VisaAmerican Samoa visitors must choose between online permits and local sponsorship
Current guidance distinguishes the territory’s visitor categories, application lead times and conflicting extension information before travellers book a longer stay.
Official source date: 2026-10-30
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Territorial permission remains a separate travel step
Visitors planning American Samoa journeys should select their territorial entry category before booking a final itinerary. The Department of Legal Affairs maintains separate procedures for eligible holders of United States immigration documents, certain passport holders, sponsored visitors and qualifying Samoa-born travellers. This is a current procedural guide checked on 30 October 2026, rather than an announcement of a newly introduced visa requirement.
The American Samoa Visitors Bureau explains that entry requirements differ from those for the mainland United States. Its visitor table directs foreign travellers to apply at least seventy-two hours in advance, excluding weekends and holidays. A valid United States visa may help identify the appropriate territorial application route; it should not be treated as the territorial permit itself. Travellers connecting through another jurisdiction must also establish that they can complete that separate transit.
The online thirty-day route requires evidence of eligibility
The Legal Affairs US Visa / Waiver 30-Day Visitor Permit page covers travellers with a valid United States visa or green card, and citizens of a United States visa-waiver country. Its checklist requires identification valid for at least six months after departure, a round-trip ticket within thirty days, confirmed accommodation or verification of the family home, and a local telephone contact. The stated non-refundable application charge is US$40.
Use the application link on that departmental page after assembling these documents. The department says applications submitted too late may not be processed and describes a three-business-day pre-travel submission requirement. Obtain clarification about the intended submission date if a weekend or holiday affects the calculation. Approval arrives by email and must be presented on arrival. This particular thirty-day permit cannot be extended, so a visitor expecting a longer stay needs to resolve the correct category before departure.
Other visitors need an eligible sponsor to apply in person
The Non-US 30-Day Visitor Permit page provides the alternative for people without the qualifying visa, waiver status or green card. A local sponsor must apply in person. The department requires that sponsor to be at least twenty-one and a United States citizen or national. Sponsor identification, a signed application and evidence of the landowner’s consent are required; communal-land arrangements need the specified family chief and village mayor signatures.
Traveller documents include identification, a round-trip ticket, police clearance and, for a minor travelling without a parent, notarised parental or guardian consent with a birth certificate. The stated fee is US$40, with applications submitted three to five business days before travel. The sponsor sends the approved document to the traveller, who must carry it. Unlike the online category, the department says a one-time thirty-day extension may be requested for US$50. Requesting an extension does not establish that it has been granted.
The Samoa-born route has a shorter non-extendable stay
The separate Samoa 10-Day Visitor Permit page requires both birth in Samoa and citizenship with a Samoa-issued passport. A passport alone does not establish all those conditions. Its checklist specifies identification valid six months beyond departure, a return journey within ten days, accommodation evidence, a local telephone contact and a US$10 non-refundable payment. Applications use the departmental online link, with the same stated three-business-day pre-travel requirement.
That ten-day permission cannot be extended. For example, a qualifying Samoa-born passport holder planning a two-week family visit should resolve an appropriate longer category before travel rather than purchase a ten-day permit and expect extra days after arrival. This illustration does not establish individual eligibility. Samoa and American Samoa have separate immigration procedures, so permission issued by one administration should not be assumed to settle entry to the other.
Resolve conflicting fee and extension information before payment
The Visitors Bureau table displays current fees alongside higher amounts labelled as coming soon, without giving a commencement date. It also marks the sponsored thirty-day category as non-extendable, while Legal Affairs expressly describes a paid extension request. This discrepancy matters for anyone arranging sixty days: obtain confirmation from Immigration before relying on the longer itinerary. The published departmental pages support the current amounts above, not an assumed effective date for the proposed prices.
Travellers should use the contact details on their specific Legal Affairs permit page to resolve category, timing or extension questions and retain the answer with their application. Immigration may refuse admission despite a permit, including where the application was untimely or exclusion history applies. The Bureau also distinguishes permitted short business and tourism activities from employment, degree-credit study and residency applications; visitor permission should not be used to assume those additional rights.
