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Place navigation on the left of the screenI’ve received some interesting comments to my US Embassy post(s) and as a result, I’ve wondered which countries are spared the ignominy of applying for the “overrated” US visa. My Google quest of course led me to the US Department of State website which has a portion dedicated to the US government’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The VWP is the program where nationals of certain countries can travel to the United States without a visa provided they plan to only stay “for 90 days or less for tourism or business.”
Only three countries in Asia are in the list: Japan, Singapore, and Brunei. Most are in Europe, the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand) and I still have to consult Wikipedia to know exactly where Andorra is 
Of course, if it makes you feel better, there are 174 other countries in the world which are not in the list and have to get their b*tt to the US Embassy each time.
The full rundown of VWP participating-countries:
Andorra, Iceland , Norway, Australia, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Italy, San Marino, Belgium, Japan Singapore, Brunei , Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Denmark , Luxembourg, Spain, Finland, Monaco, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom.
Countries which have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and where the full implementation of VWP is under review: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Slovakia.
Initial reaction to the list: we’ve always prided ourselves of centuries of friendship with Americans and I wonder why been we’ve been “outshone” by Slovenia, Slovakia and the rest of them.
At first glance, it seems that economic wealth of the country is used as a basis for visa waiver but most are in the low population category too (think of the Republic of San Marino which only has a population of 30,000 people, or Lichtenstein and Monaco).
Considering that the requirements for admission under the program is “a very low non-immigrant refusal rate,” the integrity of the passport process (no fakes), and the ability to address security/law enforcement threats, looks like the Philippines will not be in the program in a hundred years. Tsk, tsk!
Stumble It!
Do you want to borrow my Belgian passport for a few weeks?
Tell that to some readers who might be interested, Sidney
wow so i can visit these countries without visa.. heehee
only mastercard.. haha joke 
btw, uv joined nuffnang na din pala.. welcome to nuffnang! yay
Hehe. Did you understand my post Jehzeel?
Hi Ajay,
My husband and I applied for a visa to go to the US to visit his family in the ’90s. We were holders of Philippine passports but were based in Sydney, Australia at that time because my husband was a graduate student in one of the universities here. We were also given a hard time but because of the perseverance of my husband’s supervisor’s secretary, we were granted a visa (she had to write to the US embassy to assure them that my husband is returning to Australia after the trip). Fast forward, 10 years later, we’re now Australian citizens, no need for visa to go to US for pleasure. Now that we’re able to visit the US any time we want, it’s not as inviting because of all the security measures we have to go through each time. Isn’t that ironic?
Hi Marnie, oo nga big deal eh. I’d rather go to Bora-Bora now
Hi, Annalyn. Hope all is well with you.
Sigh — the travails of Philippine passport holders…
I had been subjected to all forms of discrimination when I traveled abroad in the ’90s and, yes, even now.
But I still love my green passport, no matter what.
The Philippine passport is one of the most faked because it allows you access to most ASEAN countries. And if you are a businessman doing a lot of travel in the Asian region, it would be one of the best passports to have since you can apply for this special business card that allows you expedited entry to countries such as HK. If you research, there are also plenty of countries that Filipionos can visit without a Visa, but only offers limited stays to Americans.
Will we ever get a waiver? I doubt it. They’ll let in more people first to help stimulate their raped economy. Will the clerks ever get nicer? I doubt it, not unless they face a similar predicament on the other side of the fence. We all hope that they’ll be nicer…well, we can hope.
Just watch La Visa Loca. Should at least give you a laugh on the whole process. I wonder if those clerks (and yes, they are clerks, not consuls) were taught to be rude?