On November 20 and 21, 2014, President Barack Obama announced a series of administrative reforms of immigration policy, collectively called the Immigration Accountability Executive Action. The centerpiece of these reforms is an expansion of the current Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) initiative for the parents of U.S citizens and lawful permanent residents who meet certain criteria.

The following chart shows the changes that have been made to the Country Reciprocity Tables since our last publication.

The purpose of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is to facilitate and boost legitimate travel for business and tourism which provides economic benefits to the U.S. By providing visa free travel, the VWP also allows the State Department to allocate more resources to visa-issuing posts. More than 19 million travelers from 38 designated countries visit the U.S. through the VWP annually. The VWP’s pre-screened, preapproved visitor entry process and security cooperation requirements for participating

Travel to U.S. Territories such as the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico by people who have been granted deferred status by USCIS is similar to travel to any one of the 50 states. However, we strongly recommend that you carry your USCIS documents showing deferred status with you in order to facilitate your ability to return to your residence. Please note that depending on the location of your travels, you may be subject to certain processes, including customs inspections.

"We are pressing to build preclearance capability at foreign airports around the world that have flights directly to the United States. Preclearance means screening by our customs personnel at the front end of the flight, not the back end. This provides us with a greater ability to prevent those who should not be flying here from doing so. Preclearance exists at 15 overseas airports now, and we are building more. In May I announced 10 overseas airports we have prioritized for preclearance

"At present there are 38 countries from which someone may travel to the United States without a visa.