EU may counter U.S. passport rule

BRUSSELS The EU Commission voiced concern Friday over a U.S. warning that Washington is "unlikely" to further delay an October deadline after which European travelers must have new high-tech passports to enter the United States.
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If such an extension is denied, the EU would consider imposing similar restrictions on U.S. visitors to Europe once the deadline expires, the European Commission said.
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The EU Commission spokesman, Friso Roscam Abbing, said the EU would "consider in the coming weeks" whether to demand U.S. visitors to Europe to have such passports by the October deadline. If the deadline is not extended, visitors from most European Union countries will have to apply for visas at U.S. embassies, the EU's executive arm said.
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The commission voiced disappointment after receiving a negative response to a request to extend to August 2006 a U.S. deadline for all visitors to have biometric passports with digitized facial data. The EU received a letter from James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House of Representatives judiciary committee, that said "such an outcome is unlikely," Roscam Abbing said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/01/news/passport.html

I think I'll have to find an embassy to see if it will be valid.

I'm fairly sure that existing EU passports will be accepted for entering the US - and so if the EU does the same, existing US passports will not yet need a visa.

The problem is that the countries aren't yet ready to start issuing passports containing the biometric data (In the UK, you can currently get a passport through the post: where are all the machines that encode the facial data going to be put? Who pays for them?) UK passports, at least, last for 10 years, so plenty of people have to renew them each year. It's those who need to get new passports after October this year (or whenever) who will end up having to get visas. And in the UK, that apparently means going to the US embassy in London in person, and will take most of a day. Basically, most people won't do it just for a vacation in the USA. They'll choose Canada, the Caribbean, Europe etc. instead.

The US never considers the quite legal retaliations possible, which could have broad consequences for the US economy, for an ultimate purpose of dubious value--high-tech passports simple create a market for high-tech forgery.

And, the entire presumption of this proposed system will simply flood the US with visa requests, making it even easier for people to slip through the wide cracks (particularly the US visa approval system in Saudi Arabia to service perceived US friends, which has been a very weak link in the past).

i have the old style passport and was planning a european trip next year :-( i'm NOT frigging getting one of the new ones any time soon either!

customs office to get a two weeks permit to drive to Houston. I had been visiting friends in Houston for the last 7 or 8 years. Next year its Europe. No more humiliation by the nice U.S. government officials, my money and time will be better spent in the Old Continent.

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wouldn't that be some sort of poetic justice for the US to lose tourists to Cuba?

Well they already do . .

A number of us Canuks even PREFER Cuba to the US . .

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Shortly after the Invasion of Iraq, I decided I would never again cross our border into the States in this lifetime.

Even United States' citizens aren't safe down there, from their own Government no less . . .

I sure wouldn't wanna be no furriner down there,

So I won't be

Good thing for the USA that not too many think like me . . .