Facing a delay: New regulations for foreign visitors to the U.S.(TRAVEL)(Brief Article)

Kiplinger Letter, The, March, 2004

Also facing a delay: New regs for foreign visitors to the U.S. Congress wants citizens of 27 countries, including most of Europe, to have high-tech passports to enter the U.S. without a visa.

No country can meet Congress' October deadline for new passports, which must enable digitized facial analysis of the document's owner. Japan and the United Kingdom say it will take them another year or so to design and produce the new passports. Others need even more time.

Without the delay, the U.S. would be swamped with applications for visas that aren't required now, creating significant travel snarls. Trade shows and other business meetings would be severely impaired.