US offers more time for new passport rules

New Zealanders visiting the United States will have another year to enter the country without a machine-readable passport, if the Government asks US officials for an extension.

The United States has offered to extend the target date for tightening the rules for letting people enter the country without visas.

As the rules stand, from October 1, those whose passports are not readable by machine will not be able to enter the United States without visas, other than for transit purposes, even if they come from one of the 27 countries that are part of a visa waiver programme.

But the State Department, recognising that many passports are still not machine-readable, has told 26 of the governments they can apply for an extension of about one year.

The countries in the visa waiver programme are mostly affluent democracies whose citizens are thought unlikely to seek work in the United States illegally. They include New Zealand, Australia, most of Western Europe, Japan, and Singapore.

Belgium, which is under special rules, cannot apply for the extension. The requirement of machine-readability has applied to Belgium since May because of US concerns about the security of Belgian passports, the official said.

Foreign governments in the visa waiver programme face another deadline on October 26, 2004, by which date the United States wants them to introduce "biometric identifiers" in passports they issue.

The identifiers, which could be in the form of computer microchips, would include digitally coded information about the person's facial features or fingerprints.

The United States embassy in Wellington said earlier the machine-readable passports made them more difficult to tamper with.

The US Embassy has also changed the process for visa applications, with applicants now usually having to undergo a personal interview with a consular officer.

New Zealand started issuing machine-readable passports in 1992, Internal Affairs Department spokesman Tony Wallace said today.

"Less than 3 to 4 per cent of NZ passports are now non-machine readable," he said.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade posts overseas still issued old-style passports.

However, staff told people seeking replacements they could have machine-readable passports if they waited a few extra days for them to be sent from New Zealand.

"We expect with the US requirement the number of new issues of non-machine-readable passports will decrease steadily."

- NZPA