Orlando Travel Forum

Hiya im traveling to orlando next month and my friend told me you had to have a machine readable passport, please can you tell me if this is trure, because i dont have this on my passport as i hav had my passport since 2003

www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs/content_multi_image_0021.shtm#3

I'm going to presume you're a citizen of a U.S. Visa Waiver country, and were planning on entering the U.S. under that program. If so, AND your passport does not have the '<<<<<' at the bottom, you've got one month to do one of the two choices noted in this URL -- requirements that have been publicized for many years.

no i live in the uk and coming on holiday

If you're a UK passport holder and you're coming to the US on holiday, then, indeed, as PR-7 says, you would normally come under the Visa Waiver Program, which just means that the UK is one of the countries whose relationship with the US allows its citizens to come to the US without getting a prior via, under the right circumstances.

I think the confusion comes from what "machine-readable" means. For the newest passports, it's a chip that a scanner can read; for older passports, it is a couple of lines of "OCR" text, text that is designed to be easily read by an optical scanner (see the graphic on the link).

In any case, the link that PR-7 supplied you applies - check to see if you have that machine-readable text on your passport, because if you don't, you're going to need a new passport or a visa...

Oh, and welcome to the US...please spend lots of money ;-)

Bill

You need to look at the advice on the US Embassy in London:

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/index.html

To be eligible for the Visa Waiver programme you must be travelling with a machine-readable passport.

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/niv/vwp3.html

You can check whether your own passport online is eligible on that link.

If you are not eligible for the Visa Waiver programme (and there are other requirements) then you need to either a) apply for a visa appointment and get a visa (details on the Embassy link or b) apply for and get a new, biometric passport. http://www.ips.gov.uk/passport/apply-child.asp

I think you can pay extra and get a fast turn-around for passport renewal, which might be quicker and easier (and possibly less expensive, depending on where you live in the UK) than going to the US Embassy for a visa appointment.

Hi,


Some 94% of UK passports are machine readable, they have a tag on the bottom by your passport No eg <<<<<9876*****8909<<<<<<. All passport issued within the UK will be machine readable and may travel usder the US 90 day Visa Waiver Programe. if your passport as been issued outside of the UK for example The Bahamas, British Virgin Island or any British overseas territories these passport types are not machine readable. if this is the case you will need to apply for a Tourist Visa (B2), or a Business Visitor Visa (B1), both upto 6 months.

Does this have anything to do with US passports? I am planning a trip and I thought passports were good for 10 years. Is there something new that has to be done with my passport? I went to Europe a couple of years ago and used it.

The requirements detailed above are (solely?) for UK citizens wishing to travel to the US.

I am not aware of similar issues with US citizens wishing to enter the UK (or other EU countries).

If you are concerned, then I suggest you check the US website for the relevant country's embassy. However, I think you will find no problems.

I should have said 'UK citizens wishing to travel to the US under the Visa Waiver program'.