Passports – A UK Lifeline
As the deadline of October 26 2005 approaches for Britain to comply with the United States directive to issue passports containing a biometric element in order to retain Visa waiver status, a lifeline has appeared.
British authorities have already stated that they do not expect to meet the deadline, although they are anticipating issuing the new passports by the end of the year. The United States are reluctant to push the deadline back again because of the costs involved, but at a recent press conference the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Janie Jacobs stated that citizens from any of the 27 visa waiver countries with an existing machine readable passport would be "grandfathered in" until the passport expires. Anyone travelling on a new passport issued after 26th October 2005 without a biometric element would need to apply for a visa.
Posted on 3 March 2005
