Biometric Deadline – Delayed Again?
Hot on the heels of last months discovery that “citizens from any of the 27 visa waiver countries with an existing machine readable passport would be "grandfathered in" until the passport expires” comes a further possibility.
The Washington Post of 15th March carries a report of the joint immigration and terrorism subcommittees of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Elaine Dezenski, acting assistant secretary for border and transportation security policy and planning, told the panel that the Department for Homeland Security would probably not meet the October 26 2005 deadline for requiring that Visa Waiver countries comply with the United States directive to issue passports containing a biometric element in order to retain that status. The Department is apparently having difficulties in choosing the machines necessary to read the new passports, and currently only two of the 27 visa waiver countries are on target to meet the deadline. However, while we might reasonably expect another extension, we must not expect an early announcement of the same. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Californian Democrat, was personally responsible for delaying the last extension until absolutely necessary, and has already threatened to do the same again – if only to continue to force compliance with the directive, rather than complacency from the countries involved.
Posted on 15 March 2005
