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Beginning Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004, most EU citizens will be affected by several changes concerning the passports they use for travel to the United States and the processing of visitors at U.S. ports of entry.
Visa Waiver Program Enrollment in the US-VISIT Program
From Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004, most EU travelers will be enrolled in the US-VISIT program when they arrive in the U.S. Previously, only those entering the U.S. with a visa were enrolled in US-VISIT. Among the few exceptions are travelers with official/diplomatic visas, children under 14 years old, and those over 79 years old.
US-VISIT aims to enhance security for American citizens and visitors while facilitating legitimate travel and trade. Foreign visitors will have their two index fingers scanned and a digital photograph taken to verify their identity at major ports of entry. These procedures take about 15 seconds and are carried out while Customs and Border Protection Officers review travel documents and ask questions about the visitor's stay in the U.S.
US-VISIT is part of a continuum of security measures that begins overseas, when a person applies for a visa to travel to the United States, and continues on through entry and exit at U.S. air and seaports and, eventually, at land border crossings. The US-VISIT program enhances the security of U.S. citizens and visitors alike by verifying the identity of visitors with visas. At the same time, it facilitates legitimate travel and trade by leveraging technology and the evolving use of biometrics to expedite processing at our borders.
Machine-readable Passports
As of October 26, 2004, all EU travelers, including those exempt from US-VISIT procedures, must present a machine readable passport in order to be admitted to the U.S. without a visa. For German citizens, only the bordeaux-colored Europapass will be accepted. Kinderausweise and entries of children in the passports of their parents will no longer be accepted for visa-free travel to the USA.
Families seeking to enter the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program will need to obtain an individual passport for each traveler, including infants. Machine-readable passports typically have biodata for only one traveler in the machine-readable zone. Based on this, families may be denied visa-free entry into the U.S. if the biodata for only one traveler is machine-readable.
For further information:
Under Secretary of Homeland Security Asa Hutchinson Discusses Expansion of US-VISIT Program to Include Visitors Traveling Under the Visa Waiver Program: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=4048
Department of Homeland Security - US-VISIT
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/content_multi_image/content_multi_image_0006.xml
Further information on the visa waiver program is available at
http://travel.state.gov/visa/tempvisitors_novisa_waiver.html
For complete information on U.S. visa requirements, including
studying, doing business or just visiting, see http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov
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