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Integrity Legal

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15th May 2016

Biometric Passports and Changes to the US Visa Waiver Program

Posted by : admin

It recently came to this blogger’s attention that those attempting to travel to the United States on the Visa Waiver Program may find themselves being denied  admission to the USA due to the fact they do not have a biometric passport (also known as an electronic passport or an e-passport). A recent posting on the official website of the United States Customs and Border Protection service notes that as of April 1, 2016 those traveling to the USA without a biometrically encoded electronic passport will be denied entry to the United States.

In most countries, electronic passports have been in wide use for some time, but some older travel documents and those issued by certain countries may not have the biometric chip. Therefore, one should look at one’s passport and use the link above to decipher whether or not one’s passport has biometric encoding and therefore complies with recently issued rules and regulations.

It should be noted that the visa waiver program requires that most travelers traveling to the USA on a waiver utilize the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (or ESTA) before they travel to the USA. In a way ESTA is a sort of pre-travel authorization although not a visa per se.


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