Visa for US?

[KERALA1]

Says on government website you don't need a visa if your passport is machine readable. Are children's passports machine readable? Seem to remember when we last flew we couldn't use the machines with the children - so do I need visas for them? Haven't travelled outside Europe since having kids!

NO you will all still need a VISA waiver form (ESTA) though.. You cannot apply for a visa waiver if you do not meet certain condition (no criminal convictions/arrests etc).

They don't mean those machines, they mean the little machines that read the biometric data on the passport. To check if their passports are biometric have a look at the front. If they have the little symbol under the word "PASSPORT" then they're machine readable.

Make sure you get your ESTA authorisation from the correct site too as lots of fake websites for this.

Here is the link.

Thanks much appreciated

The former visa stamp for visitors to the US has now been replaced by the ESTA. This is their electronic travel authorisation for visitors.

You will all need an ESTA to travel to the US. Use the official site ONLY as indicated in the previous post because there are a lot of scammers out there.

Machine readable passports have been around for some time now; these are the two lines of information on the passport holder on the passport page.

The machines I think you are referring to are the biometric passport machine reading ones used at airports point of entry into the UK. Children under 18 cannot use those, you would need to clear passport control by going to the UK Border desk in the arrivals hall.