U.S. Visa Waiver Program

I read from Ana's Blog about South Korea being recently included in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. I also heard about this talks before while watching late night news program at SBS, I didn't know that it'll be implemented this early. Koreans can now enter U.S. (are the territories included?) without visa provided that they'll use the new electronic passport... Wait, did I just say 'electronic passport'? What's that? I'm intrigued.

I remember my sister going through a hard time preparing for her U.S. trip last month. She was in a major rush preparing documents, getting her passport renewed, purchasing her tickets, and preparing for the interview. I think she did all that in less than two weeks. My mother felt relieved when we finally took her to Centennial Airport. Imagine, if the Philippines like South Korea be included in the program... it'll be a hassle-free trip for her and also, she wouldn't have to pay the Visa application fee which was quite expensive.

I can't help but think that the U.S. government is earning big amount of money through that Visa application fee since a lot of pinoys are applying for visa every single day regardless whether it will be approved or denied.