U.S Puts Passport Rules On Hold

[jjcollins]

Plans to introduce tough new requirements for travellers entering the United States, due to start October 1, have been put on hold for twelve months.

The new regulations, part of anti-terrorism measures, apply to travelers from Western European and other developed countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Brunei, whose nationals do not require visas to enter the US.

Under the new regulations, travelers must be in possession of machine-readable passports which can be scanned at airports and other points of entry.

The postponement has been ordered by the US State Department after it was discovered that some of the 27 countries involved do not have the new-style passports.

To avoid problems at US airports next month, the authorities have informed the countries involved that they now have a further year to make the new identity documents available.

One exception to the rule is Belgium, which already enforces its own machine-readable passport rules as part of its security requirements.



Have they come to their senses



jj........

 

[janedo]

so does this mean that dds can go on dh's passport after all?

 

[jjcollins]

Not sure Jane thats all the info i have sorry.



jj.........

 

[uktigger]

hi
i was just about to get my 2 ds's passports this month(because of the change they are on mine till 08)quess i'll wait a while just in case we will not need to change them
is there anyone that might know

eve

 

[Sue & Co.]

The American Embassy have a link form their site where you can post queries and they reply in 24 hours, you might want to try that. they also have a page with the current passport/visa requirements which might have the answer. There is also that fact that people were going to have to have more complete addresses/phone no's which might be affected.
Our DS and DD's already have their own passports luckily so we didn't need to worry about that particular aspect.

 

[Mike Jones]

... I'd get the kids on their own passports as soon as possible, just in case the US change their mind at a short notice. We plan to do this regardless of current opinions, just to be on the safe side. Can you imagine trying to explain to your child why they can't go to Disneyworld once they've arrived at the UK airport... or worse, landed in Orlando?!! Take no chances... it will cost about £20 per child... virtually nothing in the scale of the entire holiday.

 

[Celestine]

UNPRINTABLE WORD! I bought new passports for us as ours were not machine readable as issued at a foreign mission when DH was in the forces. They still had 7 years on them & I forked out £80 that could have been spent on goodies. Typically, if I had waited to get the passports the rule wouldn't have changed.