machine readable passport

[rogerroger]

Hello
Is the current British passport being issued by UK a machine readable passport. The one that is good enough to be used for travel to the UK without a visa?

[John]

All British passports issued in the UK are machine-readable, and that has been the case for some years now.

The UK Government acknowledges that some British passports issued out of some British embasies abroad may not be machine-readable, but is working hard to eradicate that problem.

When you write "..... for travel to the UK without a visa?", do you mean "..... for travel to the USA without a visa"?

[rogerroger]

yes, i mean for travel to the US without a visa.
recently some one told me that the machine readable passports being issued by the UK lack in some respect compared to the specifications of the machines readable passports requred by the US port authorities.

does this mean, that the currently issued machien readable passports are not good enough for the visa waiver program and a new batch of passports needs to be issued which will be acceptable by the US authorities

[John]

Hi, if you check the website for the USA immigration service you should find that there is no mention of the problem mentioned by you.

I recollect that the only issue is that some British passports issued outside the UK are lacking the machine-readable characteristics, but I have already mentioned that.

[rogerroger]

oh, i thought i would have problems travelling to the US after i obtain my British passport

[Joseph]

No problem until end of October 2005 when current US legislation requires biometrics in new passports issued after date date to qualify under the visa wavier program. The Administration is requesting that Congress extend that deadline because it is increasingly clear that many countries (including the UK) will not have biometric passports by that date.
Joseph

[rogerroger]

ah, it is biometric pasports that the US want?

any idea when the UK is going to start issuing biometric passports?

[Joseph]

From the UKPA Website:

Biometric British Passports
The UKPS is planning to implement a facial recognition image biometric in the British Passport book from late 2005/early 2006. The biometric can be derived from a passport photograph and will be in accordance with international standards.

Joseph

[rogerroger]

thanks joseph

that clears up things for me