U.S. will compromise on biometric passports
Excerpt from an FT.com article by Edward Alden and Sarah Laitner (via MSNBC):
The U.S. is poised to drop its demand that European nations and other close allies adopt biometric passports by October, a move aimed at avoiding a serious disruption in transatlantic travel, according to U.S. and European government officials.
The U.S. is poised to drop its demand that European nations and other close allies adopt biometric passports by October, a move aimed at avoiding a serious disruption in transatlantic travel, according to U.S. and European government officials.
The likely U.S. action, which comes amid travel industry concerns that overseas visitors are deterred from coming to the US, would be a significant shift in policy. For more than two years Washington has insisted for security reasons that countries whose citizens can enter the U.S. without visas begin issuing biometric documents that ensure the identity of the passport holder.
The plan is the latest in a series of twists since Congress passed legislation in 2002 that required the 27 countries in the so-called visa-waiver program to start issuing the high-tech passports by October of last year. Brussels has said that some European countries in the program will not be able to meet that requirement until August, 2006.
posted by Fergie @ 6/09/2005 09:15:00 AM
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