High-tech Foreign Passports Won’t Be Ready by Deadline

During a recent hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee On Immigration, Border Security and Claims, Homeland Security officials said the United States will not be prepared to read high-tech passports of foreign visitors this fall. Officials said the department would not have enough passport readers deployed to every port of entry by October 26, 2005, even if Congress does not extend the deadline for certain foreign countries to have the imbedded biometric technology.

That date reflects a one-year extension approved by Congress last year requiring every country participating in the ‘visa waiver’ program to have facial recognition technology imbedded into passports or other travel documents by this fall.

Many of the 27 countries in the program have said they would need another extension to meet the October deadline. The European Union has asked Congress to extend the deadline until August 28, 2006.

According to GovExec.com, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, has said recently it is unlikely that Congress would support another extension. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is scheduled to meet with Sensenbrenner next month to discuss the issue.

Last year, the department asked for a two-year extension, and Congress provided one extra year. Supporters of an extension argue that visa-waiver countries contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy each year. The Visa waiver program allows foreign visitors to travel to the United States for tourism or business for 90 days or less without obtaining visas.

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