Already thinking about the 2026 World Cup, the United States wants to adopt new technologies to facilitate the entry of tourists into the country, according to the US Travel Association, representative of tourism segments in the US.
The entity’s president, Geoff Freeman, today detailed the association’s ideas to improve the flow of visitors to the country. In 2026, the main football competition will be held in the USA, Mexico and Canada, and the expectation is that these countries will receive a high number of tourists.
“We want to make the USA more competitive, looking at measures that can be taken to improve entry into the country and attract travelers, such as new technologies. This is also important because of the World Cup in 2026”, said Freeman during IPW, the largest tourism fair in the USA, which is being held in Los Angeles this year. “We want to make changes to make visas and entry into the United States easier.”
The president of the US Travel Association, however, did not go into detail to explain what changes could speed up visas, but recalled that in Brazil the waiting time to obtain an American visa has fallen significantly.
Last year, Freeman complained about the delay and stated that the queue to obtain a visa was keeping tourists from different parts of the world from traveling to the United States. Here, for example, the time exceeded 18 months in some cities.
“In Brazil, what was 500 days is now 21 days. This shows that things can get done when the State Department puts its resources in the right place. The problem can be solved.”
Currently, the waiting time to obtain the first B1/B2 visa looks like this:
See the updated deadlines here.
Improving immigration
Despite having several ideas, the US Travel Association still needs authorization from the American government for the actions to be carried out. We have already seen, however, that the Association’s plans to speed up visa processes last year really had an effect, at least for Brazilians.
Now, the idea is to improve the American immigration system, making it even faster for tourists to enter the United States, reducing the time for the entire process that includes going through security, customs and baggage claim.
Among the objectives is a safer and faster biometrics system to pass through checkpoints and the implementation of artificial intelligence when analyzing passengers’ luggage.
Have you ever been to the United States and had any problems entering? Tell us!
