The U.S. House of Representatives late yesterday passed a bill extending by one year the Oct. 26 deadline requiring travelers from countries in the Visa Waiver Program to carry biometric passports when visiting the United States.
The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens from 27 countries--including most E.U. nations, Japan and Australia--to enter the United States temporarily without a visa. The passage of the bill, however, does not extend requirements effective Sept. 30 that mandate travelers from those countries be photographed and fingerprinted upon arrival in the United States--a similar process launched in January for visa holders.
"While this one-year extension provides more time to meet the requirement, this additional breathing space should not lead visa waiver countries, nor our own government, to become complacent," said House Judiciary Committee chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), who authored the bill. "Prompt implementation of this biometric identifier requirement will close several security loopholes."
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powel has championed the extension, claiming that most countries, including the United States, could not meet the biometric requirements by the initial deadline
(BTN, April 22).
The State Department said U.S. biometric standards for passports have not yet been met and may not be ready until the end of next year. U.S. biometric passports will include digitally encrypted facial recognition data.
The Senate also is reviewing a similar bill, which proposes extending the deadline by two years.
The National Business Travel Association today praised the passage of the bill and said it is encouraging the Senate to follow the House's lead on extending the deadline.
NBTA said it sent a letter today to Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is meeting today to discuss visa and passport regulations. "The current uncertainty around the VWP has already caused the delay of many business trips planned for the late fall and winter and has hampered bids by U.S. organizations to hold international conferences," the letter states. "Clearly, requiring travelers from VWP countries to begin applying for visas before traveling to the United States would cost American businesses hundreds of millions of dollars."