Wellington  - New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark was relaxed Tuesday about reports that the United States was preparing to make visitors from her country register online three days before travel even though they do not need a visa.

"This has been in the pipeline for quite some time," she said when questioned about the move to be introduced next year at her weekly news conference.

Clark said the new restriction would apply to all countries which have negotiated visa waiver programmes with the US, under which their citizens are given automatic visas on arrival. Others have to apply for them in advance before leaving their home countries.

"Obviously it puts an extra step in the way of travelling to the US but then the US has been the subject of very serious terrorist attacks, so it's not surprising to us," she said.

Clark said the US administration was required by legislation passed by Congress to change the way it implemented the visa waiver programmes.

"I would think that in the overwhelming majority of cases it would be a mere formality, but one assumes the reason for seeking registration is that the US is likely to knock back some people from some countries who otherwise would have entered at the border," she said.

Keith Locke, human rights spokesman for the Green Party in parliament, was less relaxed, dubbing the move "bureaucracy gone mad in the name of the so-called war on terror."

"It's over the top and will cause innumerable problems for business people, Kiwi tourists making last-minute travel changes, and anyone rushing off to a funeral," he said.

"The Bush administration's anti-terrorist paranoia seems to have no bounds." (dpa)