Visa requirements to American Samoa

We are trying to help a person who already works in the USA on a US work visa. From New Zealand, he will return to the USA via American Samoa.

Can he use the same work visa to enter American Samoa, in order to board a flight from Pago Pago to Honolulu to return to the US mainland to work? The person will be flying from New Zealand to Apia "Western" Samoa and then on to Pago Pago, but is NOT from a US visa-waiver eligible country.

Thanks

I went to the http://americansamoa.gov/ web page which linked me to http://www.amsamoatourism.com/ where it said "Visitors do not require an entry permit if staying 30 days or less."

"Visitors do not require an entry permit if staying 30 days or less."

Which is simply not true and never was. For example a visa (entry permit) is required from every citizen of the neighboring Independent Samoa (former Western Samoa).

And a US visa is not automatically a visa to American Samoa too. They have their own immigration regulations and they are very strict in that. A US Green Card, for example, is not enough.

Which passport does that person hold?

As in the 2nd reply.

I myself would have needed a visa for American Samoa, the application for which was never replied to by the authorities in Pago, so I ended up having to skip that country.

I intend to try entering AS coming from Samoa in December. Plan is take a ferry to Pago Pago and fly back to Apia. So, basically, the question "how do I enter AS with an EU (Irish) passport" can have 1000s of answers depending on who you ask to?

EU is not the point. Some EU countries, like H.ungary, where Laszlo comes from, are not on the 'waiver' list and their citizens need a visa; citizens of other EU member countries, like I.reland, are exempted. With an Irish passport you will not need a visa for a 30 days stay.

Edited by: wksamoa

I would assume exactly that.
But then I have a story to tell.
A few years ago, I was on a (short) RTW trip, including LA, HNL, both Samoas, Fiji, Hong Kong and back home.
In Honolulu, I tried to board a plane to PPG. I had then only my Brazilian passport (I am Brazilian, naturalized Irish), and obviously, a US visa. At check in, this woman from Hawaiian Airlines told me I needed a visa, which surprised me a lot. I told her I was airline staff (even if she would know that by my standby staff ticket), and no inexperienced traveller, and to my knowledge, AS was a US territory and therefore they should accept my US visa. But no talk, no complaining, nothing I did convinced the woman to let me travel, and I had to backtrack all the way to LAX (5 hs) and then down 10 hs to Fiji (10hs). I was quite sad not to see any of the Samoan islands, and had to stay 10 days in Fiji, which were nice but were not the plan.
It was obviously my fault, and it showed me I shouldn't ASSUME certain things. I knew nothing about a "separate Samoan immigration area" and that even Americans get checked when they arrive in the territory.
This time, I intend to come by boat, so the worst thing that could happen is me being deported back to Samoa.But I'll keep on trying to get hold of some local government organ in order to obtain something in written saying I can travel.
Oh wksamoa, and about "old" and "new" EU countries, Hungary is in the visa waiver program. Do you mean that despite that, they still get different treatment in AS than in the continental US? Not fair....

Again, the US waiver program has nothing to do with the AS waiver program. Some countries, like Ireland, are included in both, others, like Hungary, are not. Any American Samoan authority person will point out that you are not in America. For example, you cannot buy land as well as an American in American Samoa. It is another country, just governed by the USA. Same thing with France and her territories in the Pacific or whatever status they might have. Having the right to enter France does not mean at all that you have the right to enter there.

And don't worry - when you book your passage on the boat they already check your passport and if you will be allowed to enter AS. Otherwise they would not take you as otherwise they would have to pay a hefty fine. Just like the airlines.

In fact when I was there, the ticket office of the boat already had a list of the nationalities eligible for visa-free entry posted on its door, visible even from outside during off-hours. So nationalities who needed a visa couldn't even buy a ticket without one. Back then that list contained all those EU countries that were included in the US visa-waiver program (including "new" ones like Slovenia), however it seems that even though several countries (like mine) were added to that by the US itself later, American Samoa is slow to take notice and update its own list so the two are now different. It may not be "fair" but life is not always fair.

Hey guys, thanks, that makes me happy!! :-)