Most — if not all — of the 27 visa waiver countries are going to meet this month's biometric passport requirement deadline.

These machine-readable passports with biometric identifiers contain information such as digital photographs. Under the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, visa waiver countries (which include the United Kingdom, France, and Australia, among others) were required to start issuing biometric passports by October 2004. Congress extended that deadline twice, the second time until October 26 of this year.

“From reports I've seen, I'm confident that most of the major VWP countries will meet the deadline,” says Rick Webster, vice president, government affairs, the Travel Industry Association of America, which has pushed hard for the two deadline extensions.

Travelers from VWP countries holding passports issued before the deadline can still use the old documents to enter the U.S. until those documents expire. After October 26, travelers from VWP countries who receive a new passport that does not conform to biometric standards must get a visa to enter the U.S.

Meanwhile, a report issued by the Government Accountability Office found that while the program facilitates travel from VWP countries into the U.S., it creates some security risks. Stolen VWP passports are “prized travel documents among terrorists, criminals, and immigration law violators,” the report stated.

The report recommends that DHS should establish a procedure through which VWP countries should report stolen documents and that Congress should establish a deadline by which DHS should assess the risks of each VWP country's continued participation in the program.

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