*EPF512 10/22/2004
Text: New Passport Requirement Will Not Cause Border Disruption
(Travelers to United States need machine-readable passports October 26) (600)

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Washington -- The United States is working to ensure that travelers entering the nation will not be turned away at the border when a new document requirement takes effect October 26.

Visitors from 22 nations now able to enter the United States without a visa will need a passport with machine-readable encoded data starting next week. The requirement for the new, more sophisticated documents was supposed to have gone into effect one year ago. But officials extended the deadline for compliance to allow travelers more time to obtain the proper documents from their governments and for governments to develop and issue such documents.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration officers greet foreign travelers as they enter the country. DHS Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson told international reporters at a press briefing October 22 that he hopes foreign travelers have heard the message about the need for the new passports.

If they havent, he said, "they will be allowed into the United States and not be turned back simply because there is noncompliance with the machine-readable passport requirement."

Hutchinson says immigration officers will offer noncompliant travelers a one-time exemption from the requirement and admit them to the United States. Border officers will make note of the exemption on the passport and inform the travelers of their need for the updated passport or a visa. On subsequent visits, if travelers do not have a machine-readable passport or a visa, they could be refused entry on a second trip, according to DHS.

"We want to accomplish our objective of full compliance as soon as possible, but we also want people to understand that their first experience in the United States will be a positive experience," Hutchinson said.

The United States is requiring the machine-readable passports because their encoded data makes them more secure documents than the traditional passport.

"The machine-readable passport has additional security features that are important, that minimize the ability to fraudulently use a passport," Hutchinson said. "That added security feature is important for compliance with our laws and for the nature of today's world."

U.S. officials have worked over the last year to encourage other governments to speed their conversion to the new passport. In doing so, the officials have pointed out that the entire international traveling public will be safer as more nations issue the high-security passports. Document forgeries will become more difficult, further constraining the black market in falsified papers needed by terrorists, smugglers and drug traffickers.

The October 26 requirement for conversion to the machine-readable passports applies only to visitors eligible to enter the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This reciprocal agreement is in place with developed nations whose citizens are not likely to attempt illegal immigration to the United States.

Other nations are still working to make the conversion to the high-technology documents, and Hutchinson said the United States is striving to assist them. "The responsibility and the technical capability lies with the individual countries. We certainly have a good level of exchange from a technical standpoint, cooperation, and sharing of best practices with those countries," Hutchinson said.

An estimated 13 million visitors from the VWP nations enter the United States each year. Travelers from the following countries are affected by the requirement for machine-readable passports: Austria, Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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