Are all new passport all Biometric Now

ahll

Hi,
I need to get a new passport soon as it runs out in October. I want to get a Biometric one though as I dont want to get an old one then need to change it again.

Have people who have just got a new passport got a biometric ones ?

black-saturn

Excuse sounding thick but whats a biometric passport?

If it's any help I renewed 3 passports from my family about 2 months ago and they were almost the same as the last ones.

ahll

They are the new type passports that contain more information about you and I believe the chip will contain all kinds of information about how far your eyes are apart etc All to stop people being able to use other people pasport and also making it hard to forge them.

My worry is that I go to the USA quite alot and understand that form Oct 06 you will have to get a visa if you dont have a Biometric passport

DM2007

https://www.renewforfreedom.org

robnye

yes the new passports do have a biometric chip in them...... but obviously wont have all the info like 'how far eyes are apart' etc......

i recently got new passports for 2 of my daughters, back in June

grex9101

i'd still recommend getting one sooner rather than later before the price goes up.......

tipsychick

There was an article about this in the paper today.

Whilst the price goes up again in October, biometric passports will be issued from "the end of the summer" onwards apparently.

The prices last went up in Dec 05, so with the October 06 hike too, it will now cost you over fifty percent more than it did this time last year to renew your passport!

robnye

grex9101 wrote:

i'd still recommend getting one sooner rather than later before the price goes up.......

yep thats why i got my daughters done last month

ahll

Can you renew your passport if it still has quite a few years on it ?
If so what happens to the years you already have on it ?

jammybunn

at the moment only 70% of passports currenly printed are biometric, they will be fully up to 100% by october

alanrowell

ahll wrote:

My worry is that I go to the USA quite alot and understand that form Oct 06 you will have to get a visa if you dont have a Biometric passport

It's UK passports issued between October 2005 & October 2006 that require you to get a visa in order to visit the US - unless your passport is one of the REALLY old type that isn't machine readable.

Otherwise any UK passport is valid for the VWP up until it's expiry date (assuming you meet the other criteria).

As for the new passports being biometric - I wouldn't call holding an electronic version of your signature & photo on a chip biometric