PUBLIC AFFAIRS SECTION

Press Release

07 April 2005
Visa Waiver Program and Passports with Biometric Identifiers

Recent media reports may have left the mistaken impression that, from later this year, all UK citizens who currently travel to the U.S. visa-free under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) will be required to obtain a U.S. visa for such travel. This is not the case.

Under existing U.S. law, British passports issued on or after October 26, 2005 must contain biometric identifiers in order to qualify the bearer for visa-free travel on the VWP. Passports issued prior to October 26, 2005 are not affected by this deadline and continue to qualify the bearer for visa-free travel, so long as the passport is machine-readable. Passports issued on or after October 26, 2005, and which do not contain biometric identifiers, will fail to qualify the bearer for visa-free travel.

Journalists who have been following this story will recall that the initiative to encourage the issuance of passports containing biometric identifiers originated in the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, of which both the UK and the U.S. are leading members) a number of years ago. In order to improve U.S. border security for the benefit of both the American public and foreign visitors, the U.S. Congress ordered improved passport standards as part of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002. In response to the widespread concern in Britain and elsewhere that the October 26, 2004 deadline in the Act would be very difficult to meet, the Administration successfully lobbied Congress to extend the deadline by one year. Currently, it appears that some VWP nations will begin issuing passports with biometric identifiers by that new deadline, while others will not be able to meet it. The Administration is discussing the current state of VWP nations’ biometric programs with the U.S. Congress and we have made clear our concern about the current deadline.

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