Washington -- Most countries participating
in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) met the October 26 deadline
to begin issuing electronic passports to their citizens,
according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The new electronic passport, or e-Passport,
facilitates travel by helping to prevent fraud and terrorism,
while protecting the identity and privacy of the bearer,
say U.S. experts.
Electronic passports bear the international
e-Passport symbol on the cover and are equipped with an
integrated circuit or “chip” on which the passport
holder’s biographic information is encoded digitally
and a biometric identifier such as a digital photograph.
The United States began issuing e-Passports to its citizens
in August. (See related article.)
The e-Passport is one part of a larger plan
unveiled by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
in January to ensure the use of the best new technologies
and most efficient processes to improve border security,
while facilitating travel and welcoming visitors to the
United States. (See related article.)
“The United States is a welcoming
country, encouraging citizens from all over the world to
visit, study, and do business,” a fact sheet on the
Rice-Chertoff joint vision says. “While security remains
paramount, we will ensure that the experience of travelers
reflects this welcoming spirit – and shows that the
United States is open to business travelers, tourists and
students – while ensuring that our homeland is secure.”
(See fact sheet.)
Visa Waiver Program travelers who have valid
machine-readable passports with a digital photograph issued
before October 26 do not need an e-Passport until their
current passport expires, the U.S. State Department said
in a separate statement released October 26. Machine-readable
passports allow data in the passport to be scanned by a
machine.
The State Department said travelers can
determine whether their passports meet the requirements
for travel under the Visa Waiver Program by checking the
Department of State’s VWP information page on the
consular Web site, http://travel.state.gov,
or by contacting their respective government.
“The upgrade to e-Passports is a significant
advance in preventing terrorists from using lost or stolen
passports to obtain entry into the United States,"
Chertoff said in a statement released October 26. "I
applaud the many Visa Waiver Program countries in compliance
with this requirement, and we continue to work closely with
the remaining countries toward their speedy and complete
compliance."
Of the 27 countries participating in the
Visa Waiver Program, 24 met the deadline. Travelers from
the three VWP countries not yet issuing electronic passports
– Andorra, Brunei and Liechtenstein – will need
to obtain a visa to enter the United States if they hold
a passport issued on or after October 26 until e-Passports
are available from those countries, the State Department
said.
The International Civil Aviation Organization
established the technical standards for digital passports,
and most nations now are redesigning their documents to
comply with those standards.
According to Homeland Security, the other
types of valid passports that can be used to enter the United
States by travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries include
machine-readable passports with a digital photograph issued
before October 26, 2006, or a machine-readable passport
issued before October 26, 2005.
Travelers bearing e-Passports go through
the same inspection process at a U.S. port of entry as other
travelers, Homeland Security said. U.S. Customs and Border
Protection officers will have the ability to read the e-Passport's
contactless chip at inspection booths displaying the international
e-Passport symbol.
The 27 VWP countries are Andorra, Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg,
Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal,
San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
and the United Kingdom.
Additional
information is available on the State Department’s
visa Web site.
Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writer
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