(Adds comment of US ambassador to Malta)
The United States wants to increase the number of countries enjoying visa-free entry after opening the door to citizens from six new European Union countries and South Korea and it was possible that Malta would be in the programme before the end of the year.
From Monday, travellers from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, as well as South Korea, will be allowed to travel to the United States without a visa provided they fill in a form on the Internet.
Washington is continuing talks with EU countries not yet in the visa waiver programme -- Poland, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta and Romania.
"It is our objective to admit additional countries before the change of U.S. administration," said Jackie Bednarz, a Department of Homeland Security official at the US Mission to the EU.
US ambassador to Malta Molly Bordonaro affirmed that all agreements outlined in a memorandum of understanding signed in April had been completed.
She said: “Malta has made great progress and is on track to joining the Visa Waiver Program,” adding that “we feel Malta will be in the VWP possibly by the end of the year.”
The visa waiver programme includes a further 27 countries, including EU states, Australia, Japan and Singapore.
From January 12, citizens from all countries in the programme will be required to register online ahead of travelling to the United States by air or sea.
If the so-called Electronic System Travel Authorisation is refused, a traveller will need to apply for a visa. Bednarz said a pilot project showed an approval rate of 99.6 percent.
The new US requirement is the latest in an overhaul of US travel regulations since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
On the online form, the traveller must give his name and travel information, and state whether he has a communicable disease, is a drug abuser, has already been denied a US visa, or "is seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities".
The online registration at www.cbp.gov/esta is similar to the paper form that travellers from visa-free countries now fill in aboard the plane and hand to border control on arrival in the United States.
A European Commission official said the EU executive was yet to decide whether it considered that the new system was equivalent to reintroducing a visa for European citizens travelling visa-free to the United States.
A US official insisted this was not a visa.
The online form is free but it has not been ruled out that a fee could be applied at some point, the US official said.