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US delays new passport requirements for visa-waiver countries
New York, Sept 25: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has granted requests from 21 countries to delay for one year a requirement that their citizens hold machine-readable passports to enter the United States without a visa.
New York, Sept 25: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has granted requests from 21 countries to delay for one year a requirement that their citizens hold machine-readable
passports to enter the United States without a visa.
Powell "has granted a postponement until October 26,
2004, as the date by which visa waiver programme travellers
from 21 countries must present a machine-readable passport at
a US port of entry to be admitted to the country without a
visa," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said
yesterday.
"Each country to which this postponement was granted made a formal request and certified that it is making progress toward ensuring that machine readable passports are available to its nationals and that it has taken appropriate measures to protect against misuse of its non-machine-readable passports," he said in a statement.
The countries receiving the postponement are Australia, austria, britain, denmark, finland, france, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, he said.
Five other countries in the visa waiver programme -- Andorra, Brunei, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Slovenia -- did not request the delay "because virtually all of their citizens already have machine-readable passports," Boucher said.
As of October 1, citizens of those countries must present a machine-readable passport if they wish to enter the United States without a visa.
"Each country to which this postponement was granted made a formal request and certified that it is making progress toward ensuring that machine readable passports are available to its nationals and that it has taken appropriate measures to protect against misuse of its non-machine-readable passports," he said in a statement.
The countries receiving the postponement are Australia, austria, britain, denmark, finland, france, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, he said.
Five other countries in the visa waiver programme -- Andorra, Brunei, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Slovenia -- did not request the delay "because virtually all of their citizens already have machine-readable passports," Boucher said.
As of October 1, citizens of those countries must present a machine-readable passport if they wish to enter the United States without a visa.
Bureau Report