United States entry requirements, by passport
United States visa requirements at a glance: 30 of the 81 passports VisaRadar tracks can enter United States without arranging a visa beforehand — visa-free, with a visa on arrival, or with an electronic travel authorization. The other 51 must obtain a visa before they travel.
Which passport do you hold?
We'll take you straight to the entry requirements for United States for your nationality.
What we've verified for United States
Beyond the yes/no matrix, we've checked these against an official primary source (last checked 2026-08-10). The specifics depend on your nationality — open your passport's row in the table for the detail that applies to you.
- Standard short-stay visa fee: USD 40.27
- Typical processing time
- Required documents (4)
- Required vaccinations
- Health-insurance rules
- Customs limits (cash, alcohol, tobacco)
- Overstay penalties
- Airport transit rules
Sources: usa.gov/visa-waiver-esta, esta.cbp.dhs.gov, cbp.gov (customs limits and exemptions), aftalionlaw.com and alllaw.com (overstay consequences under the VWP) (checked 10 August 2026).
This table summarizes the exact entry mechanism for every passport we track — the difference between entering visa-free, with an electronic authorization, with an e-Visa, or with a traditional visa is explained in visa, e-Visa, and electronic authorization: what's the difference. How we verify every row before publishing it is on methodology.
Base entry rules refreshed 2026-09-17. Published: 2026-08-10.
| Passport | Requirement | Max. stay |
|---|---|---|
| Visa-free | ||
| Australia | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Austria | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Belgium | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Canada | Visa-free | 180 days |
| Chile | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Croatia | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Czech Republic | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Denmark | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Finland | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| France | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Germany | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Greece | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Hungary | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Iceland | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Ireland | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Israel | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Italy | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Japan | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Malta | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Netherlands | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| New Zealand | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Norway | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Poland | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Portugal | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Singapore | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| South Korea | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Spain | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Sweden | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Switzerland | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| United Kingdom | Electronic authorization (ETA) | — |
| Visa required | ||
| Algeria | Visa required | — |
| Argentina | Visa required | — |
| Bangladesh | Visa required | — |
| Bolivia | Visa required | — |
| Brazil | Visa required | — |
| Bulgaria | Visa required | — |
| Cape Verde | Visa required | — |
| China | Visa required | — |
| Colombia | Visa required | — |
| Costa Rica | Visa required | — |
| Cuba | Visa required | — |
| Dominican Republic | Visa required | — |
| Ecuador | Visa required | — |
| Egypt | Visa required | — |
| El Salvador | Visa required | — |
| Equatorial Guinea | Visa required | — |
| Gambia | Visa required | — |
| Georgia | Visa required | — |
| Ghana | Visa required | — |
| Guatemala | Visa required | — |
| Honduras | Visa required | — |
| India | Visa required | — |
| Indonesia | Visa required | — |
| Jordan | Visa required | — |
| Kenya | Visa required | — |
| Malaysia | Visa required | — |
| Mali | Visa required | — |
| Mexico | Visa required | — |
| Moldova | Visa required | — |
| Morocco | Visa required | — |
| Nicaragua | Visa required | — |
| Nigeria | Visa required | — |
| Pakistan | Visa required | — |
| Panama | Visa required | — |
| Paraguay | Visa required | — |
| Peru | Visa required | — |
| Philippines | Visa required | — |
| Romania | Visa required | — |
| Russia | Visa required | — |
| Saudi Arabia | Visa required | — |
| Senegal | Visa required | — |
| South Africa | Visa required | — |
| Sri Lanka | Visa required | — |
| Thailand | Visa required | — |
| Tunisia | Visa required | — |
| Turkey | Visa required | — |
| Ukraine | Visa required | — |
| United Arab Emirates | Visa required | — |
| Uruguay | Visa required | — |
| Venezuela | Visa required | — |
| Vietnam | Visa required | — |
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Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands: what changes
Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have their own visa waiver programme, the G-CNMI VWP, with a list of eligible nationalities that is not the ESTA list. Since 30 November 2024, anyone travelling under that programme needs its own electronic authorisation, the G-CNMI-eTA, which replaced the paper form I-736 and is checked before boarding. Travellers entering under the general visa waiver programme still use their ESTA.
Source: cbp.gov, Carrier Liaison Program, publicación 3923-1124 de 25/11/2024 (comprobado 18/09/2026)
Do you need a different visa for New York, Los Angeles, or Miami?
No. United States sets the requirements, so entering through New York asks for the same as entering through Los Angeles or Miami. If you're arriving overland or through a small border post, check that separately: some countries apply their own rules to specific crossings.
With one exception, explained above: the rules for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are not the rules for the rest of United States.
What does change is where you file the application when a visa is needed, and that depends on the country you live in rather than the city you're travelling to.
What draws travelers to United States
The United States is too big to "see": you choose the trip by region. The Northeast holds the cities — New York, the most visited by international tourists, Washington with its free Smithsonian museums, Boston. California links San Francisco and Los Angeles along the Pacific coast. The Southwest is the classic national-park road trip: the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and southern Utah, with Las Vegas as the usual base. Florida stands apart, between Miami and the Keys. The great western parks — Yellowstone, with its geysers, and Yosemite — are destinations in their own right; Great Smoky Mountains, the country's most visited, draws more than twelve million people a year. The country has more than twenty UNESCO World Heritage sites, most of them natural. The first-timer's mistake is trying to string together the East and West coasts in a week: the distances force a choice. The best time depends entirely on the area: the desert Southwest is brutal in summer; the Northeast is superb in autumn.
Sources for this section: visittheusa.com (Brand USA, the official destination marketing organization); nps.gov (U.S. National Park Service); UNESCO World Heritage List (whc.unesco.org); UK FCDO travel advice for the USA. Accessed 31 August 2026.
Things to see and do in United States
Tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips, most with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Seeing the featured activities here needs advertising cookies. In the meantime, you can open them directly:
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Where can United States passport holders travel visa-free? →
Informational only. Always verify requirements with the official embassy or consulate before you travel.