The navy blue area is the United States and its territories, the sky blue area is the visa free countries, and the lime green area is the countries under the Visa Waiver Program. Picture from Wikipedia.

Have you ever traveled outside of the country before? Did you know that traveling is a complicated process?

U.S. citizens can get welfare from the government, and the traveling policy is part of it. Most people haven’t been to all fifty states, and some have never been out of the country.

“I have only traveled in the fifty states before, and I never go to other countries, so I never heard of this program at all,” stated Diaesha Summerhill, a senior.

Let’s figure out what this Visa Waiver Program is now, so that we can add some more choices to your vacation.

The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens to travel to other countries without a visa for stays of 90 days. There are thirty-seven countries that have signed into this program. “I think the Visa Waiver Program is really helpful and gives us more opportunity and choice to travel. It can give us an easier way to do less work of getting visa,” says Brianna Courtney, who has been outside the United States.

Mr. Frederick, a physics teacher here at Bob Jones, who has traveled to forty-seven countries (including twenty-three of the countries from the Visa Waiver Program), said, “I haven’t heard [of] the Visa Waiver Program before, but I’m interested. I think it would be very helpful to all travelers.”

Citizens of the countries under the Visa Waiver Program may also take short trips to Canada, Mexico, or to nearby islands. And the Visa Waiver Program can be applied on some nearby territories such as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

There are a few exceptions of the Visa Waiver Program, however, like studying abroad. Students who want to study abroad need a student visa as a legal identity in that country, and it doesn’t matter if the country is in the Visa Waiver Program. Alexis Helton, a senior who is studying abroad in Germany, said, “I’m on a student visa for the year. The exchange program is offered through the state department, so they took care of the process for me.”

As you are traveling through the Visa Waiver Program, your passport must be valid at least six months after departure from the United States. In addition, the passport needs to be a machine-readable passport or an e-passport, a passport contains an electronic chip that can be scanned to match the identity of the travelers and facial recognition data. E-passports can be easily recognized by the international symbol on the cover of the passport.

Do you know where you want to go for spring break, fall break, or during the summer? The thirty-seven countries on the Visa Waiver Program might be good choices for you, because the program is an easy and simple way to get your trips planned.

For more information, please visit http://travel.state.gov/.