US Customs and Duties

Under the Visa Waiver Scheme, designed to speed up immigration procedures, citizens of Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and most European countries in possession of full passports do not require visas for trips to the United States of less than ninety days. Visa waiver forms are handed out on incoming planes, and are processed during immigration control at your initial point of arrival on US soil. The form requires details of where you are staying on your first night, and the date you intend to leave the US. You should be able to prove that you have enough money to support yourself while in the US. You may experience difficulties if you admit to being HIV-positive or having AIDS or TB. Part of the form will be attached to your passport, where it must stay until you leave. The same form also covers entry across the land borders with Canada and Mexico.
Citizens of all other countries should contact their local US embassy or consulate for details of current entry requirements. Even those eligible for the visa waiver scheme must apply for a free tourist visa if they intend to stay in the US for more than ninety days. Whatever your nationality, visas are not issued to convicted felons or to anybody who owns up to being a communist, fascist or drug dealer.

Customs
All passengers arriving in the US must present a completed customs declaration form (also handed out on incoming planes). Customs officers check whether you're carry ing any fresh foods and ask if you've visited a farm in the last month: if you have, you could well lose your shoes. As well as foods and anything agricultural, it's prohibited to carry into the country any articles from such places as North Korea, Cambodia, Iraq, Libya or Cuba, obscene publications, lottery tickets, chocolate liqueurs or pre-Columbian artifacts. Anyone caught bringing drugs into the country will not only face prosecution but be entered in the records as an undesirable and probably denied entry for all time. The duty-free allowance if you're over 17 is 200 cigarettes and 100 cigars ( not Cuban) and, if you're over 21, a liter of spirits.