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Last reviewed: August 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice about any particular case. The rules summarized here change frequently — confirm current requirements before you travel, or ask our office.
Start with the default position. A foreign national who wants to come to the United States temporarily normally needs two documents: a passport, valid for at least six months beyond the end of the period of admission being requested, and a valid nonimmigrant visa issued by a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. A number of countries have agreements with the United States that exempt their nationals from the extra six months of passport validity, but the basic pairing of passport plus visa is the rule against which everything on this page is measured.
The exceptions are not marginal. Millions of people enter the United States every year without a visa, and for many nationalities the visa-free route is the ordinary way to travel. But the exceptions are also narrow, technical and easy to misread. They come from three different places — the Immigration and Nationality Act, the State Department's regulations at 22 CFR 41.1 and 41.2, and the Department of Homeland Security's regulations at 8 CFR 212.1 — and they are administered by two different agencies. This section maps them, in a general manner.
Travelling without a visa is not the same as being exempt from inspection. Every exception on this page waives the requirement to present a visa, and sometimes a passport. None of them waives the grounds of inadmissibility in section 212(a) of the Act, and none of them binds the Customs and Border Protection officer at the port of entry. A criminal record, a prior immigration violation, or an officer's conclusion that you are really coming to live and work will end the trip regardless of which exception you are using.
Visa-free entry usually costs you something. The convenience is real, but so is the trade-off. Travelers under the Visa Waiver Program give up almost all rights to review or appeal an officer's decision, cannot extend their stay, and generally cannot change to another nonimmigrant status once here. If you may need flexibility, applying for a visa is often the better choice even when you qualify to skip it. Consular officers are expressly instructed not to discourage travelers from seeking visas.
This the largest exception by far. Nationals of the participating countries may come for business or tourism for 90 days or less without a visa, provided they hold an e-passport and have obtained an approved Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) from CBP before boarding. The program has grown from twenty-seven countries two decades ago to roughly forty today, and a set of restrictions enacted in 2015 now excludes travelers with certain travel histories and dual nationalities. The ninety days cannot be extended and generally cannot be converted into another status.
See Visa Waiver Program and ESTA for the participating countries, the eligibility requirements, the 2015 restrictions, and what a traveler gives up by using the program.
Canadian citizens generally need no visa, but they do need a travel document. The requirement that arrived with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative means most Canadians now travel on a passport, with alternatives available in defined circumstances — NEXUS, FAST and SENTRI cards, enhanced driver's licenses designated for the purpose, and special rules for children and supervised youth groups arriving by land. A visa is still required for a handful of classifications.
See Citizens of Canada.
Bermudians generally need no visa for visits of up to 180 days, but they do need a passport, and a visa is required for stays beyond 180 days as well as for certain classifications. Bermuda is not a Visa Waiver Program country, so Bermudians do not file ESTA.
See Citizen of Bermuda.
Mexican citizens are not exempt from the visa requirement, and it is worth being blunt about this because the opposite is widely believed. Most Mexican visitors hold a Border Crossing Card, Form DSP-150, the biometric "laser visa." That card is a B-1/B-2 visa. What it adds is that a holder applying for admission from Mexico at a land port of entry, or arriving by pleasure vessel or ferry, need not present a separate visa. Travel by air still calls for a passport and the visa itself. Separate narrow waivers exist for members of the Kickapoo tribes holding Form I-872, for Mexican airline crew, and for Mexican federal officials travelling on diplomatic or official passports.
See Citizens of Mexico.
Under the Compacts of Free Association, citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau may apply for admission without visas and, if admitted, may live, study and work in the United States for duration of status. Admission is not automatic and the ordinary grounds of inadmissibility apply. Compact status is not permanent residence.
See Citizens of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
A separate and much shorter waiver, authorized by section 212(l) of the Act, allows nationals of designated countries to visit Guam or the CNMI for up to fifteen days on a participating airline with a nonrefundable round-trip ticket. Since September 30, 2024 travelers must submit Form I-736 electronically and obtain an electronic travel authorization before boarding. A restricted sub-program permits prescreened nationals of the People's Republic of China to visit the CNMI without a visa. As with the Visa Waiver Program, there is no extension, no change of status, and no onward travel to the rest of the United States.
A cluster of long-standing provisions in 22 CFR 41.2 waives the visa requirement, though usually not the passport requirement, for particular groups. Bahamian nationals and British subjects resident in the Bahamas may be pre-cleared at Freeport or Nassau. British subjects resident in the Cayman Islands or the Turks and Caicos Islands may travel directly from those islands on presentation of a current certificate from the Clerk of Court showing no criminal record. Residents of the British Virgin Islands may travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands, or onward by air from St. Thomas, with a certificate of good conduct from the Royal Virgin Islands Police. And permanent residents of Canada or Bermuda who hold the nationality of a Commonwealth country or of Ireland may be granted a waiver of both requirements — a provision that does not reach stateless residents travelling on a certificate of identity.
The regulations at 22 CFR 41.1 exempt several categories from the passport and visa requirements outright: members of the U.S. Armed Forces travelling under official orders; armed services personnel of NATO member states and personnel attached to a NATO headquarters in the United States, on presentation of a service identity card and a movement order; travelers departing Guam, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands for another part of the United States; and personnel employed on works undertaken under the 1944 International Boundary and Water Commission treaty with Mexico. American Indians born in Canada with at least fifty percent American Indian blood are also exempt from the visa requirement, under 22 CFR 41.2(a).
Where an unforeseen emergency prevents a traveler from presenting the required documents, DHS may waive the visa or passport requirement at the port of entry. This is discretionary, case-specific, and not something to plan around.
Readers who remember the old Transit Without Visa program should note that it was suspended in 2003 and has not been reinstated. Travelers merely passing through the United States now need either a transit visa or eligibility under the Visa Waiver Program.
Canadian citizens working in the United States under the USMCA in TN status normally receive that status at the border without a visa. Because TN is a form of work authorization rather than visitor travel, it is dealt with separately in our materials on temporary work classifications rather than here.
Nor does this section deal with visas themselves. If none of the exceptions above fits, see Visitor Visas for how the B-1 and B-2 categories work and how to apply.
Most of the trouble we see in this area comes from travelers who used a visa-free route when their real purpose called for a visa, or who assumed an exception was broader than it is. If you are unsure which route fits your plans — or if you have already been refused entry or found ineligible for ESTA — please contact our office.