Expert: Roberto Gomes - 4/20/2009

Question
My fiance and I are UK citizens.  Part of our honeymoon in June involves travelling from St Lucia to Las Vegas with Delta airlines.  The flight is in 2 parts (Delta 560 and 1095 respectively) with a change in Atlanta.  I know that we need to register for the Visa Waiver Program for the trip as a whole, but we are getting very confused information about exactly what will be required in Atlanta.  The first info we had was that as it is our first port of entry to USA we'd be expected to go through Immigration and Border Control which I understand, but our stop is only 74 minutes and we're worried about being delayed in immigration and missing the onward flight.  Earlier today we were told that it was a 'through flight' which means our bags wouldn't need to go through security in Atlanta and that we would be classed as 'in transit' which means different immigration and border guidelines which will be quicker, thus reducing the likelihood of missing the connection.

Are you able to clarify this any further for us, or give us a suggestion about where we might get an official position?
Many thanks, Hannah

Answer
Dear Hannah,

With the new (in fact not so new) security regulations, US Customs and Border Control changes all the procedures related to transiting in the US. Then old TWOV (Transit without visa) does not exists anymore, so any nationality that requires a visa to enter or transit through the US, needs a visa.

For nationalities that does not require visas, i.e. under the Visa Waiver Program, a new procedure came into place recently, that is the ESTA Travel Authorization. This is valid for long stays or just a normal transit.

You can check all the details at:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/esta/

Finally what you need to determine with Delta Airlines is, if Atlanta is a port of entry that can process In-transit-Bags (ITI. i.e. that your baggage will be not inspected by the US Customs.

Hope this helps,
Best Regards,
R. Gomes