Air Travel

International Attendee Visa Requirements Update

On October 26, 2006 the U.S. will begin requiring travelers entering the U.S. from visa waiver countries (primarily Europe, plus Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore) to either have a biometric passport (also called an e-passport) or to have a visa.

This is generally not expected to have a huge impact on travelers from the visa waiver countries. This is because even after October 26th, you can still travel to the U.S. without a visa if your passport was issued: 1) Before October 25, 2005 and has a machine readable zone; or 2) was issued between October 25th, 2005 and October 26th, 2006 and has a digital photograph. Any passport issued after Oct. 26th, 2006 without a biometric chip will not be accepted without a visa.  If your passport does not fit into these categories, you can still come to the U.S., you just need to get a visa as if you were not from a visa waiver country. This will add time and expense to the process, although it is difficult to estimate how much since citizens of these countries do not normally seek visas.

According to the U.S. National Academies of Science, the only country expected to have problems (because the majority of their currently issued passports do not fit into one of the above categories) is France.  

Scientists in visa waiver countries are encouraged to check to verify if your passport is suitable and consider replacing it if is not. Before replacing your passport, you should make sure that your country has begun to issue the biometric or e-passports.

If you anticipate traveling to the U.S. after Oct. 26th and your passport does not meet the requirements as detailed above, but you cannot or will not replace it, you should begin investigating requirements for applying for a visa as soon as possible.

For more information please see: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/content_multi_image/content_multi_image_0021.xml