Entry Requirements for US Citizens

A US passport gets you into all 18 of the countries Americans visit most without a visa. Only two require something done online before you fly: the United Kingdom's Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA, £20, about $27) and the Dominican Republic's free e-Ticket. South Korea offers an optional free e-Arrival Card that saves filling in a paper card. The rules that actually stop people at the airport are about the passport itself: Europe's Schengen countries want it issued within the last 10 years and valid three months past your departure, and a passport card never works on a flight.

Below: one table for all 18, a short section per country with the official link, then the rules that cut across borders (Schengen, ETIAS, online forms, cruises, kids, dual citizens and renewal times).

All 18 countries at a glance

Ordered by how many Americans visit. "Schengen rule" means the passport must have been issued within the last 10 years and be valid at least three months after the day you leave the Schengen area.

Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean

Mexico

Fly in on a passport book; the card is refused for flights. There is nothing to apply for: immigration (the INM) records a digital FMM visitor permit at the airport, and its fee, MX$983 (about $53) in 2026, is already in your airfare. The officer writes the days you are granted, up to 180, and often gives only what your return ticket shows, so read the stamp before you walk away.

New for 2026–2027: Quintana Roo's Visitax (about MX$290, about $16) is still yours to pay at visitax.gob.mx, and on October 27, 2026, Mexico's Senate approved raising the visitor fee to MX$1,158 (about $63) from January 1, 2027. Everything else is on our Mexico entry page.

Canada

No visa and no eTA for US citizens. Fly with a passport book or a NEXUS card; drive or take a ferry with a book, a passport card, a NEXUS card or an enhanced driver's license. Officers usually admit Americans for up to six months, and your passport only needs to be valid for the trip.

The real hurdle is a criminal record: a single old DUI can make you inadmissible. The optional, free Advance CBSA Declaration in ArriveCAN can speed up customs at the big airports. Canada confirms the no-eTA rule on its official eligibility page; DUIs, kids and customs are covered in our Canada entry guide.

Dominican Republic

Fill in the free e-Ticket at eticket.migracion.gob.do for your arrival, and a second one for your flight home. The US$10 tourist card and the departure tax are already in your ticket. You get 30 days; stay longer and you pay a stay fee when you leave, starting at RD$3,500 (about $57) for 30 to 90 days.

The official rule is a passport valid on entry, but give yourself six months of margin, because airline agents read the rule strictly. Step-by-step help is on our e-Ticket page and the full Dominican Republic entry guide.

Jamaica

No visa for stays of up to 90 days. Your passport must be valid when you arrive and when you leave, with one blank page, and you must show a return or onward ticket. Jamaica's Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) asks arriving passengers to fill in the C5 immigration and customs form online, up to 30 days ahead; if you don't, there are tablets and staff to help at the airport.

The form is free, and sites charging for it are not the government. Check the State Department's Jamaica page before you go. Cruise rules are covered below.

Costa Rica

No visa. Costa Rica's embassy says your passport needs to be valid for only one day past the date you enter, and you must hold a ticket out of the country. Officers can grant up to 180 days, though they decide the number. In practice the onward ticket is the sticking point: US airlines ask to see it before they print your boarding pass.

Rules are on the Embassy of Costa Rica's visa page. One day is the legal minimum; travel with far more.

Bahamas

No visa and no online form. The State Department lists stays of up to 90 days, a passport valid through your departure date, two blank pages and proof that you will leave. The officer sets your stay on arrival. Declare cash of $10,000 or more on the way in and out.

See the State Department's Bahamas page. Most Americans arrive by ship; the cruise exceptions are below.

Europe: the UK, Ireland and eight Schengen countries

United Kingdom

Get an ETA before you fly: £20 (about $27), in the official UK ETA app or at gov.uk/eta. Most decisions come within a day; allow three working days. It lasts two years or until your passport expires, covers visits of up to six months each, and every traveler needs one, babies included. Since February 25, 2026, airlines refuse boarding without it.

Your passport only has to be valid for your stay, and US passports can use the eGates. Full walkthrough on our UK ETA page, with customs and visitor rules in the UK entry guide.

Ireland

No visa and no ETA. You can stay up to 90 days, and your passport needs to be valid for the stay. Ireland is in the EU but outside Schengen, so it uses neither EES nor ETIAS, and your Irish days don't use up your Schengen allowance.

Two traps: crossing into Northern Ireland (even on a Belfast day trip) requires the UK ETA, and Dublin and Shannon airports have US preclearance, so you clear US immigration before boarding home. See the State Department's Ireland page.

Italy

Schengen rule, 90 days in 180, and your photo and fingerprints at the first Schengen airport you land in. Hotels and rentals register your passport with the police, which is routine. Americans with Italian citizenship should enter on the Italian passport; the 2025 change to citizenship by descent is explained on our ancestry page, and the rest on the Italy entry page.

