bio-metric passports

[tiredgranny]

Does everyone else realise that as from 1st April 2016,than you can only enter usa on bio-metric passport??

Radio 5 is doing a story on this later - they seem to think quite a lot of people will be caught out by the e-passport requirement.

they seem to think quite a lot of people will be caught out by the e-passport requirement.

The window is people whose passports were issued between May 2006 (as otherwise they'll have expired) and October 2006 (when e-passports were introduced). So no-one stands to lose any validity, as you can have up to 9 monhs written up on a passport, so if you renew a passport issued in October 2006 at any point from February 2016 onwards the expiration date of the new passport stays the same.

If you reckon passports are issued at a roughly constant rate, then about 5% of travellers aged over 28 will have a passport that falls into the problem window (if you were under 18 at the relevant time you would only have been issued a five year passport, so the issue does not arise). So no Daily Mail sadfaces about people taking large families to Disney, as there are no children or young people affected. But a lot of people go to the USA, so 5% of a lot is still a large number.

I'm a coward so don't pay the holiday bill until I have the ESTA; I've been to the US about forty times over the years, mostly for work, without incident, but I always worry about their border people being difficult. Does anyone know what happens if today you attempt to apply for an ESTA with a non-e passport: does their system know and refuse you the ESTA, or does it grant it to lure you to your doom?

The online ESTA system warns you that you need an e-passport - it warned me when I applied in Feb

There is no Daily Heil sad face story (yet) but one on the radio where a DP had an old passport and couldn't go on his US family hol with his DP and their young child. He had to join them later.

One other potential slip-up could be that if you have an old non-e passport and an ESTA, the ESTA "dies" with the old passport, so if you get a new passport, you need a new ESTA, even if your ESTA had time to run.

Here is the sad face Daily Heil story -

www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3575095/Millions-Britons-BARRED-visiting-America-passport-valid-following-strict-new-entry-rules-implemented.html

Here's the Indy version -

www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/esta-passport-change-new-rules-tens-of-thousands-banned-us-flights-a7015476.html

Our passports were one of the last of the old types and the expiry date was August 2016. Because both me and DP can occasionally need to go abroad at short notice and I am the organised type, I sent ours in for renewal in early January when I knew they would come back quickly.

We now have new epassports with an expiry date in September 2026. Those affected will be the people whose expire later this year and haven't taken the opportunity to renew them in advance.

Some people will have good reason not to send them off such as needing them earlier in the year, or not being able to afford all the renewal fees, as it does add up to a lot for a family, but most of the DM sad faces 'I missed my US holiday' stories will just be disorganised types who don't really take responsibility for their own lives and if it wasn't this they would be moaning that they got caught up in the renewal delays that happen nearly every summer when loads of people think 'shit we're going on holiday soon and our passports have expired'.

Some people will have good reason not to send them off such as needing them earlier in the year, or not being able to afford all the renewal fees, as it does add up to a lot for a family

You have to be over 28 for this to be an issue, so it will only affect parents in family groups. Bluntly, if people can't afford £75, booking a long-haul holiday wasn't a great idea.

Ricardian

I put the affording comment in because usually on here if you don't acknowledge every possible reason under the sun for people not behaving like adults and taking responsibilty for themselves, you get jumped on by the 'they might' brigade, as in 'they might not be able to afford it, they might be too busy', their Auntie Sheila's dog might have died so they have bigger things to worry about etc

To be fair, 4 passport renewals is more like £250/300 but you are correct in that passports at less than a tenner a year are a trivial cost in the great scheme of things international travel-wise.

we're thinking of going to tye USA next year but I renewed my passport last year so will mine be OK? I'm confused.

To be fair, 4 passport renewals is more like £250/300

But they would all be adults over 28, so can pay for themselves. There are no children's passports in the affected group.

we're thinking of going to tye USA next year but I renewed my passport last year so will mine be OK?

Yes.

Apologies, not having DCs, I don't know anything about their passports and forgot that it would only affect a small group of adults with passports issued at a certain time, that would have included me if I hadn't renewed my passport early, but is irrelevant as I have no plans to travel to the US anyway.

It's a massive PITA for people like me who have the old passport (mine expires Feb 2017) but also live in another country with a visa.

DH was talking about New York later this year but I'm unable to go as, if I get a new passport, my visa cancels and I have to go through the 3-6 month process to get a new one.

Also I was under 18 in 2006 and issued with a 10 year passport.

Feelingsolow, your passport will be 100% fine. You will need a new ESTA though.

JamieVardysParty At some point in time before Feb 17 you will have to renew your passport. You can do it at any time that suits you. That process is not going to be any different now to how it was going to be anyway. The most extra it's going to cost is a few extra months lost from your renewal and that will only be a few pounds.

I understand that I will have to renew my passport, Logical.

My visa runs until January at which point I will leave here, return to the UK and renew my passport.

What I cannot do, in the meantime, is visit the US. Which is something that DH and I would like to do.

Yours is an incredibly narrow situation, however: people who got passports in a six month window which contain visas that they need now, can renew later, but cannot renew now.

It's possible to have two passports for precisely these sort of situations. My brother at one point had three or four, when he was travelling to lots of places that required visas that were either time consuming or whose presence wasn't conducive to entering other countries. If you felt strongly enough about it, you might be able to get a new passport while retaining your old one. And a lot of countries permit you to present a current passport alongside an expired or cancelled passport that contains a valid visa, although it's less common than it was.

It also ill behooves UK citizens to complain about this sort of stuff. Our government routinely screws people entering the UK on non-EU passports, with all sorts of random requirements.

I'll be the one to ask the stupid question...

Are children exempt? I've no idea at what age you can first apply for a biometric passport but DD was only 3 weeks old when hers was issued so obviously doesn't have one. I assume it's age 18 and children are therefore exempt but can't see anything about it anywhere.

Are children exempt

No. But all passports issued since late 2006 are biometric, and children's passports are only valid for five years.

All "biometric" means in this context is that information taken from the photograph is available electronically, which makes messing about with the pictures in stolen passports to allow them to be used by other people harder, and makes systems like those automated gates possible. It's stuff like the ratio between the distance between your eyes and the distance from the line between your eyes and the tip of your nose, taken from your photograph (hence why you now need to be photographed without glasses).

no children are not exempt

Jamie are you sure your visa will be cancelled if you get a new passport?

I have a UK visa (realise yours isn't for here) which has a validity beyond my current passport expiry. When I get my new passport I just have to carry both to show the visa in the old one when I re-enter the UK.

Thanks for clearing that up, Ricardian. I must have been confusing biometric for electronic (or whatever the term is for the type needed to go through the "self-service" immigration gates). DD's passport does indeed carry the biometric symbol on the front so she must be covered!

I have also had to carry an old passport with a valid visa alongside a new passport before. It really shouldn't be a problem for you.

100% I cannot carry an old passport with a new passport.

The visa rules changed last year for where I am and I need a new visa for the new passport.

I have also been told that I would have to start the entire visa process again. Seeing as it took 7 months and over £500 last time, I just don't have the money or energy.