- Some carry a two-year home residency rule
The transit rule deserves emphasis because it trips up many travellers flying between Asia and Latin America or the Caribbean. Changing planes in Miami, Houston or Los Angeles means entering the United States formally, so you need an ESTA or a visa even if you never leave the airport. If you do not have one, route through a hub such as Madrid, Panama City, Toronto or Doha instead.
Practical tips for a smooth US visa or ESTA application
Most problems with US entry come from timing, inconsistent information and unofficial websites. These habits avoid nearly all of them.
- Check wait times first. The State Department publishes estimated interview wait times for every post. Look them up before choosing travel dates, since some cities quote several months.
- Keep every answer consistent. Officers compare your DS-160, past applications, social media details and spoken answers. Dates of past trips and job titles should match exactly.
- Mind passport validity. Your passport should be valid for your whole stay; many nationalities need six months beyond it. A visa in an expired passport stays usable if you carry both passports.
- Use only official sites. Apply for ESTA on esta.cbp.dhs.gov or the official app, and for visas through travel.state.gov and your embassy's linked booking system.
- Arrange health cover. Insurance is optional for entry. US medical bills are among the highest in the world. Read our guide to US travel insurance for visitors.
- Hold refundable bookings. Until the visa is in your passport, keep flights and hotels flexible. Visas are sometimes delayed by administrative processing for weeks.
Editor's note: The rules on this page were checked against State Department and CBP guidance as of October 2026. Fees, interview rules and country restrictions changed several times in 2025 and 2026, and this guide cannot replace the official page for your nationality. A strong application is one whose details agree everywhere: the DS-160, your documents and your spoken answers. Prepare the paperwork yourself so you can explain any part of it.
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