The State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs announced it would launch a pilot program that would eliminate the traditional visa. This is actually what is intended if the respective test delivers the results expected by experts. The idea of this first test is to develop the authority to issue a digital visa authorization (DVA) to enter the United States. In this way, the usual visas would be replaced by printed and stamped sheets in passports.
How much would you streamline the travel approval process?
If this pilot test meets the planned parameters, the speed of the process in question would completely change. For example, the digital visa would significantly speed up the travel approval process. This would be possible by automating the transmission of visa application data. To whom? To airlines and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials when authorizing entry into the United States.
“CBP’s Document Validation Program notifies airlines when a traveler has valid travel identification, including a DVA,” State Department authorities said in a statement.
Currently, the digital visa development pilot program is being implemented at the US Consulate in Dublin, Ireland. These are the rules of the game.
– Instead of traditional visas laminated onto passports, digital visas will be issued to a small number of K-1 fiancé visa applicants. This includes boyfriends and girlfriends of American citizens who have to travel to the USA to get married.
To test the concept, K-1 visas were chosen because these visas only allow entry into the United States.
-The test begins with travelers from Ireland due to the strong historical alliance ties with that country’s government. Also due to the presence of CBP Preclearence at Dublin Airport.