France

Schengen rule and the 90-day clock. Morning arrivals at Paris-Charles de Gaulle are the slowest at passport control, so give yourself up to two hours on a first EES entry. On the Eurostar from London, French border checks happen at St Pancras before you board. Details on our France entry page.

Spain

Schengen rule, 90 in 180. Spanish officers can ask for a hotel booking, a return ticket and proof you can pay for the trip, so keep them on your phone. Hotels and car-rental desks now record more guest details for police registers, so expect a longer check-in form. Official page: the State Department's Spain information.

Germany

Schengen rule, 90 in 180. Frankfurt, a major first-entry hub for US flights, saw peak EES waits of about two hours in summer 2026. Germany has also checked its land borders since 2024, so carry your passport on trains and buses from neighboring countries. See the State Department's Germany page.

Greece

Schengen rule, 90 in 180. Cruise passengers calling at Santorini and Mykonos pay a per-person fee (€20, about $22, in the summer peak), which cruise lines add to your bill. A ferry hop to Turkey takes you out of Schengen, and your exit and re-entry are recorded under EES at the port. See the State Department's Greece page.

Netherlands

Schengen rule; the State Department advises six months of validity, though three are required. Maximum border waits at Amsterdam Schiphol reached about two hours in summer 2026, so leave long connections there. See the State Department's Netherlands page.

Portugal

Schengen rule, 90 in 180. Madeira and the Azores are inside Schengen too, so island time counts. Land in Lisbon and fly on to Paris or Rome, and you won't see passport control again until you leave Schengen. See the State Department's Portugal page.

Switzerland

Switzerland is in Schengen but not the EU. That means the same 90-day clock, EES at Zurich and Geneva, and ETIAS once it starts, but Swiss customs officers on trains and roads and prices in francs. The State Department advises six months of passport validity. See the State Department's Switzerland page.

Japan and South Korea

Japan

No visa for stays of up to 90 days, and your passport needs to last the trip, per Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nothing is required online; Visit Japan Web is optional and covered below.

New in 2026: Japan's departure tax tripled on July 1, 2026, from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 (about $20), and it's built into your ticket. Japan also plans a pre-arrival screening system, JESTA, for visa-free visitors from 2028, with a fee still being discussed. Nothing needs doing yet.

South Korea

No visa for 90 days, and no K-ETA needed until the end of 2026. Korea's Ministry of Justice extended the waiver for Americans on December 29, 2025, through December 31, 2026. As of late October 2026 no further extension has been announced. The last one came only days before the deadline, so don't assume either way.

If you fly in 2027, check the official K-ETA site in December. If the waiver ends, the K-ETA costs KRW 10,000 (about $7), lasts up to three years and should be filed at least 72 hours before boarding. Without a K-ETA you fill in an arrival card: either the free e-Arrival Card at e-arrivalcard.go.kr within three days before you land, or the paper card, which Korea's Ministry of Justice said in 2026 it would keep accepting alongside the online version.

The Schengen 90/180 rule and the Entry/Exit System

Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland are 8 of the 29 Schengen countries, which share one border and one clock. You can spend 90 days in any rolling 180-day period across all of them combined. There's no reset on January 1 and no fresh allowance each time you enter: on any day, count back 180 days and add up every day you spent inside. Arrival and departure days count in full. Days in the UK, Ireland, Turkey or Cyprus don't count.

If you are anywhere near the limit, use the European Commission's short-stay calculator and screenshot the result.

EES: fingerprints instead of stamps

The EU's Entry/Exit System started in stages on October 12, 2025, and has been fully running at every Schengen external border since April 10, 2026. The first time you enter, a kiosk or officer scans your passport, takes your photo and scans four fingers; children under 12 give a photo only. After that, every entry and exit is logged electronically, which is how overstays are now caught automatically. It's free and needs nothing from you in advance. Your record is kept for three years after your last exit, so frequent visitors register once.

The cost is time. Border posts could pause biometric checks when lines got out of hand, but that flexibility expired on September 6, 2026. Allow 2.5 to 3 hours to connect at a hub, don't book a train for the first hours after landing, and arrive three hours before your flight home.

ETIAS: not yet

ETIAS is the EU's coming online travel authorization for visa-free visitors, the European version of the US ESTA. As of October 30, 2026, it is not operating and not taking applications. The EU dropped its "last quarter of 2026" target, and member governments now describe the start as planned for 2027 without a month. When it arrives it will cost €20 (about $22), last three years, and cover 30 countries: the 29 Schengen states plus Cyprus.

You need nothing for a trip booked now, and any site taking money for ETIAS today is a scam. Launch timing, the transition period and how to apply once it opens are on our ETIAS for Americans page.

