Powell Urges Congress To Endorse Delay of Biometric Passport Deadline
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has confirmed that the deadline by which visitors to the United States from visa-waiver countries must possess biometric passports will be pushed back from October 2004 to November 2006. Addressing the House Judiciary Committee this morning, Powell urged Congress to endorse the postponement after admitting no country in the world, including the United States, is likely to have introduced workable biometric passports by the original deadline.
Powell also confirmed that visitors from the 27 countries that have visa-waiver arrangements--which include most E.U. nations, Japan and Australia--will have to have their photograph and fingerprints taken on arrival staring October 26. This is the same process that was introduced for visitors with visas in January of this year.
Powell testified that the first biometric passports for U.S. citizens are likely to be produced in December this year, with the complete transition effected by December 2005. U.S. biometric passports will include digitally encrypted facial recognition data.
Powell said sticking to the October 2004 deadline is unworkable because the technology is not yet reliable. Originally, visitors from visa waiver countries who entered the United States after October 26 with new, non-biometric passports were to be required to obtain visas. Powell said that would have led to an estimated additional 5 million visa applications in 2005--an increased that would have caused lengthy delays in processing.
"Even longer wait times would make it even more difficult to convince people worldwide that America welcomes them," he said. The economic cost to the United States, he added would be "substantial."
This is the third time in 12 months the Bush Administration has had to backtrack on travel regulations imposed without international consultation. It delayed by one year plans to insist visitors from visa-waiver to the United States must have machine-readable passports, originally set for October 2003. It has also compromised on rules it introduced last year giving it unfettered access to the passenger name records of European Union citizens. However, even this compromise solution was referred yesterday by the European Parliament to the European Court of Justice for review.