It is never pleasant to be turned away at the airport.

Unfortunately I don’t think travel insurance would cover this. It is like failing to get a visa to visit a country where you need one – it is up to the traveller to find out the requirements and comply with them.

While it is a bit hidden away, the ESTA site does spell out the need for machine readable passport (eg What information do I need to complete the application?).

“Citizens from VWP eligible countries other than Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Malta, and South Korea must present a machine-readable passport. A machine readable passport contains two lines of text with numbers and chevrons (<<<) at the bottom of the personal information page with the passport bearer’s picture. Document requirements vary according to the date a passport was issued or renewed as follows:

Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended before 10/26/05 have no additional requirements.

If a passport was issued or renewed/extended on or after 10/26/05 and does not meet the following requirements, the traveler must obtain a visa:

Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended on or after 10/26/05 through 10/25/06 must meet the following requirements. A digital photograph printed on the passport data page is required OR an integrated chip containing information from the data page (e-passport). A digital photo is one that is printed on the page, not a photo that is glued or laminated into the passport.

Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended on or after 10/26/06 are required to be e-passports.

Temporary, emergency, official and diplomatic passports are exempted from digital photo and electronic chip requirements, but must be machine-readable. This rule applies to all Visa Waiver Program countries except for Germany. Temporary or emergency German passports are not valid for Visa Waiver Program travel, and must contain a visa for admission to the United States.

For more information, please see the Customs and Border Protection Web site, CBP.gov, under Travel, For International Visitors, Visiting for Business or Pleasure, Visa Waiver Program.”

For David the best thing is to get a new passport and contact whoever bought the tickets from and try to arrange new dates (allow enough time for new passport to arrive). There will likely be a penalty fee to pay but at least he will get some value from the ticket instead of losing it all.

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Not sure that this is a ‘rant’ just a case of travellers not spending time on research. Travel is made to appear easy, but you still need to check and double check for yourself. There’s no-one else to blame on visa/passport issues.

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I don’t get this. All of the red passports have these two bars of code at the bottom – even my old one, which was issued over ten years ago and just renewed for one of those chip-thingy ones.

Indeed, I think one would be hard pushed to find a (red) passport without the two lines of readable code. There are other possible reasons why carriage was refused, including the possibility that the check-in person was, just simply, well, wrong.

Footnote: Checkin people are usually fairly young types with training which is quite tightly focussed, these days. They quite often appear to have little, if any, holistic knowledge of travel. That said, they generally have a supervisor who has more knowledge. Even so…

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unfortunately I dont think their insurance will cover them, because it will be deemed this happened through their own ‘neglect’ – ie failure to read the rules and follow the procedures.

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Murray, I agree

How ever I check with IPS and the following information came to my attention, all major consulates where upgraded to machine readable passports by 1998 and the program was completed by the start of 2001 across smaller secondary consulates. This mean by my maths there could be as many as 1′000 none machine readable passports out there till the end of this year. However if you said half where upgraded in 99 than that figure would drop to something like a couple hundred. (taking 10 year maximum and 6 months remaining on passport.) The passport offices in the UK started to issue machine readable passports in 1988.

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… now I am wondering if the pax fell into a small but nontheless, significant group who may have renewed after 26/10/05 BUT before the new chip-type passports were fully introduced – frankly, I, as an agent, would have difficulty noting that (along with everthing else we are expected to remember/ know/ see with our hidden third eyes) so how on earth they expect Jo Public to manage, I don’t know. IF that is the case, I think it can only described as very, very unfortunate. Perhaps (perhaps) a note to the airline concerned stating what has happened asking *NOT* for a refund but if, under the circustances, they may allow a MCO (sort of airline credit note) for further travel on some future occasion?

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@Nick – Yes! On the right track! The pax MUST have fallen into a sort of “renew after 10/05 – but issued with a new passsport BEFORE all “new” passports were chip type” – trap. Only logical explanation! Anyone got any stats on how many new Brit passports were issued after 10/05 that were NOT chip type?

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Darren meant to say October 2005 is the date for biometric passports not MRP’s.

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The other general tip is do not rely on the UK passport service to have the correct information as they are always dependent on what other country’s tell them. If your traveling outside the EU (for EU citizens) then you should always check with the consulate of the country your traveling to.

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… in other words, how many people, unknowingly, hold passports that are not “fit for purpose”?

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Murray H – please see my comment above. There are different US entry rules for passports issued between 26 October 2005 and 25 October 2006. This was in response to many countries advising USA that they couldn’t deliver e-passports soon enough.

Darren – different countries have different rules, and not just about e-passports or machine readable. Some countries require 6 months validity beyond date of arrival. Others 6 months beyond planned date of departure (or 6 months after the 90 day visa-free travel period). Similarly, some countries require a blank page (or even 2 adjacent blank pages) while others do not care if you passport is full with stamps on every page. Just having a passport does not mean you comply with entry requirements.

