Millions of Brits could face passport problems as US tightens travel laws

U.S. Tightens Visa Waiver Program In Wake of Paris Attacks...
U.S. Tightens Visa Waiver Program In Wake of Paris Attacks...


Millions of Brits could face passport problems regarding travel to the United States - following new security moves by Washington.

Currently, British passport holders do not need a visa to enter the US under the visa waiver scheme.

Around 38 countries are part of the visa waiver scheme, but the US wants to tighten travel restrictions on foreigners who enter the country without needing full visas in the wake of the Paris attacks.

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The changes would mean that all countries in the scheme would be asked to issue electronic passports, also called e-passports.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the White House is working with the US Congress on a "new authority to require visa waiver travellers to use passports with embedded security chips".

But there are around five million people in Britain who still have the older style passports that do not contain a biometric chip.

This could mean they will have to renew their passports early at a cost of at least £70 if they want to travel to America.

A bipartisan group led by Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona introduced a Senate bill on Tuesday that would also require fingerprints and photos for those travellers coming from any of the visa waiver nations, reports Yahoo News.

The Feinstein-Flake bill would also deny the visa waiver privilege to anyone who has visited Syria or Iraq in the past five years, helping to protect against fear of possible terrorists entering the US under the waiver programme.

According to the BBC, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Paris that the changes will "enhance our ability to thwart terrorist attempts to travel on lost or stolen passports."

The Department for Homeland Security and the State Department are reportedly set to review the visa waiver programme and report back to President Obama within 60 days.

Earnest added: "Surely over the course of the next three weeks, they [Congress] should be able to do something that actually would strengthen our national security."





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