Techniques to efficiently search for a WLAN are described. A terminal receives country information from a wireless wide area network (WWAN), which may be a cellular network or a broadcast network. This country information may be a Mobile Country Code (MCC) that is broadcast by the WWAN. The MCC identifies the country in which the WWAN is deployed. The terminal then performs active scan for a WLAN based on the country information received from the WWAN. For the active scan, the terminal determines a frequency channel and a transmit power level based on the country information. The terminal then transmits a probe request on the frequency channel and at the transmit power level determined based on the country information. The terminal may perform passive scan and/or active scan in accordance with a scan setting.