Beware if you try to enter the US with a valid passport without the electronic scanning capability, you will be fined $545 at Emigration.
Had the experience last week of entering the US at Newark, New York. Had a UK valid passport which is five years old therefore without the electronic scanning format. Ended up in the back room of the Homeland services for 4 hours and was informed I had two choices....Return back out the country on the next plane or pay a waver charge of $545. As I had four days of business meetings to go to in Boston I had no choice but to pay. I was informed that the airline would be also fined $3,000 for allowing me on the plane to enter the US. Incredible experience which leaves a bad taste about the US Homeland Security atitude towards the rest of the world.
Reply to this Hello Neil 😊
Yet another thing to put me off going to the US.
Does anybody have a news link about the fines being imposed? Is there an official law or are the immigration just taking these decisions into their own hands?
Does anybody know of others this has happened to?
Mel
Reply to this I think the requirement for a machine-readable passport has been in force for at least 3 years. The reason that netgreen's situation doesn't crop up very often is that the vast majority of UK passports issued in the last 20 years have been machine-readable - the main ones that aren't are ones issued overseas.
Reply to this ....the main ones that aren't are ones issued overseas.
I thought the overseas applications for UK passports would be sent to the UK to be issued? I am applying for an Iriah passport here in Germany. The Irish consulates send the passport application to the passport office in Dublin to be issued.
Reply to this I guess it will differ between nationalities, and probably also between consulates/embassies of the same nationality depending on whether they have the facilities to actually process a new passport. My last 2 UK passports were issued in Tokyo and Washington DC - I knew about the machine-readable issue because my Tokyo-issued passport was NOT machine-readable and I had to get a new passport in the US so that I'd be able to leave the country and come back in without facing the palaver that netgreen had.
Reply to this I have just renewed my non-digital UK passport in Australia and was given a digital one.
Reply to this I wonder where they get the figure of $545. Does it cost them that much to decide whether the passport is authentic? Oh I forgot, they had to have a 4 hour meeting about it. Because of course with machine-readable passports, there's no danger at all that fake ones could pass through undetected...
Reply to this I would assume it's more to do with efficiency than authentification - swiping a machine-readable passport is quicker than typing out all the information. And if you've ever been in the (apparently) 3 mile long queue for immigration at JFK then anything to speed up that process is to be welcomed. Though whether that difference is $545 worth of some immigration officer's time is debatable. I guess the moral is to always make sure you're up to date on the latest immigration requirements, as even supposedly friendly countries might have a potential kick in the teeth for you.
Reply to this hey, i'm studying in canada for 8 months from september and fancied visiting america for a week. my uk passport was issued 3 years ago so doesn't have the chip. does this mean that even though canada accepted it enough for me to get a student visa i'm not gonna be able to get into the u.s without paying?
Reply to this Hello Hannah 😊
I would certainly call the US consulate and ask. The US seem to be getting fussier and fussier about requirements for people entering the country.
Mel
Reply to this Traveling to the USA is becoming troublesome to the point of hilarity. I can understand America’s concern about homeland security (especially after 9/11), but come on! Calling up the embassy, scheduling a meeting, having to pay $150 (non refundable and doesn’t guarantee anything really). While doing the paperwork you keep wondering why these people treat you like an idiot (“have you ever been involved in terrorist activities”, “list every country you have EVER visited” and such). During the interview you’re asked all sorts of question and you need convince the embassy representative you’re won’t cause any menace should you be let in the States.
If you pass all of the above you’re finally granted a visa. You fly over, proceed to the customs but you’re all calm because you already have the visa, right? Wrong! What’s you got in the passport is not a real visa yet. You get it from an emigration officer who is the last barricade preventing you from setting you foot on American soil. This guy can turn you back for whatever reason and if he does you have no choice but to catch the next plane home.
Don’t even get me started on the eye scanning thing. And now they won’t let you in because your passport is not good enough for them! It’s been good in all the other countries I visited but it’s not fancy enough for homeland security service.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not anti American or whatever. I went to high school in the US for a year and then I spent a summer working in Yosemite and I had the best time. What I’m trying to say that you’re making too much fuss about letting people in.
