US stops ‘no visa’ transit programmes

THE United States of America (USA) over the weekend suspended two programmes which allowed certain international passengers to travel through the country for transit purposes without a visa. A release from the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain said the suspended programmes are the Transit Without Visa Programme (TWOV) and the International-to-International Programme (ITI). The suspension took effect on Saturday based on instructions from Homeland Security and the US Department of State. Additional steps to increase security at airports and on airplanes which normally transport and process passengers under these programmes, will also be put in place. The release said it is the intention of the departments to reinstate the programmes as soon as additional security measures can be implemented to safeguard the programmes from terrorists.

Comments on the Departments actions will be solicited from the public over the next 60 days, when a reassessment of the suspension will be reviewed. Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge, was quoted in the release as saying that the Department knows that the measures will “impact on international travellers, but we believe they are necessary in order to protect lives and property.” He described the measures as “aggressive, but an appropriate response” to the threat to terrorism. The release further stated that three exceptions will be made to the instituted measures. They are, TWOV and TIT passengers in flight at the time of the suspension were not affected; travellers who purchased their tickets as TWOV and TIT passengers on or before July 24, 2003, and who are scheduled to depart for transit through the US before 12.01 am tomorrow  need not have a visa to transit; however flights scheduled for departure after the above time  which includes a stop in the US, must either obtain a visa or change their travel to exclude any stops in the US. And thirdly, if a person has already travelled through the US as a TWOV or ITI passenger on the first leg of their trip, on a round trip ticket, they will be allowed to make a stop in the US, if they use their return portion of the ticket before 11 am on August 9. Under the TWOV programme, passengers arriving in the US from a foreign country were permitted to travel through the US to another foreign destination without first obtaining a visa to stop and change places in the US. The ITI programme also allowed passengers arriving from foreign countries to transit through the US to another foreign destination without first obtaining a visa.