As we reported last year, changes to the US Visa Waiver Programme (VWP), have found quite a few travellers stranded at the airport, being refused travel to the US. Under the Visa Waiver Programme, British Citizens are allowed to travel to the US for business or leisure, for up to 90 days without a visa. But, following the security changes in the US, only British citizens holding a machine readable passport are eligible under the programme. Machine readable passports are those which have the chevrons and codes at the bottom on the photo page (see example below). If a passport does not contain this information, a visa is required to visit the US. The original change was: Those people wishing to travel under the VWP with a passport issued after 26/10/2005 will only be eligible if the passport includes a biometric identifier based on the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). From 26/10/2005 US immigration authorities require a digital photo and an integrated chip capable of storing the biographic information as well as biometric information. The UK Passport Agency (www.ukpa.gov.uk - 0870 521 0410) are not able to issue biometric passports by this deadline. The situation now: On the 22nd June, the US immigration service announced that they will extend the deadline until 26th October 2006. By this date, the UK Passport Agency are “confident” that they will be able to provide new passports which comply to the ICAO biometric standard. Obtaining a visa directly form the embassy can be a lengthy process taking weeks. For full information go to www.usembassy.org.uk Citizens of the following countries qualify under the Visa Waiver Programme: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. If you have clients from any of these countries wishing to travel to the US, it is worth telling them to check with the US Embassy website to ensure that they have the correct type of passport to permit them to land in the US without a Visa. It is also worth noting that a passport indicating that the bearer is a British Subject, British Dependent Territories Citizen, British Overseas Citizen, British National (Overseas) Citizen, or British Protected Person does not qualify for travel without a visa.