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@Global Traveller – Noted, but that makes it even more bizzare! I am as mystified as anyone else BUT – I thought that digital photographs came in at the same time as chips – may be wrong, of course. Anyway, the only explanantion I can find (cue for a song!) is that these pax to whom Darren refers must have fallen between two stones and given these, er, challenging requirements it is most unfortunate. I would like to hear from our Passport Office just how far they got with what sort of passport and when. Where there any post 10/2005 issues without digital photo’s OR chips? Or indeed, post 10/2006? I know there are quirks with some countries but such are cut and dried – Sth Africa with two clear pages, some countries 6 months clear, others 3 and others you have to have two cups of tea before breakfast – but these are, to be fair, fairly clearly set out – not bricks left for us to stumble over, put there by our own Passport Office

Darren – it is only a suggestion that they might approach the airline directly, by snail mail, explain that they were, frankly, just confounded by these rules and please could they have perhaps, a credit for travel on a future occasion. The airline can only say no. It is worth asking.

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Murray, Global Traveller

The problem seems to be having dug as hard as I can, the UK introduced it’s passports to early. This has lead to some confusion, Keep in mind UK required our Passports MRP 8 years before anyone else and biometric 2 years before anyone else. The USA failed to meet it own deadlines for these hence it kept moving the goal posts.

But checking into it further became more confusing as all types of Passports issued and still valid by UKPA or IPS are MRP and therefore valid for entry into the USA or anywhere else.

Darren, best advice would be.
However if your Passport was issued overseas, then you do need to check it is the correct type. As Consulates are not always issuing the same style passports as the IPS.

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A word of warning to anyone using the VWP website. According to Border Control Officers at Denver, the online system DOES NOT WORK. It is supposed to flag all applicants who are not eligible to use it and inform them that they need alternative visas. However, because the system is flawed, it is approving thousands of people who are not eligible. I myself was recently aproved by the VWP, all my documentation was correct and all papers in order. So I duly went ahead and spent $1000 on my ticket and all the other expenses that go along with booking a holiday to the U.S. However, when I arrived at Denver it was their computers that flagged me, on a technicality, and I was refused entry. I was immediatly searched, photographed and fingerprinted and was then instructed to take a seat and not to move until they could find me a flight home. I was in their waiting room for nearly 6 hrs, during which time I was offered one drink of water. I was allowed to use the restroom once, with an armed guard standing over me, and I was allowed to have one cigarrette outside, with two armed guards watching me. When a flight back was found, they waited until the plane was full and then 2 armed guards escorted me to my seat, stood over me while I strapped in and then gave my passport and documents to a member of the airline staff with instructions not to return them to me until we landed back in the UK. And all this was carried out under a huge bright banner that proudly stated, ‘Welcome To The United States’….hmmm…welcome indeed.
The Border Control Officers who dealth with me at Denver were actually really nice about it, or as nice as they were allowed to be. They told me they felt embarrassed that this was happening and that mine was not an isolated case. In fact, cases similar to mine are reaching ‘epedemic’ proportions simply because the VWP system does not work properly. And, of course, who pays the price? That’s right, the innocent traveller who is led to believe, by an official U.S. Government site, that they are eligible for travel.
There is no procedure in place for travellers like me who get caught by this shabby system to try to get recompense. Your travel insurance does not cover this eventuality…and let’s face it…the U.S. Government is’nt going to admit the problem let alone compensate for it.
On my return to the UK, I explained to one of our immigration officials what had happened and he too was aware of the problem. In fact, he told me that immigration controllers from all over the world are now starting to ‘fight back’. They are beginning to target American tourists and are now looking for the slightest, most petty excuses to turn away U.S. travellers as soon as they land and will continue to do so until the U.S get their VWP system fixed.
So, if you are thinking of taking a trip to America, I would advise you to forget the VWP and just go through the hassle of obtaining an alternative visa instaed. By doing this you’ll stand a much better chance of having a good holiday instead of spending a fortune on a 37hr round trip to a foreign airport.

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@ Uther, There is a statement on the First Page of the system and a tick box to conform you read it. It says that a confirmation issued by this website does not grant you entry, (same as the old paper system). Yes the system does not work fully, but is still required. Yet again a case of the USA not being ready for it own rules. Which is why Travelers still have to complete the paper version as well.

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I actually had my passport issued April 06 so I am apprently in this small but ’significant group’ of people where the rules are slightly different when travelling to the US. My passport does have a digitally printed photo but NO embedded chip. Apprently from what I have read here and elsewhere this passport is accepted for entry although I am seriously considering renewing anyway to save the possibility of being held up at the airport or even worse wrongly refused entry coz ’someone got it wrong’.

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Well i dare not go to the states, as i used to travel to Pakistan every month since 1999 to 2006,and to china Turkey etc on business, so with all the visa stamps i have had in my passports, “descretion is th ebetter part of valour” who wants to go there anyway!! (sorry folks just my opinion)

I am sure USA imigration would not let me in, its bad enough going on holiday to the med and back, the number of times I have been held on the way back in from, Portigal to the UK british citizen born and bred, treated like scum.

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