Visa Waiver Scheme Update

[Chris7]

it reads that way but spend the £19 and get piece of mind

[chrisj]

Oh it gets worse

Got my flight confirmation today, one bit of paper says the kids need their own passport, another
bit says they are ok as our passports were issued before 1998.

Our passport office said they need their own, the US office said they could still travel on my wifes

thank god we have 10 months til we go, at least this should be sorted out within a month or so and then
we can either spend the money or put it off until we have to

You have to laugh

[Chris7]

SPEND THE MONEY - do you really need to take the risk of being turned back for the sake of £38 that you'll have to spend in another year anyway.

There's only one opinion that counts - the one held by the shaved baboon on the desk at immigration

[steph_goodrum]

Would have been cheaper last week, Chris, its going up to £42 for 10 year passport and £25 for childrens from 2nd Oct. 2003
I don't think your wife has to pay for hers if it still has validity and she's taking the children off hers but I'm not 100% on that.

[chrisj]

No hers will be changed for free, and as my mate chris7 has said SPEND THE MONEY, the
only problem is we are going away in 3 weeks, so we couldnt have sent our passports off,
we are also going away at Christmas, so the only time we could send them away would be
January anyway.

But thanks for your advice, and Chris7 your funny

[steph_goodrum]

Chrisj When you send them off , if you go into a main Post Office and pay £4 (each) they have a service where they will check the forms through for you and send them off in a special bag, if you haven't received your passport back in 10 working days they refund the money. Ours came back in 6 using this system.

[chrisj]

Steph

Thanks, think we will use that service, it sounds good

Chrisj

[Chris7]

We used the post office and it's worth the extra (which includes the special delivery postage) to get it fast-tracked and "pre-checked"

[chrisj]

We will now use that, but as the kids wont need their own until next July, if the new rule
still applies, we will do this after xmas

[chrisj]

hehehe the saga continues. Just got this off the uk passport office


ENTRY TO THE USA: NEW REQUIREMENTS FROM 26 OCTOBER 2004
ENTRY TO THE USA: NEW REQUIREMENTS FROM 26 OCTOBER 2004 FROM 26 OCTOBER 2004 ALL CHILDREN WILL NEED THEIR OWN PASSPORTS TO ENTER THE USA.The US has granted an extension of its Visa Waiver Programme to holders of non-machine-readable British passports travelling to the United States.This means that all British passport holders, including children, travelling to the USA under the Visa Waiver Programme will need their own machine-readable passport with effect from 26 October 2004, rather than from the original date of 1 October 2003.From 26 October 2004 anyone without a machine-readable passport, including children who are currently on a parent’s passport will need a visa to travel to the USA. Airlines will not allow children without their own passports or a US visa for them in an adult’s passport to board flights to the USA. So if you are planning a visit to Walt Disney World, or anywhere else in the USA, we would advise you to apply in good time for passports for all children who will be travelling, or to contact the US Embassy about obtaining visas.