visa question please HELP!!!

[lorapinky]

Hi we booked our upcoming trip last april, and we are going in just over 4 weeks!

When we booked we were told that if we had a 10 year passport before october 2004 we would not need a visa! As we both had one already that doesnt run out until 2011 we were told by our travel agent that we would not need to get a visa!

The travel agent is confident we dont need one but i just thought it best to ask you guys! So what do you think,will i be ok?

 

[wilma-bride]

As long as you have a machine-readable passport, you don't need a visa. Your passport should also have, ideally, 6 months left from the date you return to UK.

 

[Goofyish]

You do not need a visa as long as you are eligable for the visa waiver program (i.e. not been arrested), and your passports are machine readable (i.e. have the <<<<<>>>>>> with a load of numbers on the bottom of the photo page).

I believe the deadline for the UK going over to the new biometric passports has been extended for another year.

 

[angel659]

what happens if it does go biometric does this mean we can not use the visa waiver programme and have to get a visa before we travel? If so I have heard you have to book an interview and costs a lot. Surely they would not have time to interview everyone who intends to go.

 

[Goofyish]

When the biometric passports come in your existing passport will be valid until it expires and so you will still be eligable for the visa waiver program.

So if you have less than a year left on your current passport it may be worth getting it renewed to save the hassle of getting a biometric one for the next 10 years

 

[angel659]

Sorry I am being really stupid here. So when they change all the machine readable to biometric you will have to get a visa before you can fly to USA. I heard you had to have an interview if your passport isnt machine readable. My passport runs out in 2007. I am applying for my childrens and my dh tonight so we can get the readable passports for them. My passport doesnt run out for a while. I am just missing the point because I have heard we all have to attend interviews in London for Visas to the USA. Is this correct? I am really confused, as I have heard so many stories now I dont know.

 

[Goofyish]

As far as I am aware, when they introduce the biometric passports you will still be able to travel to the USA on the visa waiver program, as you will if you have a valid non-biometric passport.

Here's the latest waffle from the UK Passport site:

If you are a British traveller planning a trip to the USA from 26 June 2005, you need to check that your passport is machine-readable.

From this date anyone who does not have their own machine-readable passport, including children on a parent´s passport, will need to apply for one or obtain a visa to travel to the US. Up until now this requirement, originally introduced on 26 October 2004, has not been rigidly enforced by the US authorities. This approach will end on 26 June.

So how do you know if your passport is machine-readable?

There are two lines of letters, numbers and ´>´s printed at the bottom of the personal information page (the page with photograph and personal details). The text will be on a white strip on older machine-readable passports and directly on the pink page of newer passports. If there are no lines of text, the passport is not machine-readable.

Anyone without their own machine-readable passport - including children - will need
a Visa to travel to the US.

The US Department of Homeland Security announced, on 15 June, a one-year extension of its Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) to 26 October 2006.

VWP countries, including the UK, are required to have a biometric passport issuing system in place by 26 October 2006 in order to continue as members of the Programme and benefit from visa free travel to the US after that date.

The US also announced a requirement that all new passports issued on or after 26 October 2005 must contain a digital photo image to enable the holder to travel to the USA visa free. This does not affect the UK as we have been issuing digital passports since 1998.

This means that:

British citizens with machine-readable passports containing a digital photo image will not require a visa to visit the USA because they meet the criteria of the 26 October 2005 VWP deadline.

British citizens with machine-readable passports but without a digital photo will still be able to visit the USA visa free until the 26 October 2006 as their passport was issued before the 26 October 2005 deadline.

British citizens without a machine-readable passport must obtain a machine-readable passport or apply for a US visa before visiting the USA.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and UK Passport Service (UKPS) welcome the US decision. It will now enable the UK to finalise the developments of our biometric programme and allows British visitors to continue to visit the US visa free.

Further information is available at www.fco.gov.uk/travel and www.usembassy.org.uk

 

[disneyholic family]

sure glad i have a US passport.....
by the way, do they take your picture and fingerprint at MCO and Sanford too?
we come in through JFK...

 

[mushumadness]

hiya

yes we had our eyes and fingers done last december at mco

what happens this year? do they get scanned again

 

[patdavies]

what happens this year? do they get scanned again

Yes. Every time you enter the USA.

 

[angel659]

Hi

Thanks for that info I understand it now. I was pancing even though I was going this year, it was more because I am applying for passports this week. I wasnt sure if they would produce the correct passport. Thanks

 

[vabeth]

I'm planning on going Nov 2006 - after the October deadline - so what happens then? I have a machine readable passport, renewed the beginning of this year, but am finding this very confusing!!! Will i need an interview, visa ect? Got over a year to go yet but this has put me in a panic!!!

 

[patdavies]

Vabeth,

Your passport will be fine for the VWP until its expiry date.

It is only passport issued after October that need to be biometric

 

[tink too]

Referencing the biometric details taken when you arrive in the USA - this is only done at your initial point of entry.

We flew to MCO via Chicago in December 2004 so our finger scans, etc were done in Chicago only. The onward flight to MCO was classed as an internal flight so we didn't have to do all that again (BTW it only took about 30 seconds each to do this anyway!)

FYI - they don't scan children under 14 years old either (which is a total gift if you have sleeping babies/toddlers while going through immigration, believe me!)