As far as I know Americans don’t need a visa when coming to Europe. Maybe they should? Sorry fellow American travelers but it’s only fair if you went through the same procedure we do when going to your country. Maybe then you would realize how ridiculous this whole thing with visas is.
Reply to this As far as I know Americans don’t need a visa when coming to Europe. Maybe they should?
I think they do need one, but I dont think they have to go through the type of fiasco you described above, Pawel 😊
Reply to this Hi All....I have just joined this web site...only just "found" it actually....and joined so I could post up what I have found out....THIS IS obviously IMPORTANT info to be aware of.....as I want us to be able to take our holiday and certainly not get hit up with a fine....like Neil....(thanks for this post by the way..!!..)
I have read this post with much interest as we are coming to the USA this year and next, I have to check into this passport info in more detail tomorrow with the Australian passport office, as my daughter and I have an older style passport and my husbands has the chip in it, even though they were issued within a couple of months of each other around 2 years ago, it would appear right in the middle of this change over....anyway....I have done a bit of hunting around on the web and found this info.....for anyone concerned you really MUST read this and find out if it will effect your plans to go through to your desired destination.....
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html#addinfo
Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
Important Notices:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announces implementation of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which will begin to accept voluntary ESTA applications starting on August 1, 2008. ESTA is a new fully automated, electronic system for screening passengers before they begin travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. ESTA applications may be submitted at any time prior to travel to the United States, and VWP travelers are encouraged to apply for authorization as soon as they begin to plan a trip to the United States. It is anticipated that ESTA will become mandatory for VWP travelers on January 12, 2009. Learn more about ESTA on the DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website. Review the Interim Final Rule on the DHS main website.
International travelers seeking to travel to the United States without a visa, who are nationals of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries, should review this important information on traveler passport requirements under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).
All VWP travelers, regardless of age or type of passport used, must present a machine-readable passport. In addition, depending on when VWP travelers’ passports were issued, other passport requirements apply:
CLICK on the link to keep reading....
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html#addinfo
I also found the info on this page to be of help...
http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Static_Templates/travel_planner_alert.aspx
Happy travels....Nicole :-)
Reply to this As far as I know Americans don’t need a visa when coming to Europe. Maybe they should? Sorry fellow American travelers but it’s only fair if you went through the same procedure we do when going to your country. Maybe then you would realize how ridiculous this whole thing with visas is.
Except we as citizens don't make the rules about entry. I wish we did. I sympathize with people wanting to come here (especially with the dollar so weak) and I do think this fine is ridiculous. It's becoming insane how everything "terrorism" or "homeland security" related is over-hyped and blown out of context for the average traveller. Even as an American citizen, I'd agree with a lot of the sentiment that this (my) country needs to re-think its image and how it treats other nationals.
Reply to this Hi Everyone..
I think there is some confusion here between 'machine-readable' passports and the newer 'chipped' or biometric passports. The info posted above by Nicole describes 'machine readable' as opposed to 'hand written'
very old-style passports...so I don't think everyone should be getting too alarmed!!
Check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-readable_passport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport
Reply to this Further Details on the exact rules for entering the US on the visa waiver program:
The requirements for the visa waiver program are as follows:
1. Machine readable and biometric passports:
All travellers must have individual passports. It is not acceptable (for the visa waiver scheme) for children to be included on a parent's passport.
Passport requirements depend on the date the passport was issued or renewed:
* Passports issued or renewed before 26 October 2005 must be machine readable.
* Passports issued or renewed after 26 October 2005 must be machine readable and contain a digitized photograph, or must be biometric passports.
* Passports issued or renewed after 26 October 2006 must be biometric.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_Waiver_Program
Hope this helps!
Reply to this My friends other half is French and doesn't have that strip at the bottom of his passport, so can't get into American with out a visa.
I got a new Irish passport 4 months ago,had to spend a couple of hours in London getting it through the quick turnaround. It is now one of those all singing all, dancing ones. Then when I was in America a month ago the immigration man could tell I was in America before, scary. I think that they shouldn't hold any details after you leave. Will my finger prints this time be on a database?
Reply to this 
