Make sure that your passport covers the period of your stay. Immigration officials are particularly hard on visitors who outstay their passport expiry date. You may find yourself having an unpleasant conversation, which could be long enough to make you miss your flight. Worse still, you may be refused future entry into the States.

If you do inadvertently overrun the expiry date, go to the nearest Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with evidence and, preferably, an American citizen to support you when you state that you haven't been working illegally. You can find the addresses of the local INS under 'Federal Government Offices' at the front of phone books.

VISA Requirements

If you are a citizen of Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or most European countries you do not need a visa to enter the US for a stay of less than 90 days, as long as you have an onward ticket.

You will, however, have to fill in a visa waiver form (given to you on the plane) which will ask you where you are staying on your first night and your intended departure date from the US. You should be able to give evidence that you can support yourself while in the country and you will be asked questions about your health (mainly HIV, AIDS and TB). The form will be processed on your arrival and will be attached to your passport. Do not remove it. It also covers you if you wish to travel into Canada or Mexico.
If you wish to stay for longer than 90 days, you should apply to the US Embassy for a free tourist visa. U.S.A. Immigration Services www.usais.org should be able to answer any further queries you may have.

Customs Regulations

While you are on the plane you will be given a customs declaration form which you must fill in before you pass customs control. You may be asked questions such as whether you have visited a farm in the previous few weeks and could be asked to hand in your shoes (presumably to guard against foot and mouth, BSE and other pestilential British diseases!).

There are one or two quirks in US customs regulations. You may not, for instance, bring in anything produced in Cambodia, Cuba, Iraq, Libya or North Korea. Fresh foods are also prohibited. Absinthe, liquor-filled sweets, lottery tickets, narcotics and dangerous drugs, obscene articles and publications, hazardous articles (e.g., fireworks, dangerous toys, toxic or poisonous substances) and products made by convicts or forced labour are all among the items which cannot be brought into the US. Anyone found in possession is liable to be prosecuted and face a lifelong ban from entering the country.

Duty-free allowance into the US is 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars.

For more information on what is and is not legal, visit American Embassy London www.usembassy.org.uk