Passport changes proposed for travel to the US
The US government is considering a proposed piece of US legislation which if introduced will mean that all non-US visitors will need a visa to travel to the US unless biometric data (fingerprints and/or iris recognition) is included on their passport.
The proposed legislation calls for changes to the US Government’s ‘Visa Waiver programme’ that currently allows most UK citizens to enter the USA without the need to obtain a visa before travel.
In a statement released by The Visit USA Association, the organisation said that as the legislation has not yet passed both houses of Congress, there can only be speculation as to what Congress and the President (who would need to sign such legislation) would actually do.
Linda Richardson, Vice Chair of The Visit USA Association, said: “This legislation is one of many things under consideration by the US Government and no firm release has yet been issued. The Visit USA Association is fully supportive of any legislation that improves security for our member’s customers worldwide.
However, Ms Richardson added that there is some apprehension about the proposed legislation. She said: “Whilst there are bound to be many exceptions and provisos that may alter the introduction of this particular bill, we are however very concerned about how it might impact the UK travel market.”
If the draft legislation goes through without amendment, it would mean that anyone travelling to the US without a visa (under the Visa Waiver programme) after a certain date (currently foreseen as October 2003), must carry a passport that includes internationally accepted biometric data.
Currently, the UK, the United States and other countries worldwide are working towards an internationally accepted standard in biometrics. The Visit USA Association said that similar efforts took place years ago in adopting an international standard for machine-readable passports, which had been “very successful”, facilitating travel for legitimate travellers and filtering out those who would use passports for fraudulent ends.
Commenting on the proposed legislation, in the latest edition of ‘ABTA Today’, ABTA said: “ABTA is working closely with the Travel Industry Association of America and the Visit USA Committee to lobby the US Government, for while security issues are important, the new measures could have serious implications on tourism into the USA.”
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