urgent new york passport help asap

Saint_Chris

hi
my sister is due to go to new york next week

and she has just been told that she need to have a new passport, the one that has a chip in.

her passport was issued in 2000 and is due to expire in 2006

is this true.

thanks

dmg24

Saint_Chris wrote: »

hi
my sister is due to go to new york next week

and she has just been told that she need to have a new passport, the one that has a chip in.

her passport was issued in 2000 and is due to expire in 2006

is this true.

thanks

I would be more concerned with the passport being out of date! x

Saint_Chris

sorry that should read 2010

dmg24

Has her passport got a little photo symbol on the front, and/ or a scannable bar on the information page? If so, she is fine x

Saint_Chris

where is the photo symbol please

and she has 2 rows of letters and numbers on the bottom of her passport page.

the problem is that the photo is laminated and she has been told that this is not acceptable

cannyscot_2

The new policy that requires tourists from 27 industrialized nations to be fingerprinted and photographed affects people from 22 European countries, Australia, Brunei, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore; they can all currently travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa.
From October 26, passengers from these countries will have to carry machine-readable passports (see below for definition) to visit without visas.
Because they are required to carry visas, students and other visitors from these nations who stay for more than three months have already been subjected to the new security measures.

Machine-Readable Passports
- The US requires all British visitors, including children, to hold valid machine-readable passports from 26 October 2004.
- After 26 October 2004, children who are currently on another person’s passport will need to obtain their own machine-readable passport for visa-free travel to the US.
- British Citizen machine-readable passports will continue to be valid for visa-free travel to the US under the VWP until the passport expires.
- All British passports currently issued in the UK or at British Missions overseas are machine-readable. However, some older passports may not be machine-readable. Before travelling to the US and seeking entry under the VWP, you should check that your current passport is machine-readable. If it is not, the likelihood is that you will not qualify for entry to the USA under the VWP on that passport after 26 October 2004.
Have I got a MR passport?
To help you carry out this check, a British passport is machine readable when there are two lines of letters, numbers and chevrons (“>>>>>”) printed across the long edge of the personal information page (the page with photograph and personal details). The machine-readable text will appear on a white strip on older passports and directly on the pink page of newer passports. If there are no such lines of text on the personal information page, the passport is not machine-readable.

Machine-readable, biometric passports and visa-free travel to the USA for British visitors


The US Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) includes a requirement that all British visitors, including children, travelling to the US under the VWP meet the following requirements:

· If the passport was issued between 26 October 2005 and 25 October 2006 it must contain a digital photograph and be machine readable.

· If the passport was issued on or after 26 October 2006, it must be biometric i.e. include an integrated circuit chip capable of storing the biographic information from the data page, a digitized photograph and other biometric information.

Follow this link for an examples of such a passports: www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs/content_multi_image_0021.shtm

This means that:

· British citizens with machine-readable passports but without a digital photo will still be able to visit the USA visa free if their passport was issued before 26 October 2005.

· British citizens without a machine-readable passport must obtain a new biometric passport or apply for a US visa before visiting the USA.

dmg24

Saint_Chris wrote: »

where is the photo symbol please

and she has 2 rows of letters and numbers on the bottom of her passport page.

the problem is that the photo is laminated and she has been told that this is not acceptable

The laminated photo is fine, and the letters and numbers are the machine readable part.

The photo symbol should be on the front cover, underneath the crest.

dzug

Saint_Chris wrote: »

where is the photo symbol please

and she has 2 rows of letters and numbers on the bottom of her passport page.

the problem is that the photo is laminated and she has been told that this is not acceptable

It IS acceptable if the passport was issued in 2000. It's only NEW passports issued after October 2005 that this new rule applies to. And only NEW passports issued after October 2006 that need the biometric chip.

Basically that's what cannyscot has said reduced to three lines.

Her passport is just fine.

M4RKM

had me panicking then when i was reading that.. i fly tomorrow.. i know i've checked mine thoroughly and knew it was ok (i was in NYC 6 months ago).. mine was issued in Jan 06, has digital photo, but not biometric, so i'm sorted..

*phew*

duchy

Why do people do this ?
I don't mean the OP but the numb-brain who gave the sister such duff info.
I used to be a travel agent and it never ceased to amaze me the rubbish people got told-and more so that they believed it (was often the MIL who had never travelled further than Blackpool)

dzug

duchy wrote: »

Why do people do this ?
I don't mean the OP but the numb-brain who gave the sister such duff info.
I used to be a travel agent and it never ceased to amaze me the rubbish people got told-and more so that they believed it (was often the MIL who had never travelled further than Blackpool)

Well :rotfl: SOME of the time they get it from travel agents. Maybe not you but some of them can't (or maybe won't) giver proper advice on passports.

But basically it's false logic. They take a fact ('to travel to country X you need 6 months on your passport') and then generalise it ('to travel anywhere you need 6 months on your passport'). They assume that everything is the same everywhere.