Under 18 Hours of Study per Week - max 90 Days

Which courses?

Most general courses of 15 to 20 lessons per week fall under this category, as long as the lesson length is not over 52 minutes. This information can be found on the course page. The course must not last more than 12 weeks as this is the maximum length of time that you are allowed to stay in the country as a tourist.

Which Nationalities?

Students from the Visa Waiver Program can enter the country as a tourist. The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) enables nationals of certain countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business purposes for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.

The 34 countries participating in the VWP are:

Please note: All VWP travelers, regardless of age or type of passport used, must present individual machine-readable passports.

For more information on the VWP please click here >

Students from all other countries will be required to have a visa (tourist or student visa), regardless of the length of their stay.

Please note that as of 12th January 2009, all visa-waiver programme travellers will be required to apply for authorisation to travel under the scheme before arriving at the airport. This is applicable from 17th November 2008 for nationals of Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea.

This is a mandatory requirement and you will not be able to enter the country if you do not apply and obtain authorization. This approval will also be required for passengers transiting via the US from 12th January 2009.

How to apply

Travellers will be required to obtain authorisation (known as ESTA – Electronic System for Travel Authorization) before arriving at the airport and can apply online at http://esta.cbp.dhs.gov or via Manage My Booking on ba.com

The application process may take up to approximately 15-20 minutes and authorisation is normally granted immediately but may take up to 72 hours. We recommend that you apply for authorisation at the time of booking or at least 72 hours before your flight to ensure that you are able to travel. Customers making late bookings can still apply, but there is a risk that they may not receive immediate confirmation.

Once granted, authorisation is valid for 2 years so you do not need to re-apply each time you travel for that 2 year period. Travellers do not need to have firm plans to travel to apply for authorisation.

Until further notice, travellers will still need to complete the green I-94W non-immigrant visa waiver form onboard their flight.

It is the responsibility of the traveller to complete the ESTA application and obtain authorization.

Travellers with a resident permit ‘green card’ or travelling on a student visa will not need to apply for authorisation as they are not travelling under the visa-waiver programme.

For more information, go to www.ba.com/batraveltrade.com, esta.cbp.dhs.gov, www.usembassy.org.uk or e-mail info@lime-management.co.uk quoting 'ESTA'.

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Over 18 Hours of Study Per Week or More Than 90 Days

All Intensive Courses or courses over 12 weeks fall into this category.

All students must apply for a student visa, regardless of their nationality or the length of their stay.

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Student Visa Procedure

In order to apply for an F-1 student visa, the school will have to issue an I-20 form and send it to you so that you can present it at the embassy.

In order to process the I-20, the school requires the following information, so we will need you to send this to us after you have completed your online or phone booking:

• Home address
• Nationality
• Citizenship
• Copy of passport
• Bank statement to prove you have enough funds to cover your stay

When a student requires a visa, we always recommend booking the course at least 8 weeks minimum before the course start date.

Please note: You may be legally authorized to work in the United States while on an F-1 student visa.

For more information on student visas please click here >

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