Brussels, 17/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - In line with what we reported earlier (EUROPE N. 8970), the United States announced on Wednesday its agreement (the second one) to postpone the date when visitors to the country will have to carry passports featuring biometric information (digital prints and photographs). The deadline is now set as 26 October 2006 and will apply to citizens of the 27 countries covered by the " visa waiver scheme". This includes all the former 15 EU Member States minus Greece but plus Slovenia. Valid passports these countries issue prior to 26 October 2005 will continue to be accepted , provided they can be optically read. Biometric passports will be compulsory from 26 June 2005 onwards, otherwise passengers without one will need a visa to visit the United States.
In a recent press release, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that starting on " 26 October 2005" the requirement would be that an electronic chip, or electronic passport, capable of storing biographical details, a digital photograph and other biometric information, should be incorporated into travel documents. The press release specified that "all ' visa waiver scheme' countries should issue passports with digital photographs after 26 October 2005". "Starting on the same date, ",these countries would be required to present an "action" plan for the actual production of biometric passports between now and 26 October 2006. They would also have to "notify Interpol and the DHS about any passports lost and stolen" and "increase the level of information exchanged" with the US government . The DHS will create a "validation process" for the 27 " visa waiver scheme" countries so the electronic passports can be tested before they are issued. Under this process all biometric passports should be presented by "1 September 2006 so they can be validated before 26 October 2006 ".
This is the second time that the US government has agreed to postpone the biometric passport deadline. This first time around the date when citizens from the 27 countries would need a biometric passport to enter the United States without a passport was pushed back from October 2004 to October 2005.