Visa Waiver Program

Extension of 10/26/04 deadline for Biometric requirement only

On Monday August 9, 2004, President Bush signed into law HR 4417 which grants a one-year extension of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) biometric passport deadline. The new deadline of October 26, 2005 will allow countries another year to produce tamper-proof, biometrically enabled passports.

This legislation does not affect the requirement that as of 10/26/04 Visa Waiver Program travelers must present a machine-readable passport (MRP). The machine-readable passport and the biometric requirements are different. The MRP requirement is universal and applies to all VWP travelers entering the U.S. visa-free beginning October 26. Passports that are not machine readable will not be valid for VWP travel, and VWP nationals will need to either replace their non-machine readable passports with MRPs or obtain a U.S. visa.