Officials Urge Extension of Passport Changes
Wed Apr 21, 2004 03:57 PM ET
By Deborah Charles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senior U.S. officials on Wednesday urged Congress to extend a deadline that requires 27 American allies, including Britain, Japan and France, to issue machine-readable passports that contain a biometric identifier by October.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told a congressional committee that it was unlikely any of the 27 so-called "visa waiver" nations -- those whose citizens can enter the United States without visas for short visits -- will be able to meet the Oct. 26 deadline.
They said all 27 governments were working to meet the U.S. requirement of adding computer chips containing biometric identifiers like digital photos into machine-readable passports. But they asked for a two-year extension until Nov. 30, 2006 to ensure complete compliance.
"None of the larger countries -- for example Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy or Spain -- will begin issuing passports with biometrics by the deadline," Powell told the hearing. "Japan and the United Kingdom say they will begin in later 2005. Others may not come on-line until well into 2006."
Under the current law, people from visa waiver countries who do not have the new passports by Oct. 26 will be required to get a visa to enter the United States. The law was passed in the wake of the deadly Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to improve security.
But requiring these people to apply for visas could add millions of new visa seekers to the over-burdened system and could anger potential visitors. The travel industry says the deadline is unrealistic and could cost billions of dollars in lost tourist revenue.
The 27 visa waiver countries are Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Powell and Ridge said the extension was needed to work out technical glitches and ensure the biometric chips can be read by systems all around the world.
Ridge said the decision earlier this month to expand a program that fingerprints and registers foreign visitors to include citizens of visa-waiver nations would help ensure security while the countries work on issuing passports that contain biometrics.
Several lawmakers, including Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said they favored extending the deadline for the new passports.
However, Sensenbrenner noted that the original premise of the visa waiver program -- that nationals of participating countries pose little security risk -- was no longer valid and it was important to have security checks even on people from nations viewed as close allies.
Zacarias Moussaoui, who is facing trial on charges of conspiring to carry out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, is a French citizen. Convicted "shoe bomber" Richard Reid is a British citizen and several of those accused of carrying out the Madrid bombings in March were Spanish citizens.
reuters.com
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