Rig R. Mortis

This may be a tad off topic, and may even have been discussed here before
but I'll toss it out for consumption.
The following certainly does have the possibility to impact folks on this
board if they are planning to have family from UK and Western Europe visit
later this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3538401.stm

US warns of mass visa disruption

US officials have warned there could be big delays in getting visitor visas
after new regulations begin in October.
Twice as many people are expected to ask for visas next year but there will
be no more staff to process requests.
Travellers from the UK and other western European countries will lose the
privilege of going to the US for up to three months without a visa.
From 26 October the US wants all new passports to contain a microchip with
an array of personal data.
But the UK, among others, has said it will not be able to issue such
passports before the middle of 2005.
Correspondents say that could mean hundreds of thousands of Britons having
to apply for visas - with similar effects in other countries now served by
the visa waiver programme who say the technology demanded by the US is
simply not ready yet.
The BBC's Jon Leyne says US state department officials are describing the
future situation as a "frightening prospect".

Jimfidler

One of the links contained in that news report may answer your questions:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3378717.stm

"Who is affected by the new rules?

Those who have to renew passports after 26 October this year, but before new
biometric ones become available in mid-2005.

Also those with non-machine readable passports that were obtained at
overseas British missions."

This means if your current passport is machine-readable, and if you fall
under the current VWP eligible countries, then you won't need to go to the
US embassy to get a visa put in your passport... for the foreseeable future
that is.

Jim


"Rig R. Mortis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > This may be a tad off topic, and may even have been discussed here before
    > but I'll toss it out for consumption.
    > The following certainly does have the possibility to impact folks on this
    > board if they are planning to have family from UK and Western Europe visit
    > later this year.
    > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3538401.stm
    > US warns of mass visa disruption
    > US officials have warned there could be big delays in getting visitor
visas
    > after new regulations begin in October.
    > Twice as many people are expected to ask for visas next year but there
will
    > be no more staff to process requests.
    > Travellers from the UK and other western European countries will lose the
    > privilege of going to the US for up to three months without a visa.
    > From 26 October the US wants all new passports to contain a microchip with
    > an array of personal data.
    > But the UK, among others, has said it will not be able to issue such
    > passports before the middle of 2005.
    > Correspondents say that could mean hundreds of thousands of Britons having
    > to apply for visas - with similar effects in other countries now served by
    > the visa waiver programme who say the technology demanded by the US is
    > simply not ready yet.
    > The BBC's Jon Leyne says US state department officials are describing the
    > future situation as a "frightening prospect".

Andy Platt

It's worth noting that last year regulations were supposed to go into effect
regarding machine readable passports and the visa waiver program. Even
though machine readable passports had been common place for years, this was
apparently too onerous and they gave waivers to countries that requested it.

The same thing will undoubtedly happen with biometric passports.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here, it's just your warped imagination
"Rig R. Mortis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > This may be a tad off topic, and may even have been discussed here before
    > but I'll toss it out for consumption.
    > The following certainly does have the possibility to impact folks on this
    > board if they are planning to have family from UK and Western Europe visit
    > later this year.
    > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3538401.stm
    > US warns of mass visa disruption
    > US officials have warned there could be big delays in getting visitor
visas
    > after new regulations begin in October.
    > Twice as many people are expected to ask for visas next year but there
will
    > be no more staff to process requests.
    > Travellers from the UK and other western European countries will lose the
    > privilege of going to the US for up to three months without a visa.
    > From 26 October the US wants all new passports to contain a microchip with
    > an array of personal data.
    > But the UK, among others, has said it will not be able to issue such
    > passports before the middle of 2005.
    > Correspondents say that could mean hundreds of thousands of Britons having
    > to apply for visas - with similar effects in other countries now served by
    > the visa waiver programme who say the technology demanded by the US is
    > simply not ready yet.
    > The BBC's Jon Leyne says US state department officials are describing the
    > future situation as a "frightening prospect".

Exile

"jimfidler" wrote
    > This means if your current passport is machine-readable, and if you fall
    > under the current VWP eligible countries, then you won't need to go to the
    > US embassy to get a visa put in your passport... for the foreseeable
future
    > that is.


That's the way that I understand it too.
For those that aren't aware, "machine readable" means that it has a strip of
numbers and letters separated by >>>>s on the photo page.


Andy