USA

New passport rules from 26 June

SEAFARERS and cruise line passengers - like other foreign visitors to the US from 27 Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries - will need machine-readable passports as of 26 June, the Department of Homeland Security is reminding the industry. The deadline for mandatory machine-readable passports was originally set for 1 October 2003 by the Immigration and Nationality Act, but was extended to June 2005 when 23 of the 27 countries involved said they could not make the earlier date. Machine-readable passports have a sequence of lines that can be swiped by US Customs officers to confirm the passport holder's identity quickly and to obtain other information about the holder typically found on a passport's inside cover, a DHS spokesman explained. Starting on 26 June, transport carriers will be fined $3,300 per violation for carrying any VWP traveller to the US without a machine-readable passport. Similarly, VWP travellers arriving in the US on that date without a machine-readable passport should not anticipate being granted one-time entry into the country, DHS said. The 27 countries participating in the VWP are Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.