Visa Waiver Program

MACHINE-READABLE PASSPORT REQUIREMENT

From October 26, 2005, travelers from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries with passports issued on or after that date, and wishing to travel to the U.S. visa-free, must have a machine-readable passport with a digital photo or integrated chip. Travelers whose passports do not meet this biometric requirement will need to obtain a valid U.S. visa for admission into the United States. It is possible that France and Italy will not meet this October 26 deadline. Note that VWP travelers with passports issued prior to that date are not subject to biometric passport requirements.

As announced by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in June, there are no further requirements for machine-readable passports issued before 26 October 2005. But machine-readable passports issued between 26 October 2005 and 26 October 2006 will require a digital photograph integrated into the data page or an integrated chip containing information from the data page. Finally, machine-readable passports issued on or after 26 October 2006 will require an integrated chip with information from the data page (e-passport). Please note that official and diplomatic passports, as well as temporary or emergency passports, will not be subject to the requirements outlined above.

Please consult the U.S. Department of State web-site at http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html for further details, and see the Department of Homeland Security web-site for the latest information at http://www.dhs.gov/.