New Passport Requirements for Visa Waiver Program Countries

MR. DENIG: We are very pleased today to be able to welcome back to our podium, Elaine Dezenski, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning from the Department of Homeland Security. Our briefing today is on the topic of new passport requirements for visitors from Visa Waiver Program countries. While you may have seen some reports in the media on this subject, we are very pleased to have the official report and the full story today at our briefing.

Secretary Dezenski will have an opening statement to make and after that we'll be very happy to take your questions.

Elaine.

MS. DEZENSKI: Thank you. Good afternoon. I appreciate you coming today. Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank the State Department. We have some folks here from the Consular Affairs Bureau who will be happy to help on some of the questions if they are outside of the DHS realm. And of course, thanks to our colleagues here at the Press Center for hosting us.

The topic today as was mentioned is the Visa Waiver Program. And I think the first point that I want to make is that the Department is very committed to secure travel. And what I'm going to talk about is very much emblematic of the ongoing partnership that we have with the State Department, with Visa Waiver countries, and of course, with Congress. Programs like Visa Waiver embody our shared goals in facilitating travel, preserving integrity of our borders, and helping us to stop terrorists and those who mean us harm.

Biometrics are a way forward to enhancing security by helping us to deprive potential terrorists of a tool they can use to threaten our country and other countries around the world. The ability to cross our borders using false documents and violate our immigration laws without detection is a real problem. It certainly has been noted in the 9/11 reports. And is something that we're actively responding to. Biometric identifiers protect our visitors by making it virtually impossible for anyone else to claim their identities, should travel documents be stolen or duplicated. The use of biometric identifiers, such as digital photos, give governments an increased security capability and a foundation that it can build on over time. Properly used, biometrics have been shown to be highly effective in verifying identity.

The U.S. Congress mandated the enhanced border security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 and required that any passport issued after October 26, 2004 and used for VWP travel to the United States, must include a biometric identifier. Last year, that deadline was extended one year to October 26, 2005.

DHS has taken steps, recently, to further embody the intent of the statute and to clearly define the administration's policy, including the adoption of biometrics, in strengthening the overall management of the Visa Waiver Program. More specifically, we've established a policy that requires VWP countries to begin producing passports with digital photographs on the passport data page by October 26, 2005. And this is the first deadline that's important to note. Again, as of October 26, 2005, we are going to require a digital photo, which is part of the data page on a passport; that is, in fact, a biometric.

Digital photographs provide more security against both counterfeiting and other types of manipulation. Digital photographs can be electronically stored and accessed, which is very important, and therefore, make it easier to verify whether the individual presenting that passport is the same person to whom it was issued.

In addition, we have established a policy requiring that all VWP countries produce passports with an integrated circuit chip. This is what we call the e-passport. This e-passport needs to be capable of storing biographic information from the data page of the passport, as well as the digital photograph, and in the future, perhaps other biometric information.

Now, the implementation of this integrated circuit chip will be required no later than October 26, 2006. The bottom line is that VWP countries are now required to have, at a minimum, a digital photograph by this October.

Now, we recognize that some countries are very close or in some cases have even launched their production of e-passports to include the chip. Obviously, those countries would also be in compliance with this October deadline.

Keep in mind that these requirements apply to new passports issued after October 26, 2005. So if your passport is valid as of October 25th and includes a machine-readable strip, then it's still valid for travel to the United States after that October 26, 2005 deadline for the lifetime of the passport.

Now, we believe that the vast majority of the VWP nations will be in compliance with the digital photo requirement by October. Today's announcement provides us time to work with all VWP nations to assess their status over the next several months. In order to facilitate this compliance with next year's e-passport requirements, DHS will create a validation process for VWP countries to test their passports prior to issuance.

The Department of State is leading this effort in the production of e-passports for our own citizens, so we want these things to move forward on a complementary basis.

In further steps forward on e-passports, DHS and the Department of State are conducting a live test with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand. This live test, beginning this week at LAX [Los Angeles International Airport] and at the Sydney airport in Australia, will continue throughout the summer. Airline crew officials from United Airlines, Air New Zealand and Qantas, have volunteered to use the e-passport when arriving at either airport. This participation will enable DHS to further test operations, equipment and software needed to read and verify the information in the e-passport.

Finally, VWP countries will be held to several measures concerning lost and stolen passports. Let me give you a quick sense for what this will include:

First, we want these lost and stolen passports, whether they are blanks or personalized, to be reported to Interpol and DHS as quickly as possible, but no later than ten days after discovery. We, in turn, will be sharing information from our Fraudulent Document Analysis Unit with VWP countries and we want to make sure that we understand, in addition to the digital photo and the biometric chip, what other types of passport security features the VWP countries may be employing.

We think today's announcement is progress on the path forward with regard to the e-passport and will ensure that we get to secure and streamlined travel for VWP countries. Our goal, of course, is complete transparency in this process and integrity in our policies to ensure that everyone is informed of the important security measures.

Thank you very much and I'm happy to take some questions.

QUESTION: Teresa Bouza from EFE, just a quick question. This e-passport is what is known as the biometric passport?

MS. DEZENSKI: That's partially correct. We would define the e-passport as including the integrated circuit chip, so there's two levels. The first would be the introduction of the digital photo, which we would like this year by October; and then the second step would be the integration of the chip, which would then be termed the "e-passport."