USA entry rules

New entering rules for the USA

Effective October 26, 2004 all passengers and cargo flight passengers, Revenue and Non-Rev, etc. traveling to the United States on the Visa Waiver Program must have Machine Readable Passsports - NO EXCEPTIONS.

Accordingly each pax must have their own Machine Readable Passport.

Children may NOT travel on their parents' passports on the Visa Waiver Program - for the simple reason that the Machine Readable information on the bottom of the photo page applies only to the parent to whom the passport was issued. Children MUST have their own passports when travelling under the Visa Waiver Program. INA217; Title 8, C.F.R. 217, et. seq.

Any passenger brought to the United States on the Visa Waiver Program without their own machine readable passport will incur a US$3,300.00 penalty under INA 273(b) (U.S. Immigration Statute).

Visa Waiver Program Countries:

Starting October 26, 2004, visa waiver travellers from ALL 35 Visa Waiver Program countries must present either a machine-readable passport or a U.S. visa.

Machine-readable passports - Starting October 26, 2004, each Visa Waiver Program traveller must present a machine-readable passport (MRP) at the U.S. port of entry to enter the U.S. without a visa, otherwise a nonimmigrant visa is required. This change includes all categories of passports-- regular, diplomatic, and official, when the traveller is seeking to enter the U.S.

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) enables citizens of certain countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. Not all countries participate in the VWP. Some restrictions apply to this program as explained below.

What Are the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Countries?

Currently, 35 countries participate in the Visa Waiver Program, as shown below:

What Do I Need to Know about VWP & the Machine Readable Passport?

Starting October 26, 2004, each Visa Waiver Program traveller must present a machine-readable passport (MRP) at the U.S. port of entry to enter the U.S. without a visa. Those without MRPs must obtain a nonimmigrant visa. This change includes all categories of passports -- regular, diplomatic, and official, when the traveler is seeking to enter the U.S. for B-1/B-2 purposes.

Families and groups seeking to enter the U.S. under the VWP 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.

What is a Machine Readable Passport?

A machine readable passport has biographical data entered on the data page according to international specifications. The size of the passport and photograph, and arrangement of data fields, especially the two lines of printed OCR-B machine readable data, meet the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Doc 9303, Part 1 Machine Readable Passports. OCR-B means the type is Optical Character Reader size B. If there are questions about your passport, after carefully reviewing this information, and any information which may be available to you from your country, you may want to contact the passport issuing agency or authority in your country of citizenship.

For more information please visit the UK Passport Service

What Do I Need to Enter the United States Under the VWP?

To enter the U.S. under the VWP, travellers from participating countries must:

• Be a citizen of a Visa Waiver Program country;
• Have a valid passport issued by the participating country. Beginning October 26, 2004, the passport must be machine readable passport;
• Be seeking entry for 90 days or less, as a temporary visitor for business or pleasure. You will not be permitted to extend your visit or change to another visa category under the VWP.

For more information please click here.