Starting 2 August 2003 and for 60 days, the US will no longer allow certain foreign nationals to transit through the US without a visa.

In order to avoid inconvenience to the traveling public, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople issued an advisory to all Filipino travelers to “secure appropriate visas that will authorize them to transit through the United States or seek other airlines that need not transit through US ports of entry”. The Secretary has also asked the tour and travel community to take note of this latest change in US visa policy. This latest US Visa policy will be in effect for only sixty (60) days and will be re-assessed thereafter.

Secretary Ople is nevertheless alarmed at the impact of such a ruling to OFWs, especially those traveling to Saipan, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Marshall Islands, who normally transit through Guam as well as Filipinos who transit through the continental United States to get to their final destinations.

“Our OFWs going to these places will be adversely affected. This advisory is being released so that they can take alternative air transport to other countries without transiting to US ports”, the Secretary added.

The Philippine Embassy in Washington DC and the Consulates General in New York, Chicago, Agana and Saipan have reported that the US Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State have suspended the Transit Without Visa (TWOV) Program as a security measure.

Under the new rule, aliens travelling to foreign destination will no longer be allowed to transit through the United States without a visa.  Only US citizens, foreign government officials, lawful permanent residents, participants in the visa waiver program, Canadians, and passengers in possession of valid US visas can transit through the United States.

To accommodate passengers with immediate travel plans and those who are traveling on the return portion of a trip, the following may be allowed transit to the United States:

1. TWOV passengers in flight at the time the regulations goes into effect will be allowed to continue in transit and depart the United States subject to inspection and risk evaluation;

2. TWOV passengers who bought tickets on or before 24 July 2003 whose inbound flights are scheduled to depart before 12:01 a.m. on 05 August 2003 and those presented as TWOV passengers to the US on the initial portion of their trip; and

3. Returning TWOV passengers whose inbound flights are scheduled to depart before 11 a.m. on 09 August 2003 if he or she has previously transited the US under the TWOV program, and are using the return portion of their roundtrip ticket to transit through the US.

As this new visa policy will be evaluated by the US government after 60 days, the Secretary has instructed the Philippine Embassy in Washington to ensure that the views of the Philippine government, that this new rule has greatly inconvenienced the Filipino traveler, is properly conveyed to the US government.  The Secretary said that similar representations will be made through the US Embassy in Manila. END.