online ESTA application stating passport must be e-passport?

Hi, just carried out 7 esta applications and for my father-in-laws passport which was issued in Nov 2005 (is machine readable and has digital photo) is displaying the following alert;

ALERT

ATTENTION:An e-passport is required to travel under the Visa Waiver Program. Please check the front cover of your passport to see if it contains this symbol (the chip symbol is shown).

If your current passport does not have this symbol, please go to your passport issuing agency to apply for e-passport prior to submitting an ESTA application. You me be denied boarding by your airline or denied entry into the United States if you do not travel with an e-passport.

I've contacted the passport office and they are stating this is a recent change and he must apply for new e-passport before travelling to the states.

The US gov site still says for passports issued between 2005/2006 machine readable and digital photo is fine. When I stated this to Passport office they said the US gov site might not have been updated with the change of requirements yet!

Anyone know what the current situation is with this?

News to me, cheers for the heads up.

Surely a passport issued in November 2005 is due to (if it hasn't already) expire imminently so is due for replacement.

UKPO will add on up to 6 or 9 months (can't remember which) of an existing passport.

Its due to expire end of March 2016. We travel Monday 21st. The ESTA warning is very clear that it needs to be e-passport and passport office are claiming this is the new rule that has been applied in the last few days. Strange that Passport office appear to have more uptodate info than the embassy website, which still suggests machine-readable with digital photo is acceptable.

The passport office have said to call the US embassy, which I will have to do in the morning.

You may have to arrange for him to get a fast track in person passport renewal or for an appointment to get a US visa.

US embassy won't be able to override the esta system as its a different government department and you know what they can be like in not talking to each other!

Waste of time ringing embassy. Tried myself this morning and only one option to select which directs you to esta site or other online resources regarding visas. Call centre number they give you simply detects you are calling from UK and tells you you don't need a visa then hangs up!

We weren't even aware of the new e-passport rule. My wife has one of the 2005-2006 non-digital photo ones that exclude you. We've had esta approval, but now think we may be turned away or will have to pay the $3300 fine.

She's having to drive to Liverpool tomorrow to get a new passport (£120) and we will have to apply (and pay for) the esta approval again. Just hoping it all goes through in time as we fly Sunday. If we don't get it back - or it gets rejected because there's another application already registered with the same details, then she won't even be able to blag it with the old passport as that will now be cancelled.

It's ruining her Christmas holiday. Hasn't seen her sister in a few years and was really looking forward to it, and now this uncertainty.

I have just renewed my ESTA (via the VA link) as my previous one expires on 30thDecember 2015.

The process is a tad more involved than previously as they ask more questions but at no stage was the word e-passport mentioned. The application was approved.

My passport is not one of these new biometric ones and it runs until 2020. I was not impressed thinking I was going to have to renew this just to get an e-passport, all in order just to obtain an ESTA !

I am a bit confused about the issue the OP raised but I wonder whether the problem was created as the father-in-law didn't have a passport which was valid for six months beyond the date the person was due to exit the U.S (although I thought that general rule did not apply to countries under the ESTA scheme)

Hopefully some regular visitors to the the US can throw some light on the OP's comment about this supposedly new e-passport rule and it appears to be contradictory.

https://www.forum-expat-management.com/ ... er-program

Whilst some countries do have passport length requirements - 3/6 months is usual - the USA is not one of them and all that it required is that the passport is valid for the entirety of the trip. If validity is less than the usual 90 days for a WT entry (what most of us get) then the entry's stamp period is adjusted downward.

Does this help clarify?

http://london.usembassy.gov/niv/mrp_bio.html

Although the ESTA website now states your passport needs to be an e-passport after entering the passport start date of 2005, we have now cancelled my father-in-laws appointment for Newport tomorrow.

This was based on the fact the us gov site still states it's acceptable to have machine readable / digital photo for passports issued after October 2005, and just machine readable if issued prior to oct 2005.

I also started another ESTA application and didn't state issuing country and the ALERT about e-passport is purely triggered due to the date of the passport. There are other countries were it is mandatory to have e-passport but uk isn't one of them yet as far as I can see!

It didn't help that the passport office were stating that the new rule had only just come in and maybe the us government site hadn't been updated yet!

I've read that the new requirements were reported last week by the white house but will take a while before they can get introduced!