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Topic: Biometric Passports & Visa Waiver  (Read 979 times)

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Biometric Passports & Visa Waiver
« on: January 09, 2004, 10:39:03 AM »
Heres an article from the US Embassy in London all about traveling to the US on the up-and-coming biometric passport requirements.

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/ukpa08jan04.html

Quote
The US and UK are, and will remain, the world's leading partners in the fight against international terrorism. A key part of our joint effort is a measure to ensure the safest, most efficient possible movement of people between our two countries. In the last 24 hours, a number of news organizations have carried stories about a law passed by the U.S. Congress concerning a future U.S. requirement for "biometric" chips in passports of persons using the Visa Waiver Program for travel to the U.S. These stories have raised some concerns on the part of the traveling public, in the tourism industry and elsewhere that need to be addressed.

First, we would like to confirm that the vast majority of UK citizens will continue to be eligible to travel to the U.S. visa free by using the Visa Waiver Program. The Visa Waiver Program allows approximately 4 million UK citizens to visit the U.S. each year.

The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2002 does require that all persons traveling visa free to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program have a biometric chip identifier in their passport by October 26, 2004. Those travelers who use passports issued after October 26, 2004, that do not contain a biometric identifier, will be required to obtain a U.S. visa. That visa will contain biometric information. Those UK travelers who use machine-readable passports lacking a biometric chip but issued before October 26, 2004 will be able to continue to use the Visa Waiver Program until that passport expires. The U.S. Government is aware of the concern among officials of Her Majesty's Government caused by this deadline. UK officials have made clear that they do not anticipate that they will be able to begin issuing passports with biometric chips by that date, raising the possibility that some UK citizens will need to obtain a tourist/business visa for travel to the U.S. We are old friends and long-time allies, and the U.S. Government remains committed to facilitating legitimate travel to the U.S. We will continue to work with Her Majesty's Government in pursuit of a solution to this problem.

The idea of biometric passports is not a new one. The standards for biometric travel documents are not set by the U.S. Government. They are set by international agreement through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ICAO members have agreed that the use of chip technology is the best way to produce biometric passports. U.S. legislation regarding international travel has always indicated that ICAO standards will apply. The requirements included in the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act are completely consistent with the steps that the U.S. and other nations have undertaken through the ICAO.

Events since September 11, 2001 have underlined the critically urgent need to ensure that passports and other international travel documents are not forged or used fraudulently. Biometrics are an incredibly useful tool for establishing that the person shown in the passport and the person carrying the passport are, in fact, the same person. The governments of the U.S. and the UK have the same objectives: ensuring that international travel is as safe and secure as we can possibly make it.


As far as I know UKCs holding US green cards that are machine readable as well as machine readable passports will not be too affected by the biometric requirements and should be able to travel to and from the US as normal until their UK passport expires at which point they should obtain a bio passport.

UKCs holding machine readable green cards and non machine readable passports might encounter a bit of hassle but should not be denied entry to the US.

If anyone has any more info on this Id love to hear it.

Sarah
Me (US/UK), DH (UK/US), DD (US/UK)
US > UK (2001, 3 years) > US (2004, 16 years) > UK (coming soon)

Specialist in UK > US Immigration via Direct Consular Filing (DCF), Founder of Dive Into America (2003-2020)


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Re: Biometric Passports & Visa Waiver
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2004, 09:01:35 AM »
Slightly off-topic ...

From 5th January, equipment was installed at all US airports to photograph and fingerprint non US citizens at entry to the USA; I flew in to Minneapolis in late January and although the equipment was there on every non-US booth, I was not asked to place a finger on the fingerprint machine (I travel on a UK passport).  Whether a picture was taken ... I have no way of knowing.   And yet, on our previous trip to the USA over Christmas the TV stations were full of reports that "all non-US citizens will be fingerprinted".

I would suspect that there's a lot of hype about the bio-metrics and that in practise it will take longer to come in and may not be applied to all nationalities - at least at first.  I can see that the US president and his team want to show that they're taking security seriously, but I doubt that they would bring in a system that would cripple - let us say - the UK tourist business to Orlando - without mighty good cause. Think of the votes lost.

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Re: Biometric Passports & Visa Waiver
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2004, 06:20:20 PM »
I posted to this elsewhere but just wanted to further clarify that at this time UK citizens with machine readable passports will not be required to be fingerprinted.  If your passport as a little strip and is newer you should have no problem. If however you have a passport that is older it may not be machine readable.

These rules are of course subject to change as the Dept. of Homeland Security looks into the problems caused by people like the lovely shoe bomber who would have not been fingerprinted as he had a UK passport. :-/
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