US Visitor Visa. October 2005

[Davros]

Has anybody got any information on how things are going to change for UK residents travelling to the USA after October 2005?

 

[Queenie]

As far as I know it just means that if you want to travel to the USA, you will have to go down to London and apply in person for a Visa at the US Embassy (it will cost around £100 I've been told.) However I was under the impression that the Visa thing came into play in October 2004? Have they put the date back or something?

 

[wicket2005]

There is another on going thread about this subject if you have a look through the recent titles. As far as I understand it, you will need to get a visa if your passport is dated after this date. If you already have a passport you can still travel under the visa waiver scheme if it is a machine readable one.

 

[JANNYANS]

this is from the us emabassy site 7th april


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.


http://www.usembassy.org.uk/ukpa07apr05.html

 

[steve_rob]

So basically what they are saying is that the only people who will be affected are people whose passports expire / need renewing between October 2005 and whenever the UK starts producing biometric passports (rumoured to be Spring 2006).

Luckily mine expires early 2007, otherwise I'd be looking to get mine renewed now. I certainly wouldn't want to be queuing up at the US Embassy for a visa every time I wanted to fly to the States for the next 10 years.

 

[wendye]

So basically what they are saying is that the only people who will be affected are people whose passports expire / need renewing between October 2005 and whenever the UK starts producing biometric passports (rumoured to be Spring 2006).

Luckily mine expires early 2007, otherwise I'd be looking to get mine renewed now.

I intend renewing mine early because we go next July (2006) and to be honest I think the biometric passports are likely to cost considerably more. My passport runs out December 2006 so I will lose about 5 months if I send it off in August this year. I've got to renew my son's passport anyway since he only had a 5 year one.

I certainly wouldn't want to be queuing up at the US Embassy for a visa every time I wanted to fly to the States for the next 10 years.

I thought a visa lasted 10 years once it had been granted! This being the case you would only have to do this the once.

 

[carolfoy]

You can carry over up to 9 months of an existing passport onto a new one, so yes get it renewed before october!

 

[alisonbestford]

I thought a visa lasted 10 years once it had been granted! This being the case you would only have to do this the once.

Not necessarily.
I've read on the boards where people have been issued one for a year

 

[wendye]

Hi Alison

Have a look on www.holidaytruths.co.uk it tells you all about it on there - the one year visa are issued to people who may not be eligible for the visa waiver programme for one reason or another (possibly have been arrested for something minor) or at least that's how I understand it. They have a special section on passport queries etc in the America forum.

Btw I see you're in Sheffield - so am I! Small world.

Wendy

 

[alisonbestford]

Hi Wendy,
I wondered if that might be the case with the visas.
DH's passport expires Feb 2007 - I was trying to decide earlier whether to renew it in the summer but, even with the 9 month carry over, we'd lose 9 months on the new one
I guess it depends how long it takes for the passport office to get the Biometric passports sorted - theoretically they should be around when it's time to re-new but you never know!
Problem is that DH's health isn't good enough to go through the process of queueing at the Embassy, and all else that it entails, so the US may well be off the holiday destination list after next year
Yep, we're in sunny Sheffield - in Hillsborough

 

[steve_rob]

I thought a visa lasted 10 years once it had been granted! This being the case you would only have to do this the once.

Perhaps it does, I'm not sure. The only visa I've ever had to apply for was one for a trip to Australia, and as that was only valid for 12 months, I assumed all countries were like that.

It didn't make too much difference for Oz, because that was only a once in a lifetime trip, whereas it would for a US visa as we try to go there at least once a year.

 

[patdavies]

The visa lasts as long as the US Embassy allow. There is no set time, but the maximum is 10 years. However, some people only get a few weeks.

 

[alisonbestford]

Well, I can't speak for anyone else but it seems to me that, if we don't organise BioMetric passports soon, the US is going to lose an awful lot of British custom!
I can't see that many people being prepared to queue at the Embassy for hours on end, and have to cough up even more cash to go on holiday, just because the passport office, or whoever, can't keep a deadline

 

[steve_rob]

Well, I can't speak for anyone else but it seems to me that, if we don't organise BioMetric passports soon, the US is going to lose an awful lot of British custom!
I can't see that many people being prepared to queue at the Embassy for hours on end, and have to cough up even more cash to go on holiday, just because the passport office, or whoever, can't keep a deadline

Which is why the US Embassy in London (and I guess a lot of other cities as well) has been apparently leading the campaign to get Congress to issue another year's delay. I guess the embassy staff realise the value of UK tourism to the States, plus they don't really want to deal with queues stretching down the street for visas every morning!

 

[alisonbestford]

Well, fingers crossed they'll sort it

We have friends in Orlando who said they'd already noticed fewer UK visitors since the new measures were enforced.

 

[wendye]

Well unless they take the decision to extend before August I'm going to renew mine early - I only lose 5 months so I'm not bothered DH's passport expires some time in 07 (remember what month) if that is early we might do his too. To be honest as much as I would love to go back to the US after 06 I doubt if we will be able to afford it for at least 3/4 minimum as we will have my daughter's university fees to pay from 07 for part of that year's tuition and the following year. After that it will be my son's turn (assuming he get the grades) although I'm not sure how it will work with this new system of fees (but I still think they shouldn't have to pay, however I'll not digress). So I think we are more likely to be going to europe but we'll get back again some time. We just had to have next year as a special one though.