High-Tech U.S. Visa Set to Combat Terrorism

[Sazz]

A high-tech visa is to be introduced for travel from Britain to the United States to combat terrorism, it emerged today.

Tens of thousands of Britons planning to travel to the States from the autumn, for business or holiday, will have to be fingerprinted.

An estimated 250,000 will need to apply for the so-called biometric visa amid warnings from the US Embassy that it may not have enough staff to supply them, and from the tourist industry of cancelled holidays.

The biometric visas are being introduced because the US has ruled that anyone entering the country must have electronic ID, which can be fingerprinting, facial mapping or iris imaging.

All new passports issued after October 26 must contain such data, or the holders must show a biometric visa. The Government has already said that the new passports will not be available before summer next year.

Until then, Britons renewing their passport on or after October 26 will have to visit the US Embassy in London or US Consulate in Belfast, provide an electronic print of the index fingers of each hand, and pay �65 for a visa, which could take months to be issued.

The Association of British Travel Agents is telling travellers to avoid problems by renewing ageing passports before October 26, so by-passing the need for a visa.

�It's a bit worrying,� said an ABTA spokesman. �We have been recommending a change in the law � that the US postpones the requirement for biometric data on passports.

�For some it will mean inconvenience and added expense, and some could end up losing their holiday.�

The US Embassy also wants the October 26 deadline moved.

Britain will not be issuing biometric passports before June 2005. It means those holding a new passport issued on or after October 26 face a lengthy wait for the new visa.

�Over the course of this year all visas will be biometric,� a US Embassy spokesman said.

�Numbers of staff will be required to issue large numbers of additional visas. The training required to take biometric ID, which will be electronic fingerprint technology, is very straightforward.

�It's a simple electronic fingerprint, takes about two seconds, and does not require any special training.

�But you cannot take a homeless person off the street and make them a consular officer. There are only so many consular officers. If there are a number of visas issued we would need more consular officers.

�That's going to be true of every place in the world. Every single visa is issued by an individual consular officer who is specially trained and has special rights.

�We are working at a way to head off a possible problem and remain optimistic a solution can be found.

�We are urging people to get Congress to take action on it. We cannot produce overnight the number of consular officers to deal with these issues.

�Congress can change (the law) if they choose to do so. It's up to them to make a decision. Laws can be passed in a very short time.

�The British government and foreign governments are lobbying Congress to change the law.�

Ninety-five per cent of the four million Britons who travel to the US each year are qualified to travel on the long-standing visa waiver programme.

The Association of British Travel Agents estimates some 250,000 of them will need to change their passport after October 26, and so need to apply for a biometric visa.

According to the US Embassy in London, three delegations from the UK have visited Washington to try to find a solution.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the last delegation was on January 23.

A spokeswoman at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: �We are in close consultation with the US on the proposed timetable for requiring biometric passports or visas for travel. We are working to minimise the adverse impact of these changes on the legitimate British traveller.�



from news.scotsman.com