Tourists from South Korea can start arriving in the U.S. under the new visa-waiver program starting Nov. 17, state and federal officials announced Friday. The date is about two months earlier than expected. Wienert predicted the number of tourists that come from South Korea to Hawaii will double to 80,000 in the first year of the program and double again in 2010 to 160,000. The distance between Hawaii and Seoul is about the same as between Hawaii and Atlanta.
At the peak prior to the 1990s Asian economic collapse, South Korea sent up to 122,000 tourists a year to Hawaii. Many Koreans have relatives in Hawaii, along with deep cultural ties to Hawaii's large Korean American communities. All a South Korean traveler will have to do is carry a new e-passport, which is bar-coded for identification, and then register for travel authorization online. A release from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul advised South Korean citizens that all they will have to do to travel to the U.S. beginning Nov. 17 is go online, sign up, receive clearance from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization and then carry an e-passport.
South Korean citizens may be traveling for business or pleasure, but must carry a round-trip ticket or a ticket that takes them on to another country and may not spend more than 90 days in the U.S. People seeking permanent residence or planning to seek student visas may not use the visa-waiver program. Passengers who have been refused a visa in the past or deported from the U.S. still must go through the process of obtaining a visa. President Bush decided two weeks ago to lift visa requirements for South Korean tourists. British, Japanese and citizens from several other countries are already eligible to travel to the U.S. without visas. Bush also lifted visa requirements for citizens of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia...
At the peak prior to the 1990s Asian economic collapse, South Korea sent up to 122,000 tourists a year to Hawaii. Many Koreans have relatives in Hawaii, along with deep cultural ties to Hawaii's large Korean American communities. All a South Korean traveler will have to do is carry a new e-passport, which is bar-coded for identification, and then register for travel authorization online. A release from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul advised South Korean citizens that all they will have to do to travel to the U.S. beginning Nov. 17 is go online, sign up, receive clearance from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization and then carry an e-passport.
South Korean citizens may be traveling for business or pleasure, but must carry a round-trip ticket or a ticket that takes them on to another country and may not spend more than 90 days in the U.S. People seeking permanent residence or planning to seek student visas may not use the visa-waiver program. Passengers who have been refused a visa in the past or deported from the U.S. still must go through the process of obtaining a visa. President Bush decided two weeks ago to lift visa requirements for South Korean tourists. British, Japanese and citizens from several other countries are already eligible to travel to the U.S. without visas. Bush also lifted visa requirements for citizens of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia...
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