visa waiver questions, can anyone help?

[karentan]

hi
i'm flying out on the 11th november for my wedding and as my passport runs out 5 months and 21 days after we get back (apparently you need at least 6 months), i've had to get a new passport
i read somewhere that passports issued after october 2004 aren't eligible for the visa waiver programme, but there is no mention of this on the VWP section of the US embassy site.
does anyone know if i do need a visa or if i can still use the VWP?
and is there a limit on how early you can apply?

thanks guys

 

[Goofyish]

Don't panic !!! Passports only need to be valid 90 days from the day of travel to the US (this is because you can only stay for 90 days or less on the visa waiver program).

This is from the Passport Agenct site:
The United States Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) is available to British Citizens holding a valid machine-readable passport and travelling to the US on business, pleasure or transit for 90 days or less.

Effective October 26, 2004 U.S. law requires that each Visa Waiver Program (VWP) traveller present a machine-readable passport (MRP) or obtain a non-immigrant visa.

However, in order to facilitate the legitimate travel of visitors who may be unaware of this deadline, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has granted discretionary authority to immigration officials at U.S. ports of entry. This authority allows officials to grant a one-time exemption of the MRP requirement.

• The MRP requirement had previously been scheduled to go into effect last year, but was delayed to October 26, 2004 to give travellers additional time to obtain MRPs.
• In the interest of facilitating travel, the Department of Homeland Security´s Customs and Border Protection Bureau (CBP) has given officials at ports of entry the discretionary authority to grant one-time exemptions on a case-by-case basis to VWP travellers without a visa or MRP.
• CBP officials may grant these exemptions to travellers not posing a threat to the United States, including, among others, those who may not have known about the MRP requirement, children travelling on family passports, diplomats and officials without a non-machine readable passport and travelling for tourism, those with non-MRP emergency passports, and those with a non-machine readable passport departing on cruises with multiple stops at U.S. ports.
• There will be no fee for processing individual exemptions. Those granted the one-time exemption will be informed that they need to obtain an MRP or visa for subsequent visits or risk being refused entry.
• These exemptions are discretionary and the authority to grant them is short-term in nature. Please note that the British Government have no authority over the discretion used by US officials in these cases.
• Travellers planning side trips to Canada, Mexico or adjacent islands (except per above, those on cruise ships) should note that the one-time exemption may not permit them to re-enter the United States following their side trip.

Please find below further information about machine-readable passports:

All British passports currently issued in the UK or at British Missions overseas are machine-readable. However, some older passports may not be machine-readable. Before travelling to the US and seeking entry under the VWP, you should check that your current passport is machine-readable. If it is not, the likelihood is that you will not qualify for entry to the USA under the VWP on that passport after 26 October 2004.

To help you carry out this check, a British passport is machine readable when there are two lines of letters, numbers and chevrons (“>>>>>”) printed across the long edge of the personal information page (the page with photograph and personal details). The machine-readable text will appear on a white strip on older passports and directly on the pink page of newer passports. If there are no such lines of text on the personal information page, the passport is not machine-readable.

Biometric Passports:
US law originally required that travellers under the Visa Waiver Programme carrying passports issued after 26 October 2004 would need to hold biometric passports. The President has agreed a one-year deferral of this requirement, to October 2005.

 

[karentan]

problem, ive already sent off my old passort in order to gget me new one issued.
also it says that you need biometric passports, dont think the UK are issuing these at the mo, so will my passport be accepted?

 

[Cherb]

Fear not. The rules on the US and UK passport websites says the the requirement to have applied for a passport before Oct2004 to be allowed to use the Visa Waiver Program has been extended until Oct2005.