Russian citizens can travel to Guam without a visa, says CBP

Guam

Russian citizens can travel to the island of Guam without a visa, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Jan. 26.

CBP said the new visa rules are the results of a November decision by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano that allows CBP more discretionary “parole authority” on a case-by-case basis for Russian nationals traveling to Guam, which is an unincorporated U.S. territory .

The new eligibility, said CBP, allows Russian citizens to enter Guam visa-free and travel between the island and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) as nonimmigrant visitors for business or pleasure and stay up to 45 days, provided the traveler meets certain conditions.

Russian citizens seeking admission to Guam under the program, said CBP, must have a valid, unexpired machine-readable passport, not previously violated the terms of any prior admission to the U.S. and present a valid completed CBP Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record and Form I-736, CNMI Visa Waiver Information. Visitors who are allowed in under the program can’t engage in local employment or labor for hire, it said.

The program is limited to Guam and CNMI and doesn’t extend to any other U.S. locations.

The program is the second aimed at opening up Guam and the CNMI to previously restricted travelers. In the fall of 2009, DHS announced citizens of the People’s Republic of China and Russia would be permitted to travel to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) visa-free, and those travelers would be allowed into the CNMI, based on the Secretary’s discretionary parole authority, on a case-by-case basis. That program became effective November 28, 2009.

The agency said the program differs from the general U.S. Visa Waiver Program under Section 217 of the Immigration and Nationalization Act (INA), which authorizes the admission of visitors from approved countries for up to 90 days without a visa to any part of the United States (including Guam).