js:
I think it's highly unlikely you would be delayed. Recent changes for Mexico/Canada travel were announced a year ahead of time. Watch the news so you can apply if and when you hear requirements have changed.

If you like, you could contact the State Dept or your Senator's office shortly before departure to make sure you didn't miss an announcement.

I think most posters here don't understand what is really happening. The US government asks travellers from Europe to send sensitive information like passport numbers and creditcard numbers through the intenet. And the European governments will do the same. Can you accept that? I don't think so.

Among things the US government CURRENTLY needs to know - and keep for 15 years - are

Information about the passenger: name; address; date of birth; passport number; citizenship; sex; country of residence; US visa number (plus date and place issued); address while in the US; telephone numbers; e-mail address; frequent flyer miles flown; address on frequent flyer account; the passenger's history of not showing up for flights

Information about the booking of the ticket: date of reservation; date of intended travel; date ticket was issued; travel agency; travel agent; billing address; how the ticket was paid for (including credit card number); the ticket number; which organisation issued the ticket; whether the passenger bought the ticket at the airport just before the flight; whether the passenger has a definite booking or is on a waiting list; pricing information; a locator number on the computer reservation system; history of changes to the booking

Information about the flight itself: seat number; seat information (eg aisle or window); bag tag numbers; one-way or return flight; special requests, such as requests for special meals, for a wheelchair, or help for an unaccompanied minor

Information about the passenger's itinerary: other flights ticketed separately, or data on accommodation, car rental, rail reservations or tours.

Information about other people: the group the passenger is travelling with; the person who booked the ticket

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5390074.stm

"the 9/11 terrorists had visas"

true.. but that was at a time when it was not necessary to go IN PERSON to get one as a student.

NOW student visas (all??) are applied for IN PERSON. This is the big difference, which the government hopes will deter a possible terrorists from applying, and they hope to recognize falsified visas.

if these new measures delay acts even for a few months until more and more info and surveillence can be acheieved, fine with me.

let´s face it. we are faced with road blocks consistently now with the terrorists very actively moving around spain. this is inconvenient, but seems necessary.

an impromptu roadblock just dettered one today.

he was in a taxi on the way to blow something up, saw the roadblock and asked the drive to pull over. he jumped out of the car and left the sport bag of explosives on the seat.

he is now lost among the 1,000´s of young music followers attending week long outdoor concerts in the area.

my concern is that i fear many of these very bad people are already in place.. they don´t need visas to go anywhere because they are already there.

I just think that most of our methods wind up penalizing normal people, while not really adding to our safety.

Does anyone honestly believe that a smart, determined terrorist would have a problem getting past the visa issue? Or that it would help us track them? The US didn't even know about the terrorist doctors in the UK that tried to blow up those nightclubs, yet a few of them were about to come over here.

The only thing that visa nonsense is going to do is mess up the travel plans of normal people with inflexible travel dates. Terrorists who have lots of time on their hands and who can come up with fake IDs won't have a problem beating it.