TRAVEL INFORMATION

Travel documents

As of October 26, 2004, Italian citizens wishing to travel to the USA must have a machine-readable passport issued by the Italian authorities, in accordance with the Visa Waiver Program.

This requirement will apply to all citizens of countries which participate in the Visa Waiver Program.
By September 30, 2004, visitors traveling under the Visa-Waiver Program will be required to enroll in US-VISIT at air and sea ports of entry. As part of the enhanced procedures, a digital photograph is taken and fingerprints.

As you may know, US-VISIT is transitioning from collecting 2 fingerprints to collecting 10 fingerprints from international visitors arriving at U.S. ports of entry. This transition includes the initial deployment of this capability to 10 U.S. airports, which began on November 29, 2007, at Washington Dulles International Airport. Since then, the following airports have also begun collecting 10 fingerprints from international visitors:
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport,
Chicago O’Hare International Airport,
Boston Logan International Airport,
George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport
and San Francisco International Airport.
As each of the airports begin collecting 10 fingerprints, US-VISIT and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are working to educate travelers arriving at these airports. For each port, US-VISIT and CBP are issuing a press release within the port’s state and to the top four countries from which visitors arrive at that port.
They are also holding events at each airport for local media to ask questions and view, video and photograph the new process.
In the next two weeks, US-VISIT and CBP plan to publicly announce the beginning of 10-fingerprint collection at the following airports:
Miami International Airport on February 13,
Orlando International Airport on February 15,
and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport on February 19.
At the end of February/beginning of March, US-VISIT and CBP plan to announce that the 10th airport, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, will begin collecting 10 fingerprints. US-VISIT will test 10 fingerprint collection at these 10 airports during the next few months and then use the lessons learned from the test to deploy this capability nationwide.
US-VISIT plans to have this capability at all U.S. air, sea and land border ports of entry by the end of the year. 

Following the Visa Waiver Program, you can continue to fly to the US without an entry visa only if you are in possess of a machine-readable passport issued before 26 October 2005.
All passports issued on or after 26 October 2005 require a digital photograph printed on the data page.

All passengers holding machine-readable passports issued on or after 26 October 2005, but without digital pictures on the data page, must obtain a visa for entry in the US.

Each and every member of a family group or of a group of travellers must hold an individual machine readable passport, including children and infants. Should the old passport be used and for children eventually registered on those of parents, an entry visa must be requested to the US Consulate or Diplomatic Authorities, before travelling to the USA.   

People who wish to travel to the USA for leisure or business with their old passports, must apply for a non-immigrant entrance visa. Remember to apply for the visa in due time at the United States consulates in Milan and Naples or at the US Embassy in Rome. At present, the application fee for a non-immigrant visa is 100 euro, non-refundable.

No changes are expected in entrance procedures according to the regulations of the Visa Waiver Program.   

For more information on visa-issuing procedures in Italy and abroad consult www.skyteam.com or the US Embassy website.

For general information about the the United States’ visa policies and procedures, visit 
www.travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html

Please be reminded that from 4 October 2005, the US Customs Board Protection (CBP) requests all airlines to provide personal details of all passengers travelling to and from the United States, in order to legalise their entry in the US. In addition to personal details in the passport and passport number, the CBP also requires the following information:

• Country of residence
• Alien Registration Number (Green Card) for US residents
• Address at US destination for all passengers, except for North American citizens or residents

Click here to download the Apis form. Remember to fill it in and bring it with you at the time of departure.

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