Online forms: UK ETA, K-ETA, Visit Japan Web, e-Ticket and FMM

UK ETA and K-ETA

The UK ETA is the only authorization on this list you must hold in 2026. Use the UK ETA app (developer: UK Home Office) or gov.uk. It attaches to one passport, so a renewed passport needs a new ETA; steps are in our UK ETA guide. Korea's K-ETA is optional until the waiver ends, though holding one lets you skip the arrival card. Use only k-eta.go.kr or its official app; copycat sites charge several times the fee.

Japan's Visit Japan Web

A free government site (a digital.go.jp address) where you enter your passport, flight, immigration and customs details before landing. It gives you QR codes for the kiosks and customs gates at Narita, Haneda and Kansai. It's optional, paper forms still work, and no one should charge you to "submit" it.

Dominican Republic e-Ticket

One free form combines immigration, customs and health questions, and one person can list a whole family on the same flight. You need a separate e-Ticket for the trip home. Save the QR code as a photo and print a copy. Walkthrough on our e-Ticket page.

Mexico's FMM

By air, you do nothing: the digital FMM is issued at the immigration booth and paid through your ticket. By land, it's your job. If you go beyond the border zone (about 12 miles, 20 km) or stay more than a few days, fill in the FMM on INM's official site, pay if staying more than 7 days, and get it stamped at the INM office at the crossing. Our Mexico border guide shows where to stop on each route.

Land crossings and cruises

Canada and Mexico by land

The passport card was made for this. It costs $65 the first time ($30 to renew), fits in a wallet and works at every land crossing and seaport with Canada and Mexico, plus in the faster Ready Lanes coming home. Enhanced driver's licenses from Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington work the same way. US-citizen children under 16 can show a birth certificate at land crossings.

The trap is the one-way trip: drive in on a card, decide to fly home, and you can't board. See our Canada border and Mexico border guides.

Jamaica, the Bahamas and other closed-loop cruises

On a "closed-loop" cruise, one that starts and ends at the same US port, US citizens can sail to Jamaica, the Bahamas, Mexico and most of the Caribbean with a passport card, or with an original or certified birth certificate plus government photo ID. The State Department still recommends the book for both countries: if you get sick, miss the ship in Nassau or Montego Bay, or the ship can't get you home, you'll need a passport book to fly back.

Mexico's federal cruise fee rose to US$10 a passenger on August 1, 2026; cruise lines bill it with port taxes. More in our Mexico cruises and Dominican Republic cruises pages.

Passport book vs passport card

Expedited service adds $60, and one-to-three-day return delivery adds $22.05 (State Department chart, April 2026). If you only ever drive to Canada, the card alone is fine; everyone else needs the book.

Renewing in time

In fall 2026 the State Department quotes about 4 to 6 weeks for routine service and 2 to 3 weeks expedited, not counting mailing, which can add up to two weeks each way. Check the live processing times page before you book anything; times jump every spring.

• Online renewal through MyTravelGov works for many adults whose last passport was a 10-year adult book, issued in their current name. The State Department advises against it if you fly within about eight weeks. Start at travel.state.gov.
• Urgent travel within 14 days: call 1-877-487-2778 for an appointment at a passport agency, and bring proof of the trip.
• Children's passports last five years, need an in-person application, and normally need both parents. They expire before parents expect.

Kids traveling with one parent

None of the 18 countries requires a special form for a US-citizen child, but airlines and border officers everywhere ask questions when a child travels with one parent, grandparents or a group. US Customs and Border Protection recommends a signed consent letter from any parent who isn't traveling.

• The child's name, birth date and passport number, plus the traveling adult's
• Dates, destinations and flights, with the absent parent's signature, phone and a copy of their ID
• A notary stamp (optional, cheap and persuasive)
• The child's birth certificate if surnames differ; custody papers or a death certificate if relevant

Canada publishes a free consent letter form. Two countries are strict with their own citizens: a child who is also Mexican needs Mexico's notarized SAM form to leave Mexico without both parents, and a Dominican-citizen child needs notarized Spanish consent from the absent parent. Details are on the Mexico and Dominican Republic entry pages.

Dual citizens

US law requires US citizens to enter and leave the United States on a US passport, so show it at check-in for the flight home. Abroad, enter each country on its own passport:

• EU citizens (Italian, Irish, French and others) skip EES, ETIAS and the 90-day limit by traveling on the EU passport. Enter and leave Schengen on the same document.
• British citizens cannot get a UK ETA and are refused boarding on a US passport alone. Bring a valid British passport.
• Mexican and Dominican citizens (including US-born children registered as such) face the minor-exit rules above.
• Korean dual nationals, particularly men of military-service age, should check their status with a Korean consulate before traveling.