UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Biometric passports target of waiver

|
 
Published: May 21, 2004 at 11:44 AM

WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., wants countries in the U.S. Waiver Program to have one more year to include biometric features in their passports.

A one-year extension, Sensenbrenner said, "provides the VWP (Visa Waver Program) countries sufficient time to meet this deadline while reinforcing the commitment of the Congress and the Bush administration to improving the security aspects of the VWP."

The program lets citizens from 27 countries, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia, to come to the United States as temporary visitors without having to obtain a visa, as is normally required to enter the country.

The 2002 Border Security Act requires the governments of the countries in the program to certify they have programs to issue their nationals machine-readable passports that are tamper resistant and incorporate biometric identifiers no later than Oct. 26, 2004.

Sensenbrenner's bill, which already has bi-partisan support, was introduced Thursday.

Topics: Jim Sensenbrenner
© 2004 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 16
Flags-In Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
View Caption
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Roskos with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard," participates in the annual Flags-In ceremony, May 23, 2013, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Soldiers place American flags in front of more than 260,000 gravestones in the cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
fark
Moore, OK to well-wishers: Please, no more socks and underwear, we have enough to last 20 lifetimes....
Man gets fifteen months and prison and a $56,000 fine for cutting down more than two dozen black...
Attention Fearless Freaking Farkers and all around good Samaritans. Threadless and the Flaming Lips...
Everyone's used to gas prices climbing up on the Memorial Day weekend, but now they're faced with...
#26minutes
If train A leaves the station at 7:45 AM traveling east at 45 mph and train B leaves a different...